JUL 8, 15 .. HAPPINESS IS: GETTING MY DAILY NEWSPAPER ..

Today’s Rhetorical Question: What Is Happiness ?

HAPPINESS IS: GETTING MY DAILY NEWSPAPER.

Notice that I did NOT title this Post .. HAPPINESS IS: READING MY DAILY NEWSPAPER. Just like in the U.S. the Hong Kong newspaper can be an overall negative experience. In general .. aside from daily or weekly columns .. the newspaper is filled with the latest daily news .. much of which can be negative. Sure there are some pleasant articles but you know what I mean about THE NEWS.

What I am writing about here is the PROCESS BY WHICH I RECEIVE my daily newspaper. And THAT is fun and joyous.

In the U.S. .. in general .. I do NOT read newspapers except for the sports section. I just don’t like all of the woes-of-the world in front of me.

Patti on-the-other-hand just loves to read her newspaper. Patti takes delight in sending to me her very carefully hand-picked articles that she thinks I will enjoy reading. Patti is spot-on in her selection of articles for me.

I do the same for Patti sending her my ‘stuffer’ envelopes ‘stuffed’ with numerous articles from the Hong Kong newspaper that I get daily from Monday through Friday. This gives me great pleasure too. I try to mail Patti a ‘stuffer’ every Monday and Thursday on a regular basis.

Hong Kong’s biggest circulation English daily is .. taa-daa .. The Standard.

A close up of its title ..

“So what’s the big deal here Captain?” ..

“Getting my daily newpaper is .. in and of itself .. really no big deal. But for me here in Hong Kong it has become a joyous and a fun experience. Not once but twice daily .. Monday through Friday. NO weekend English language service.”

When I go out in the morning at 7:15AM I head for my local MTR station .. Sheung Wan (pronounced as one word .. Shenwan .. NO ‘u’ or ‘g’ sounds).

Do you see the above MTR entrance sign in the below photos taken from across Des Voeux Street?

Taking your eyes off the MTR entrance sign notice .. There they are on the left of each of the two above photos..

MY newspapers AND the crew who deliver them to me and to hundreds of other passers-by.

HAPPINESS IS THE CREW who hand out the newspapers.

Here come the passengers up from the MTR and the crew .. MY CREW snaps into action!

A photo looking back at them ..

I INTERACT with the people here in Hong Kong and MY newspaper CREW is no exception.

They hand out both English and Chinese language newspapers ..

Every day .. Monday through Friday .. we each ‘look-for-the-other’ .. Below they see me coming .. all five of them are looking at me as I am approaching them ..

A few close-up photos of them ..

It’s a little hard to see but below do you all see her giving me the thumbs-up sign with her right hand up near her face wearing a black glove?

I really like my crew !

This lady hands out only the English language issue of The Standard .. so we two look for each other as I come flying across Des Voeux Street ..

Do any of you remember that previously I wrote the following ..

“Getting my daily newpaper is .. in and of itself .. really no big deal. But for me here in Hong Kong it has become a joyous and a fun experience. Not once but twice daily .. Monday through Friday. NO weekend English language service.”

OH CAPTAIN OUR CAPTAIN ..

YOU ARE DOUBLE-DIPPING !

This is 100% absolutely accurate and correct. I need two copies of The Standard because sometimes each side of a news sheet has articles I want to send to Patti. So having two copies gives me a clean whole article from each side of the same pair of pages.

So .. Unbeknownst to each of my crews .. I have two newspaper crews!

I put my first copy (the one I receive from the Sheung Wan MTR station exit) of The Standard inside of a large plastic 2-gallon zip-lock bag and sort of roll it up and carry it out of view. Then when I arrive at my second crew .. I get a hearty wave from them and my second copy of The Standard. As I walk away from them I slip it into the zip-lock bag with its sister newspaper.

Coming out of St. John’s Cathedral and up to Garden Road below is my second crew.

This is a much smaller crew and they are stationed at a bus stop and service bus passengers. Below you can see the bus stop and in the distance the man in the yellow shirt with a red vest is MY MAN here.

IF you want one happy joyous extremely pleasant human-being here he is!

He just radiates happiness!

He could be a retired newspaper executive who just loves the newspaper scene.

I really should get his name so I can call him by name each day when I see him.

Below is a photo I snapped just today with him wearing a different (black) shirt ..

Thank You Oh God Of Abraham for setting before me such very special human beings.

Sign me Today .. A Joyous .. Happy WITH THIS POST .. Cap ..

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