My Relationship with a tall, dark, rich, daily fix!

Coffee is poison – yes really – it is toxic – addictive – unhealthy in the long term – but oh man does it taste good and does it make me feel good!!!!!

I remember laughing at people who claimed they got a ‘kick’ from coffee many moons ago, now it is me who is addicted and need that boost in the morning to make me function.

I think I owe it to an ex-boyfriend (who will not get any credit here, note the ex part) for getting me into ‘real’ coffee and not that freeze-dried brown-coloured sawdust you buy in a jar, that possibly once tasted like coffee, or grew in a field next to coffee, or once had a conversation with coffee but has no relation to ‘actual’ coffee whatsoever.

Starbucks became a daily delight then a requirement.  And  I am a simple soul – I don’t need any fancy additions like syrups, creams, powdery sugar toppings – no just give me a black coffee with hot milk, no sugar as I am sweet enough (well once I’ve had my coffee I am) and I dont need to order something that is difficult to pronounce even though I am semi-literate in four languages.  The day the barista can read my mind will be a happy day for me.

I am grateful to Starbucks for getting me through my 12 hour shifts in Sainsburys before heading off to University to sit in a lesson for three hours where everyone around me clearly did not have a coffee addiction as they could barely raise their hands never mind their eyebrows at that time of night. It did worry me when I started with the extra shot – one, then two, then three, then four and when I asked for a five shot americano in my regular shop – one barista had the audacity to mention that maybe he shouldn’t be serving me five shots.  I think my withering look and deep growl was enough to convince him otherwise.  It was only when I moved into a regular Mon-Fri, 9-5 job that I realised how addicted to caffeine my body actually was, the withdrawal symptoms were not pretty, especially starting a new job where you kinda want to make a good impression right?  Thankfully I had landed in the perfect job – with some lifelong friends (and amazing memories).  That coffee got me through my final exams and my dissertation so I really should be grateful.

In Hong Kong the barista knows my name, my order and I have my own mug for when I am sitting in (thanks Mike Price x ) and my reusable mug for my $3 discount, sorry saving the environment (thanks again Mike Price). And even walking into my local makes me feel better.  I am now having one coffee a day to perk me up and make my brain clearer but SHOCK HORROR it seems that it makes no difference to my brain function  or my concentration – what I am actually doing is feeding my withdrawal symptoms!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2343424/If-coffee-perks-you-need-STOP-drinking-it.html

SIDENOTE – yes I am not a fan of large conglomerate organsations taking over the world but Starbucks is my one concession to as when you move half way across the world, sometimes you can dream you are back home waiting for your sister or friend to turn up for a natter while in familiar surroundings – you do what you can to get over the homesickness, trust me.

Anyway off for my daily fix! Love y’all x x

Conversations with a Landlord

I should have known the minute I stepped into my apartment five years ago and there were no light bulbs in the fittings that the landlord was a class A bitch.

But after living 40 years in the same country and going through the property ladder a maximum of two times with the minimum of fuss, I thought how bad could it be? I was a big girl in a big city, renting an apartment for the first time all by my lonesome and it ticked a lot of boxes so hey ho, here we go.

Not a stick of furniture, just a massive pink suitcase and a laptop to my name, but people are transient in Hong Kong and there is always someone getting rid of furniture of some shape and size- so from a kind work colleague giving me a single bed and a two-seater sofa, I now have a three bedroom apartment with WAY too much furniture and find myself in a position where I have to downsize considerably (see below) so now someone else is getting the benefit of all my spare furniture – what goes around blah blah

Anyway back to class A bitch – approx. four months after moving in, and paying my colossal deposit and my rent monthly by automatic bank transfer, she contacts me by telephone, shouting (yes shouting and in very bad English) that I had not paid the rent last month. Turns out after a week of to-ing and fro-ing that she had changed her bank account and did not tell me – would not admit to this but as she gave me a new bank account number it was bloody obvious. I then deducted the bank charges from the next months rent much to her consternation and another screaming match (one sided) ensued- and when I calmly told her that if she could give me a good reason why I should pay the bank charges I would gladly pay double. mmmmm silence

Fast forward – the air conditioning unit in the living room starts to leak in the middle of a very hot summer, so I contact her to tell her I didn’t want the wall to get damaged – she asked if I could get someone to look at it – I asked if that was not her job?! Told her when I was free so she could send someone – conversation went as follows-

