Christmas 2004

For the first time in 24 years, Kevin and I are on our own. How strange it seems! Having no ‘children’ around to draw a picture was the main reason we didn’t print our own Christmas card this year – but also trying to explain what we wanted in non-English speaking print shops proved difficult – we gave up in the end!

We are living in Hong Kong, in a tiny apartment, on the 22nd floor of a block in Discovery Bay, Lantau Island. This is the same island as Hong Kong airport (very convenient for visitors!) but a little more open and less crowded than Hong Kong Island or Kowloon. We have a lovely view of the sea, with Hong Kong in the far distance, and have to commute there daily by ferry, a very pleasant, relaxing way to travel to and from work. Just as on the train into work in Melbourne, this is the time when I read!

Sophie finished school in Australia in December 2003; I gave up my job with the Bank of Melbourne at the end of January 2004. Sophie and I came to join Kevin, who had been here since October 2003, leaving the boys in Australia. We had a lot to do before our move – disposing of things, sorting and packing, organizing where the boys were going to stay etc. We really got into selling unwanted stuff on e-bay, it is amazing what people will buy if they think they are getting a bargain – one man’s junk is another man’s treasure! Sophie and I arrived in Hong Kong to surprisingly cold weather at the beginning of February.

All three boys stayed in Melbourne and Tom is currently trying to arrange permanent residency there. He still enjoys his job as a mechanic with the taxi firm and he and Bec share looking after Aiden. Aiden is now almost 5 and is a lovely little boy. Dan has just finished his degree in Business Studies and is currently “somewhere in the UK”. He intends coming here for a couple of months in the New Year before heading off back to Oz (to get a job??). Matt has almost finished his Outdoor Education course. He has had a wonderful year enjoying all sorts of different pursuits – climbing, bushwalking, kayaking, skiing, sailing… The other two boys also enjoy sailing. Tom has just come back from a week in New South Wales on Lake Macquarie and earlier in the year he was sailing in the Whitsundays, racing in a big cat.

For our first few months in Hong Kong, Sophie and I spent much of the time sightseeing. This was after we had decided where we were going to live and moving in (and spending hours unpacking boxes!). We only brought a small amount of stuff from Melbourne (we left quite a bit with the boys) although Kevin says we still have far too much. Considering the size of the apartment maybe he has a point. Anyway we also had to replace several items of furniture. Sophie and I found every branch of Ikea in Hong Kong. Now she cannot bear the music they play in each store. Sophie and I also went on a short Cantonese course – our main achievements being able to say “How are you?” and to count to ten. Kevin and Sophie also took part in the dragon boat festival in June. They didn’t win anything but great fun was had by all.

In July, Kevin, Sophie and I went over to the UK, partly on holiday and partly delivering Sophie to University. For the first couple of weeks we joined the rest of the family for the Menai Straits regattas. We camped at the same camp site near Beaumaris where we often stayed before we left the UK for Australia. Sophie & Kevin sailed Frank’s Mirror dinghy which was great fun, although, unusually, the regattas were plagued by light winds.

From Anglesey we drove down to Liz & Pete’s (Devon). Kevin returned to Hong Kong from there - but I stayed on for another 7 weeks, and Sophie is still in the UK. I drove three and a half thousand miles in a car kindly lent to me by Uncle Bill. We visited relatives in Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Oxfordshire and Yorkshire. We met up with friends on Anglesey, in Macclesfield, Halifax and Nottingham. Thank you all for taking the time to catch up with us, entertain us, wine and dine us…sorry if we didn’t reach your part of the world…We visited 3 National Trust places and went to the cinema once (Terminal, which I thought was sort of appropriate). We frequented pubs, restaurants and fish and chip shops the length and breadth of the country – and had many a splendid café latte in the Pier Café in Beaumaris. Sophie and I also helped out at Dad’s allotment show.

I finally deposited Sophie at Keele University, the main reason for my visit. She seems to be enjoying it – she is taking biochemistry and forensic science. We will remember the day I took her – I got totally bogged down in mud (I parked on the grass by the hall – it was mayhem with parents taking new students parking all over the place). I had to summon help to get the car to move and at least one student got extremely muddy!!

