Takes me back to the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997. One day in late October, the Hang Seng fell through the floor. Spreads blew out to Himalayan widths. The yen convulsed like a dying eel. The chap next to me kneeled on the floor, praying to his Bloomberg terminal while sobbing uncontrollably. My colleague, the notorious South Korean trader Jinwoo Park, leaned back in his chair, lit a cigarette under a 'No Smoking' sign and simply muttered: "Well, that's lunch ruined." Financial carnage it is purest form.