Me – so I am free Wednesday and Thursday evening or Sunday afternoon
Class A Bitch – so I can send someone on Tuesday?
Me – no I’m not free on Tuesday
Class A Bitch – so your free on Tuesday?
Me – No, I am free on Wednesday or Thursday evening only
Class A Bitch – so I can see you on Friday
Me – (less calm) I am only free on Wednesday or Thursday evening or Sunday afternoon
Class A Bitch – Ok, so I will send man on Tuesday
Me – you can send the man but I will not be here
Class A Bitch – (snippy) so you need to tell me when you’re free
Me – one last time, I am only free on Wednesday or Thursday evening or Sunday afternoon
Class A Bitch – ok I will send man on Saturday
Me – !!!!!!!!!!!!
Class A Bitch – erro, erro you der, erro, erro
Me – could you please send someone on Tuesday night
Class A Bitch – ok la

Fast forward – the shower is leaking into the spare bedroom, much of the same conversation as above, and man had to come for two days to rip apart my bathroom and I had no access to a shower in the height of summer! Landlord very unsympathetic about this fact and I stayed in town with a ‘friend’.

Fast forward – the dreaded renegotiation of the lease! Tried to raise the rent and I refused – held my ground as I was kinda looking for an excuse to say bye bye but she unbelievably accepted my no raise of the rent rant!

Fast forward – she has changed her bank account another twice without informing me but then calling me to rant about not paying the rent! Sometimes contacting me at midnight. Contacting my help, who then contacts me blah blah. She seems to sense when I am on holiday because she needs to talk to me about some inane thing the minute I get on the plane and then hounds my help for the week or two I am not in the country .

Fast forward – renegotiating after another two years and I was fully prepared for a raise in the rent but not to a silly amount but actually she was reasonable and was quite amenable, apart from forgetting our first meeting. She then hit me with a line that will stay with me for a long long time – she said that I needed to get a better paid job so that I could pay her more rent!!!! Looked at her to see if she was joking but no she was deadly serious! So when I said she should get a job so she wouldn’t need my rent she gave that hysterical Asian laugh that is a disguise for ‘I overstepped the mark’

Fast forward to the final straw (thanks for sticking with it for so long) I unfortunately locked myself out a couple of weeks ago – never in my 30 odd years of having house keys have I done this – thankfully only 1030 at night so contact class A bitch,who lives around the corner and she asks why I am calling int he middle of the night! Then tells me she cannot find the keys, well you haven’t looked as we are still having a conversation doh! She then told me this was not her problem, and I would need to sort it out myself, ten minutes of the conversation like this and she got to the stage where her response was ‘whatever’ to anything I asked or said – I hung up the phone before my demon that lives inside reached through the phone and hauled her skinny ass through the phone to pound her against the wall – 5 minutes later as I was calming down my help called me – yes folks you’ve guessed it right my class A bitch had called my help to come let me in my house! My help lives a 25 minute taxi ride away! one way! I was raging and it was difficult for me to get May to understand that I was not angry with her but the class A bitch – as by now I have gone full Glasgow on everyone’s ass! When I tried to call my class A bitch to chew her out about contacting my help she wouldn’t answer the phone of course so a curt text warning her of the dangers of contacting May again was dispatched with a note to say I would be looking for alternative accommodation as soon as possible!

So you can look forward to my next installment about flat hunting in HK and the crazy realty agents that abound on street corners and rub their hands together when they see a white person approach!

Wish me luck

2012 – The year that I……………………..

WAS HEALTHY – in comparison to the last two years this has been my healthiest year so far!  Was only sick for 3 months out of 12!  Good old vitamin C and antibac handwash is a wonder when you live with 7 million other people in a small metropolis. Stopped eating white  foods (bread and rice) red meats just need to beat the sugar addiction next year.

DISCOVERED more of this amazing city – will it ever end?  There are still places I have not been to after four years on these shores.  And there are still places a short flight away to discover too. I also realised that after working on the Island, I am definitely a Kowloon girl, it’s just more gritty and realistic.

LAUGHED with friends, old and new.

CRIED with friends, old and new.

SURPRISED my best friends. (and myself if I am honest!)