From Keele I drove to Henley on Thames where I stayed the night with (Aunty) Hilary and (Uncle) Bill before being taken by Robert to Heathrow the following day. I had been away for 9 weeks – as I stepped off the plane the heat and humidity hit me. I had forgotten the atmosphere of Hong Kong, the hustle and bustle, the few white faces, the smell of Chinese food, the noise!

Life in Hong Kong is different. We don’t have a car (very few people do and in fact on our part of Lantau Island, private cars are not allowed. Some people have golf carts – when we first moved here we thought we were living in “The Truman Show”). We get around on public transport which is fantastic. The underground (MTR) is fast, frequent, clean, efficient, cheap and safe. A model for the rest of the world. Around the harbour area there are many ferries. The buses are excellent, and as a last resort there are lots of taxis. The bus drivers must go to a special school to teach them how to drive to maximize the discomfort of passengers. The buses have big engines to deal with some of the very steep hills in Hong Kong, which means when they are in town on level roads they accelerate like Ferraris. This is not fun in a double decker bus. Now that it is no longer the rainy season, the weather has turned extremely pleasant, the humidity has dropped. It is still warm but the locals are already wearing coats and the shops are full of hats and scarves…it is winter! Kevin tells me that it stays like this until at least Christmas. February is the only time it gets cold and even then only for a short time. We have to wait until then for rain too – something we could have done with last weekends when bush fires raged around Lantau. They came worryingly close to Peaceful Mansion (our apartment block) before they were extinguished!

Because it is rarely cold, few apartments have heating, only air-con. (I remember when Sophie and I first arrived, we huddled under duvets to watch the telly!) Most apartments don’t have ovens either – we have one, but many people manage with just a hob and maybe a microwave. I must admit having the oven on can be pretty unbearable when it is hot. Eating out is definitely our first choice – we love all the different fish restaurants where you choose what you are going to eat from an open tank. Even going round the supermarkets feels a little bit like a trip to the Sea Zoo with all the tanks of live fish, lobsters and frogs. Wandering round a live fish market or a ‘wet market’ can be quite an experience. On sale you might see frogs, snakes, birds, fish, strange cuts of meat, bloody fish heads, all sorts of different fruits and vegetables – all to eat.

Living in Discovery Bay is rather like being in a resort. There is a lovely beach, a plaza with supermarket, shops, restaurants and picnic tables where people enjoy a coffee, a take-away, a beer. It is a bit of an ex-pat area, with many families around, and of course their Filipino maids. Kevin has recently been introduced to the sailing club here and has sailed a couple of times. He particularly enjoyed the “Round Hong Kong Island” race. He has also sailed in a colleague’s Sonata. We both enjoy swimming in the residents’ club – although the large outdoor pool is less welcoming than the indoor one now that the temperature has dropped.

Work for Kevin is proving difficult. The Hong Kong government has a budget deficit which is predicted to continue until 2007/8, as a consequence government spending is tightly controlled, which means fewer government projects. This has meant fewer opportunities and an intensely competitive market for consultants. However things seem to be improving. He is also chasing work in China. The money which will have to be spent in China in the next decade on water and air quality improvement is mind boggling, the challenge is how to win your share of the work. In the meantime regular trips across the border and the occasional Chinese banquet make for an interesting time.

Since I returned from the UK I have found a job – I am working for an agency, tutoring maths to all levels and some English. So far I have been doing about 10 hours per week, plus traveling. This is OK because it has meant I have also managed to join in with some ex-pat courses and outings – from discovering Hong Kong, to learning some of the history of the place, to greetings card making, to pearl necklace making. An invitation from someone I met on one of these courses saw Kevin and I at our first American Thanksgiving on November 25th. During that evening someone said – only a month until Christmas…

And now we are almost there – Tom and Aiden will be in Melbourne as will Matt, although he seriously considered a trip to the UK where Dan will be spending Christmas. I had thought Sophie would be here with us in Hong Kong. However the cost of her ticket this way is not much less than 2 of us going in the opposite direction – so Kevin and I are making a flying visit and joining the party at the Brienses’ (21 of us…). We are really looking forward to our first Christmas and New Year in the UK since 1997.

All that leaves me just to sign off. We wish you all the very best for Christmas and 2005 (The year of the Chicken).

Love Sue and Kevin XX