Just curious, he seems to be the enthusiastic expert on all things Lamma on this website. Would he know more than Nick the Bookman, Vince Loden, Chris the Carpenter and Frank Murdoch. All of whom I remember from 1985. Presume they keep their own counsel when the sun sets over Lantao. Hope they all still alive on Lamma. I used to live opposite the HSBC bank branch. It was noisy as hell. HK$2,000 a month back then. Paul

The consensus is that he's a complete prick.

Nick and Vince are still around, I don't know the others.

All these 4 characters are still living here, most of them quite happily.

Well, I do absolutely not agree at all with the "consensus"!
And all the many forum members that Alan has helped and advised over the years in so many ways will not agree either.

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Just wondered. Is he a fun guy to share a drink with. The four I mentioned are as I remember. Anyway when I drop by Lamma will buy Vince, Frank, Chris and Nick a snifter should I recognize them in the high street.
How you can live on Lamma and not know such characters as Chris the Carpenter and big Frank Murdoch, is surprising. To say the least. I admire them enormously for living on the island for so long when weaker insubstantial characters such as myself retreated back to UK and an easier life. Cheers Paul

Probably not, I don't drink in the bars anyway.


See above.

An easier life in the UK? Really?
There are many reasons that these 4 characters, all featured several times on this website before (search on home page), myself and many others have remained here for so long. Our own little, peaceful, subtropical, natural, multicultural, low-cost island home... still,... but slowly changing...

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Like I said, I would have much preferred to have stayed on Lamma but jobs dried up in Hong Kong. As you know yourselves, its an issue. Also no helpful legal employment protection and no redundancy windfall. Pensions are a consideration too.
Anyway, here's a more interesting question. I have no doubt Alan knows the answer, of course! Of the housing stock on Lamma, what percentage is owned by foreigners do you think? Not corporate but personal.

No idea of the total.
At a wild guess, maybe 10% of the foreigners I know own their houses, having bought in 10 or more years ago before prices went crazy. No idea how many of the latest wave of bankers and such.

Alan do you honestly think `a wave of bankers' has moved to lamma or do you consider anyone that wears a suit to work to be a banker? I have not met one banker who lives on Lamma.

Nitpicking by selective quotation.
"Bankers and such" is what I said.

And I made it clear that I was making "a wild guess". If you have better information, please share it.

Wow you really do get easily offended dont you. I was asking a simple question. I also was not contesting your guess about property ownership.

You're the one leaping straight into making personal remarks about me.

And "Do you honestly think..." is not a "simple question".
It's a contradiction and an implication that I am being insincere in the form of a question.

All I did to provoke this was make a very qualified and limited observation from my personal experience.

Provoke what? I asked you a simple fucking question. Read into it what you may. You still havent answered the bloody question, instead choosing to try and start an argument like you seem to try to do at every opportunity. Paul - I think he has answered your original question though.

To get back to the original topic, Alan is great to drink with, especially the clink of his piercings against the glass (he does not really look like his blonde avatar, you know). Only thing is, those horns are implants - always a disappointment when impressive bumps turn out to be fakes. By the way, my neighbour is a banker.

I answered your simple fucking question in the next post I made.
Sorry it wasn't the simple fucking answer you wanted.

Apology accepted.

I like Alan, I suspect he has been deeply immersed in editorial employment. Like myself. Long ago (1983-1985) when I rented opposite the HSBC Branch, it was possible to buy beer nearby in the shop and sit at a table next to it. Frank Murdoch, John the Fisherman's Friend and many others did that. So much cheaper. Does that happen now or do local bars object?

Still very popular with many regulars, fishermen and John the Fisherman's Friend (till he died a few years back). $6 per can of beer.
How could the local bars object, it's the shop's territory. There are still enough regular drinkers here to support all the locals bars and a few shops selling beer, taking up the function of 7-11 in town.

The bankers, lawyers, company owners and other new arrivals don't mind our bars' higher prices. Many of them are already used to almost $100/drink in Lan Kwai Fong, Soho and other HK/Kowloon-side areas, so Lamma is still cheap for them. The up to $50/glass of house wine locally seems to be no problem for many new arrivals. Not so easy to find a good lunch for below $100 anymore in most Lamma restaurants...

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Thanks Lamma Gung, that can of beer at HK$6 is cheap anywhere in the world. HK$100 is rather unpleasant for a drink in Central to say the least. Thinking back, as I sometimes do, I remember Frank Murdoch and Jonathan Gray were the first individuals to have their own table outside the shop next to HSBC in the early eighties.

They were both engineers, well travelled and had quite a lot of history to discuss as well as saying hello to people who passed by. But other Lamma locals never ever joined them -- except perhaps John's wife, Gloria, a Filipina.

However, one day a male newcomer who was rather pesky and insensitive. went into the shop, came out and plonked a large Tsingtao bottle on the table and engaged the two guys in a rather awkward animated inconsequential conversation. I watched this closely, and Frank in particular became enraged at this invasion of their private cherished space outside the shop.

After ten minutes the hovering cloud above Frank's head turned black then red. Without warning, Frank rose to his feet and unleashed a volcanic right hook which connected perfectly with the pesky newcomer's chin. The victim, who shall remain nameless, also stood up was poleaxed and lay prostrate on the ground outside the shop.

Such was their confidence and belief in their roles on Lamma, John and Frank returned to their conversation as if nothing had happened. The pesky newcomer remained unconscious for a couple of minutes before Frank, as an act of kindness, poured the Tsingtao over his head. He recovered fairly quickly after that. He briefly remonstrated with Big Frank, thought better of it, and retreated to the Island Bar to lick his wounds and tell everybody, who would listen, that Lamma was not so welcoming to strangers.

Anyway, I don't recall anybody foolishly trying to force their way onto Frank and John's private table after that dramatic incident. A case of let sleeping dogs lie.

Was it Alan?