WATCHED my friends getting married and making a lifelong commitment to each other (and make a little bit of history) was one of my sweetest moments of 2012.

INSPIRED a new generation of young readers.  When a student buys books like To Kill a Mockingbird and Great Expectations after you deliver a lesson, it gives you a feeling akin to childbirth!

MISSED home to the point of tears for the first time. Not just homesick but being peoplesick is a terrible, terrible thing – yes I have a lot of love here and would be peoplesick for them if I wasn’t here but not going home this year only got tough towards the end of the year.  I missed my friends new babies being brought into the world (thank god for Skype and Facebook). I missed my sons graduation (he told me he wasn’t doing the whole ceremony thing).

EXPERIENCED Japanese toilets and hospitality for the first time in a 24 hour stay in Tokyo Haneda airport!

HAD VISITORS – big sister experienced her first Chinese New Year and much fun was had by all!  Kevin and Kat experienced Wanchai and Ladies Night for the first time and the after effects that go on and on and on…….!  Who will 2013 bring?

WORKED with some amazing people, and learned that there is always, always room for laughter in teaching languages!

TRAVELED to NYC and loved loved every minute of it, even the 30 hour journey each way.  Turns out if you live in Hong Kong you can handle taxi cab drivers and public transport worldwide!  This city will always be in my top 5 x x big love x

GOT a little grayer and a few more laughter lines but had the best birthday ever and really felt the love from my HK family and friends!

SO that’s it – my review of my 2012 and here’s to a fantastic and fabulous 2013 and I hope my loved ones stay healthy and happy and in touch!  x x x x x

 

It’s pouring sunshine everywhere!

The weather is topical no matter where you live – and everyone thinks that because I live in a hot country I must be lucky right? Wrong!  It seems to me that the whole world revolves around the weather no matter where you live – nobody is happy with their lot. What is evident is that some places are more prepared for their weather conditions than others.

Here is what it is like to really live in a tropical country

SUMMER – APRIL through NOVEMBER

  • you live in this constant hum of Air Conditioning at home, in school etc and getting from A to B is like running the gauntlet of temperatures. 35+ outside to go into a shopping mall it becomes -20 or that is what the extremes feel like.
  • there are beasties – bigger than anything I have ever had to deal with in my life. dirty big, fast as fuck, cockroaches that terrify me!
  • it is dripping wet all summer – dripping from the air conditioning in the apartments above the street, dripping water from the leaves because of the high levels of humidity, like walking fully clothed in  a sauna! Dripping sweat from every pore in your skin while you stand at the bus stop for all of two minutes!
  • Typhoons – always threatening but never arriving in the daytime, therefore no time off work! Typhoons are the big winds of Asia – here is the warning system as I see it
  • T1 – a wee bit blawy and pishin it doon (need to bring yer washing in)
  • T3 – a wee bit mair blawy and fair pishin it doon (everyone gets excited about the prospect of leaving work early/not having to work in the morning)
  • T8 – enough to blaw ye into next week and droon the cat (yay nae work, nae taxi/buses/ferries/flights etc)
  • T10 – the wicked witch of the west will be by on her broomstick any moment

The months of August and September revolve around everyone on storm watch from the Hong Kong Observatory website and discussing when and if it will hit us – we all seem to forget that we are the lucky ones with good construction, (rooftop dwellings aside – see previous post)  good sewage systems and an army of street cleaners to tidy everything up – when these tropical storms hit the Philippines or Thailand they can cause a lot of damage and destuction even result in death – and here we are all hoping for a morning off work – makes you think eh?

However one positive after the storm is that the air is clear for about two days before the build up of humidity and pollution takes ahold again.

AUTUMN – NOVEMBER through DECEMBER

Yes the shortest autumn in the world and the main difference is that the humitidy drops massively, the temp goes below 30 and the sun just glares on regardless.  The minute the temperature drops to below 30 and by that I mean 28 – the locals have their 100 denier tights on and boots like they live in Central Poland!  by December the puffa jackets come out from storage and sitting next to someone on the MTR is likely to induce a duvet style coma, that is if you can fit between them! This is actually my favourite time of year –

