Milk duds and bank runs

Upon running into each other in Causeway Bay, my former colleague immediately asked me: "How are you? Did you hear about the milk situation?"

Apparently, she remembers how I'd often drink two packs of chocolate milk a day. (Yup, I'm a milk guzzler, but more the chocolate variety.) She asked if I remembered the brand of milk that I drank, and said yes. After finding out what brand, she gave a sigh of relief because that brand is made here in HKG and not in China. It's also not on the list of "tainted milk."

The funny thing was, she was more concerned about it than me. And it seems there's another thing concerning people here these days.

For 2 days, I've noticed long lines outside BEA branches all over the island. It turns out, they're having a "bank run." Someone spread a rumour that the bank is in trouble because they had major dealings with Lehman Brothers and AIG, and because of that, people are starting to withdraw their money and moving it elsewhere.

My friend was quite surprised that I knew what a bank run was, considering I'm in a creative field and never had a finance or math subject in my life. Even if banking wasn't in my field of study, it was in the family. Ate Lissa was a manager at Far East Bank and East West Bank, and I remember how she talked about it once.

Thanks to milk and money, things are a bit frenetic here in HKG. It's quite novel to see people getting worked up over things other than LVs.