First day at work

I peeled a dragon fruit for breakfast, a spectacular brilliant red fruit with kind of soft spikes all over. Once you get inside though, it is quite uneventful, grey mush full of tiny black seeds and it tastes of absolutely nothing!


The New Boy has just departed for his first day at work. I'm about to start my first day as a Househunter.The weekend was very misty, we couldn't see across the harbour to the island at all. We went down to Tsim Sha Tsui (pronounced chim sha choy) to walk along the Avenue of the Stars and we saw Bruce Lee's star, it's just like Hollywood. We noticed loads and loads of fishing boats all moving very very slowly up and down the harbour. Today's newspaper (we get a comp one every morning) tells us it was a protest against a government ban on trawler fishing Just like Eyemouth! Fishermen everywhere are unhappy with government imposed quotas. The difference is the Hong Kong fleet is 3,900. I doubt there are that many boats in the whole of the UK! I think the Eyemouth fleet is about 50.
We skyped the family over the weekend, great to see Callum.He seemed to think it OK to see us on the computer and not in the flesh. He's so used to seeing Janie and Martin on there, it is natural for him, a true digital native.
The coffee machine in the flat is fabulous, I've redicovered my liking for The Bean and even went to a specialist shop yesterday to buy more supplies. You get to sit down, they present the range and then let you taste a couple to make your mind up, then once you've decided, they pour you a cup of your choice to enjoy whilst they prepare your order. Service or what!!
On my to do list today: find a nail bar and a dentist. I seem to be shedding body prostheses all over the place. I jammed my fingers in a cupboard door and three of my very expensive gel nails fell off. Then I had some chocolate from the fridge and out popped my bridge. I look like a country yokel with stubby fingers and a gap toothed smile. Still, nobody knows me here!

Settling in

Top, middle and bottom of building opposite.Remember all are taken from Floor 61, not the ground! Sometimes the top is hidden in the clouds. We can also see the harbour, more pics to follow


It's been an amazing two days. We've opened a bank account, mastered the MTR and shopped at a street market. We cooked and ate the results and survived! I'm already brave enough to sit on the window ledge and look down to the ground 61 floors below (and another 60 odd above on the building opposite). Here are some views:

Still here

Ok I know this is meant to be about Hong Kong....but we are still in Scotland! Departure date now set for sure for Wednesday 11th. So, meantime, here are a couple of pictures of Callum playing on Eyemouth beach.

Empty wardrobe

The Packers have been and gone, our goods are now en route to a storage facility somewhere in Hong Kong. It's that same thing I had when we went to South Africa...even though I know everything has gone, it is still a shock to open a door and find no clothes there! All my books have gone away too, so I am relying heavily on my Kindle. One problem; it's just too easy to buy books! One flick of my right thumb and wheee! There it goes! Another book added to my list! Superb!
I've become hooked on the psychological thrillers by Sophie Hannah, they are real page turners,so for the moment I've laid aside my Orange Prize shorlist(I've got until 8 June to finish them all) in favour of Hurting Distance, Lasting Damage and A room swept white. Now that our departure has been delayed until 11 May, I'm delighted that I'll be able to catch the first televised Sophie Hannah novel, Point of Rescue, before we go.
Today is Easter Monday, Les was off work and the sun was shining so we went to Crieff for lunch. The drive up was through beautiful spring countryside; rolling hills, green green grass, tiny lambs, sparkling rivers and the air was so fresh. That's the kind of outing I'll miss when we (finally) get to Hong Kong.

Back after the break

I haven't havered in a while because I've been on holiday in preparation for my permanent holiday! A week in Eyemouth and a week in Bristol gave me lots of time to get used to my new Kindle. So far I've read Mayor of Casterbridge for free, and bought the Orange prize shorlist.I've already read Room and the Tiger's Wife and I'm enjoying Great House. Jury's still out on The Tiger's wife, I'll rate it when I've read the others. I'll just download the free samples of the rest of the long list to see what it missed out on.That's a great feature on Kindle!
Update on the move; the packers have done the survey and will be here on Wednesday 20th to take our wordly goods away over the seas. We have cultural training on Thurday and Friday and Les has all his farewell dinners this week.We still don't have an address in Hong Kong but as soon as we get the visas, hopefully in time for our arranged flights on 27th, we'll get somewhere to stay sorted out. All sounds a bit vague I know but I just have to leave it in the hands of the experts. It's good for me to realise I can't control everything!

KINDLE!!!!!!

My Kindle has arrived and as well as a heap of free classic downloads, I've bought my first book. I chose Tea Obreht The Tiger's Wife" as it's on the Orange Prize long list and I plan on reading most of them. So it's been downloaded, looks good and I will start to read it at bedtime. I must thank all my former colleagues for their generous gift which paid for the Kindle and all the downloads!

RETIRED

I am now officially retired, uemployed, no longer working! As I normally have Friday off it hasnt sunk in yet!Here are some pics taken at the library tea party! More cake, mmm!