  • you can feel the coolness in the air,
  • there are less, beasties (all hibernating) and the air is just fresher,
  • I don’t have to live with the constant hum of Air Conditioning and I can actually open my windows of a day or night without the damp spores attacking and ruining every item of fabric in my home!
  • You can go hiking, have a BBQ and stand at a bus stop without being drenched in sweat from head to foot.
  • cook mince and tatties without feeling stupid or homesick too much

WINTER- JANUARY through FEBRUARY 

Yes we have winter here but not as you know it Scotland!  The temperature will drop to about 15 degrees in the daytime and horror of horrors about 10 degrees at night, now before you all start shouting at the screen about that being a Scottish summer consider the following

  • our walls have no insulation
  • our rooms have great big gaping holes in them covered by an air conditioning unit
  • our windows are not double glazed
  • our floors have no carpets they are mainly  marble tiles
  • nowhere has a heating system, restaurants, shopping malls, offices and especially schools

Now, there is a little known fact that when you live in a hot country your blood is thinner which means you find it more difficult to deal with the cold, forty years in freezing cold weather cancelled out by four years in a hot humid country – hardly seems fair.  Locals deal with this cold by wearing puffa jackets everywhere, doubling them in size, making it extremely difficult to sit next to them on the MTR! Layering is the way forward and when you have kindergarten kids coming to class wearing 7 tops and then a jacket – they look like mini Michelin men who can barely bend their arms – it all becomes laughable! The best present anyone ever gave me to bring back to HK was a hot water bottle and a beanie for the microwave – they become my bed buddies almost every night! So when I am on Facebook moaning about the cold have a little sympathy as you sit in your centrally-heated, double-glazed, carpeted house!

SPRING – THE MONTH OF MARCH 

Quite literally on the 1st of March, you wake up to a sauna!  the humidity is excruciating after the dry cold few weeks of winter – you forget instantly what fresh air was like and realise that you have about 7-8 months of this and wonder why you are here, then you sit on a rooftop bar sipping a cocktail watching the lights and chatting with friends and it all goes away!

So, there you have it my view on living in a hot country – comments welcome x x

Once upon a Rooftop

I chanced upon this short documentary and thought I would share it with you – I do not like this side of Hong Kong where it is deemed acceptable for there to be such a huge disparity of living conditions and social structure in Hong Kong.

The government turn such a blind eye to housing issues, and allowing landlords to raise the rent regardless of what the property/location is actually worth.  I know I am blessed to live where I do and I put a lot of my opportunities down to my education and being able to have options – but none of it came easy as most of you know.  I love Hong Kong with my heart and soul but struggle with the inequalities of living here.

http://documentarystorm.com/once-upon-a-rooftop/

Any feedback/thoughts would be welcome – it’s only 20 minutes – it will end quite abruptly and if you want to sign up to the website for more then please feel free but these 20 minutes are enough for a good insight of how the other half live in paradise!

Today’s Hong Kong Snapshot #1

Today, on the MTR I was standing minding my own business, reading my Kindle (In One Person by John Irving in case you are interested), holding onto the pole for safety sake, when someone brushed past me, I looked up to see an elderly gentleman pass by me (at some speed I may say) he walked over to the end seat that is clearly marked by being red and highlighted for use by the elderly, the pregnant etc.

There was a woman fast asleep in this seat, he proceeded to bend over tap her arm (none too gently), the guy next to her, who was wide awake, indicated that he would move, but the elderly gentleman then tapped the lady’s arm even firmer.  the young guy obviously presumed as I did that the elderly gentleman knew the lady who was fast asleep.  The poor lady opened her eyes like she had been in a deep sleep and didn’t know if she was in New York or New Year  and the elderly gentleman then indicated that she was to move out the way,by very abruptly jerking his arm for her to move!  The poor woman was so confused but being from polite society where the elderly skip the queues in banks as part of every day life, she had no choice but to move.

Now, I am happy to give up my seat for anyone who looks like they need it and in fact most Chinese are surprised that a Gweilo girl would get up for them until I use my supercantonese of Chaw Die La M’Goy (sit down please) then they are very impressed – but and I cannot stress that hard enough – that if anyone wakes me up to move me, there will be hell to pay – you heard it here first – I will go all Glasgow on their ass and will probably end up in jail where I am sure you will all visit me or send me Cadbury’s Chocolate Buttons at least!

Love you all – just don’t wake me up!

