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Australia has a place called the Surfers’ Paradise; very soon it will add another place called the workers’ paradise! So what is keeping everyone happy? Firstly there is the rather generous minimum wage of more than A$ 15 (approx. US$ 16, 11 euros, HK$ 120) per hour, which is among the best in the world. There is also the labour union which will campaign for a higher minimum wage regularly. While the minimum wages in many countries are set at subsistence level, in Australia it is clearly more than that – an hour’s minimum wage will enable the worker to buy a typical meal in a fast food chain with a comfortable amount of money to spare. Australia’s minimum wage can indeed provide a basic guarantee of livelihood and dignity to the worker. Also unlike many other countries, the other end of the pay scale is not monopolised by those working in the government and big corporations. Notably, many are tradespersons or are involved in manual work. When I had a chat with a neighbour some time ago...

This summer seems shorter than usual, not only because I spent most of January in Germany and Hong Kong and thus experienced an extra winter (although I am hopeful that I can be compensated!) but also because the weather is indeed cooler than the previous summers. Stretches of days above 30 degrees were few and far in between, and more often were the days with grey skies, dreary rain and cool temperatures. No wonder another German colleague and I both felt some semblance to a typical German summer. 這個夏天好像比正常短，除了因為我一月大部份時間到了德國和香港，平白多過了一個冬天外（雖然我是有希望可以補償的！）天氣也的確比前幾個夏天清涼，連續幾天高於30度的日子絕無僅有，更多的是天灰灰雨綿綿「涼浸浸」的時候，我和另一個德國同事都不期然覺得有點像德國的夏天。 The whole summer has kept me occupied as my time was always filled up with things to do even after work. Fortunately there was still time to take some diversions. 整個夏天，就算工娛都忙這忙那，時間排得密密麻麻的，幸好也有可以忙裡偷閑的時候。 Last summer my family went quite a long way for picking strawberries; this summer we went instead to a farm belonging to one of my cousin’s colleagues fo...

In the middle weekend of my work trip in Munich in January, spring has made an unusual appearance. The sunshine and the warmth swept away the depressingly cold days and grey skies. On the Sunday I went for a jog near my work place and everyone else in the neighbourhood were out in force in the streets and in the parks to enjoy such a reprieve. It surprised me as I have never seen so many people in the neighbourhood before! 一月在慕尼黑公幹時，中間的週末突然大地回春，陽光和暖意把冬天的嚴寒和鬱悶一掃而空，那個週末的星期日，我在研究所附近跑了大半小時，街道和公園到處都是人，彷彿所有居民都空巢而出，我從來都沒有在那一帶見到這麼多人呢！ And on the Saturday (15th January), I took advantage of a visit by a former Hong Kong colleague as she wanted to visit her former colleagues in Konstanz (Constance) that weekend. I decided to join her and visit Konstanz on a day trip. Although it took more than 4 hours each way by train, the chance and the pleasant weather were simply too good to waste. 星期六那天（1月15日），趁一個從英國來德國匆匆一遊的舊香港同事要往康斯坦茨（Konstanz）探她的舊同事，我也搭上「順風車」跟她同行——其實我們並沒有開車，祇是坐火車而已。雖然車程要四小時多，但如此好天氣，不...