Players from the Spanish football team Barcelona got a feel of what the climate of this part of the world is. Typhoon Pabuk forced the team to postpone its play against Mission Hills team, composed of local league players from Happy Valley and Kitchee, because of the storm that swept the territory in the late hours of the 10th of August.
Frank Rijkaard made his players train in stormy conditions on Thursday to prepare for a game in the rain, but will now have to wait an extra day. Europe doesn't have typhoons so this experience could be a first to some players, if not all of them.
Later in the night I managed to watch The Simpsons at Cinematheque in Yau Ma Tei. Due to the typhoon, there's less outdoor crowd and the feeling is that it wasn't Friday night. A few hardcore fans of the football club can still be seen donning their blue and maroon jerseys as they realized these shirts are gonna be worn again the next night, whether they make a short trip to the washing machine or not. The scheduled game is to be played later today, Saturday.
It was an unusual turn of events as Typhoon Pabuk swept off the South China Sea and through east China late on Wednesday, before turning and heading back towards Hong Kong.
Masking tapes on glass windows on shops are used to prevent further damage once debris or unusually strong winds that come with Pabuk's presence. Pabuk is the name of a large freshwater fish in Laos. Another typhoon around the region, Wutip means butterfly in Cantonese, one of the main Chinese dialects.
For the interest of my Filipino readers, the youngest player to suit for Barcelona FC was a Filipino/Spanish named Paulino Alcantara born in Iloilo City, Philippines.
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