Lost in Translation – Part 1

This is from an old email that I sent to my friends as it happened but thought I would share this with my new friends and followers – Part 2 is about a more recent ‘lost in translation’ episode with the same hospital!

Now for the drama – for the first time ever after travelling I did not fall sick with the usual chest/voice/throat issues and really should have known better to say hey hey look at me – not sick.  Two Sundays ago I had a bit of a pain in my side, and some crampish pain in my back – put it down to just normal aches and pains, but by late evening was kind of doubled over with the pain, did the unthinkable and tried to ignore it as best as I could, took some pain killers and when I woke up in the morning and it wasn’t so bad.  But it kept flaring up during the day but not to the doubling over extent , made an appointment with Dr Max and he prodded and poked and had me wincing away and referred me to a specialist for an ultrasound scan.  First appointment could get was Friday so was happy to wait (you know how I hate doctors and these medical malarky procedures) – struggled through the week but woke up on Thursday with a really chesty cough and by Friday had a fever and the cough was a lot worse – went with my friend Ann to the scan and all hell let loose then!
After the scan – he sat me down and said my kidneys looked normal but that I needed further tests as it could be appendicitice.  Now at this point I am thinking oh right need to go to another place but he said so you go to hospital for a few days and get the tests – at this point I turn round to my friend Ann and said why is he telling me to go to hospital for a test – all the while trying to hold in the tears – Ann then said now listen Dr Chan Lisa has no money and no husband so can you refer her to government hospital – I then looked at Dr Chan who clearly thought he we were lunatics escaped from the asylum and I just said my job had no medical cover.  Ann then said we would go on Monday no hurry – Dr Chan said I needed to go now – I said but I am going to a party tomorrow night and I want to wear my party dress!  And he was trying to say I needed to go now but not panic me so I was getting all these mixed messages. Go now but nothing to worry about but you must go now! This poor doctor!!!!
We left with our referral letter for A&E and met our friend Dee (yes only in HK do you get sent to hospital, but you stop off in Wanchai to meet a friend in the pub first)  One taxi ride later, with my fever going sky high, one triage session where I just kept saying read the letter, read the letter, we got through to the treatment area which being a Friday night was quite busy but not in a Glasgow way, no drunken stab victims in sight.  As we were waiting we were the only ones laughing and the only westerners.  My friend Dee made the classic line of ‘lets pretend we are foreigners and they might see us sooner’ and as Ann and looked at her she realised what she had said! As a blonde, brunette and red head sat in a Hong Kong emergency room it wasn’t difficult to work out we were the ‘foreigners’!  They eventually called me – gave me another ultrasound poked and prodded but as the painkillers had worn off it was much worse this time.  A round of urine and blood test and x-rays only meant that I needed to be admitted – but by this stage all I wanted to do was lie down and sleep – blur of getting to the ward, getting changed, questions, Ann dealing with everything and then falling in and out of sleep with an IV drip being shoved none too gently in my arm being pumped full of drugs.
Doctor came on morning rounds and I was barely able to focus on his questions but burst into tears when he said he was transferring me to the surgery ward!  Nice!  Got myself together, transferred onto another bed and taken out into the corridor where I text friends to say what floor I was going to and a kindly wee nurse said did I want help calling my family – well that made me burst into tears as no-one at home knew what was going on!  And I didn’t want to panic them.  When I arrived in the surgery ward, they had no bed for me so got left in the corridor!  sounds bad but actually was OK as I was so far out of it with my fever that I could have cared less.  It is a blur of people coming asking me how to address me and when I started giving my address they were very confused!  Damn having a middle name – they kept calling me Jayne and when I didn’t respond they would get someone else to ask me – cue a million people calling me Jayne before I realised what was going on! Kept asking for something for my head as I thought it was going to explode, lost the ability to open my eyes and focus and just wanted to be left alone, corridor or no corridor!  Was poked and prodded and more blood taken, IV changed from arm to hand, no veins found and was told it was because I was thick (nice way of saying fat) Two of my friends dropped in with a goonie and some toiletries but couldn’t stay for long as they took so long to find me visiting hours were over.  At one point before the ct scan they came to explain everything to me and he told me that he would inject me with contrast which took a minute for me to work out and I said ‘oh dye’ whereby he took my hand very gently and said that no I wasn’t going to die!
Scan showed my appendix was ok, my kidneys were ok so they diagnosed with acute kidney and urinary tract infection and they just pumped me full of drugs and starved me! They gave in to my demands on Sunday about going home even though they wanted to keep me in for observation but I just wanted to go home.  They gave in and I got home on Sunday evening with my friends arriving like Charlies Angels to whisk me home – have not done a lot but sleep to be honest and type this mammoth email.  All scary stuff but am on the mend, still on drugs and bedrest, hopefully nothing long term to deal with and next week is Chinese New Year Holiday so will get even more rest than I bargained for.
I can honestly say that the health care I was given – even if my doctor was called Rainbow!  – was first class and that was the government hospital, god knows what the private care is like. It is all part of my HK adventure – got to take the good with the bad, and it has made me realise what a lucky girl I am to have so many wonderful and supportive friends in HK.

