New Desk

As part of a cost-cutting re-stack of our offices my department moved floors.    So we bid a sad farewell to our view of the W Hotel pool.

The new office is a lot more compact than the old, although thankfully management's proposal for double-decker 'bunk-desks' was rejected by Health and Safety.

My chinese colleagues were alarmed to find their new desks have terrible fang shui, being in a straight-line from the corridor and main entrance.   This put them in direct line-of-fire from ghosts and evil spirits coming in the door (since evil spirits tend to travel in straight lines).

Photo:   Our new offices.   Main entrance down the corridor in the background with ghosts glowing faintly behind Amanta.

This is a big thing and my colleagues were very unhappy.  They recounted the well known company story about a similar row of desks on another floor with the same feng shui problem.   Many staff sitting there  suffered major illnesses or bereavements.  That row is now considered cursed and many chinese simply refuse to sit there.

Urgent action was required and Amanta immediately went out and bought a plant to put between her and the door.   This  provdies some limited protection by absorbing the evil juju, but other colleagues noted that plants in these situations tend to die in quick succession.   So the health of this one will be monitored carefully!  And negotiations are underway for some desk-swaps.

Ghosts-eye view of our offices from the entrance.   My colleagues and I are hiding behind the protective plant.

In contrast I was pretty happy since I have now have magnificent views of Hong Kong island directly from my desk (plus 3 colleagues and a plant between me and the ghosts).

Side view

Front view

And my company doesn't even charge me to sit there! (yet)

The views are even better if you stand up by the window.

And it is pretty spectacular if you are working late at night

This week Hong Kong had a visit from an American aircraft carrier battle-group.   The carrier was pretty conspicuous moored in the usual spot just in front of Disneyland.  Although the carrier looked small in comparison with the huge container ships coming in and out of port.    When I went to tai chi I noted many over-inflated young men with buzz-cuts wandering around Wan Chai.



Photo below:  Container ship with aircraft carrier behind-right.  The white dome of Disneyland's space mountain in background on the left