The Life of a Hong Kong Tai Tai

This is a quick one I have been sitting on for a while – please watch the video rather than just read my ramblings.

I plan to do a series of blogs on the people of Hong Kong more specifically the different types of ex-pats you have living in Hong Kong, but I wanted to share this with you first – tai tai stands for basically a bored housewife who spends all the husbands money and wants for nothing – sound ideal?  watch the video and see what you think – I personally think I would rather be poor and have a million friends no matter where they are in the world than live this kind of life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdx6q4FpX0M

What is it they say – walk a mile in someone else’s shoes before you judge them? Aren’t we all guilty of judging others? I like to think that I take people on face value and this is why I have such a good range of friends from fellow school teachers who like me are sustaining themselves here to millionaire divorcees who have raised their children and family here, I count them all as my equal friends and I enjoy their company no matter what their circumstances are – for me it is more about a personality thing than what you own/are able to own.

Enjoy – feedback welcome x x

HK vs NYC (including TOKYO) Part 2

Ok so the jet-lag never appeared, – now I did sleep for two days straight so that may have something to do with the no jetlag thing! But I am not complaining.

I became the unofficial tour guide of NYC for my friends as, along with them, I was amazed at how much I remembered from my two previous trips. The whole grid system never really changes and the whole ‘uptown/downtown’ thing is really the easiest way to get yourself around. Once James got over the initial shock (took him about three hours) we set off to do all the touristy things – Empire State Building for the fan of high places Mr DJ, it was very busy but it was sunset so that explained it!  We managed to fit in a lot of the touristy things and yet it still felt quite chilled – must have been all those hours waiting on four gay guys in Abercrombie and Fitch, those leather chairs are really comfortable and watching all the clones was interesting to say the least – I am pretty sure that in years to come when I have respiratory problems I could sue Abercrombie a nd Fitch for inhaling all that aftershave air freshener!

Tuesday was the collection of the marriage papers and let me tell you an hour in NYC City Hall is worth a lifetime of laughter – it needs to be included on all of the tour guides agenda as this is where you really get a slice of life with no holds barred! The tattoos, the fashion, the shoes, the sights…………… seriously not to be missed!

The first thing that struck me after 4 years of living in cramped HK was the space, the sidewalks were massive, if they were in HK they would have illegal construction sites and housing for about a thousand people going up willy-nilly. You could actually walk beside your friend (or two) and have a civilised conversation instead of doing the whole ducking and diving in and out of the crowd and therefore the conversation being interrupted every two minutes!  It was bliss, total bliss.  Yes it was busy but busy with more space too!

The noise was different too – much more muted, less shouting although not from the massive black guy shouting ‘getthef***outamaway’ in Times Square to a guy with a video camera waiting at the lights! People were talking in civilised tones, nobody was doing the guttural throat-phlegm-clearing about to spit on the street act, that still to this day makes me cringe and sometimes want to vomit!

Pedestrian crossings were interesting too – we faithfully waited at our first crossing for the man to flash up in white not green to which Mike shouted out ‘WHITE MAN’ at the top of his voice as a huge black guy was standing behind him!!! This raised an eyebrow from the guy and mortification followed by huge laughs from all of us so we decided to shout out WALKING MAN as a notification instead! But the weirdest thing was while you were walking across the zebra crossing thinking you were safe, a car was slowly creeping around the corner making a left turn, this is legal!  Oh this would cause pandemonium in HK, not many of the drivers would slow down for a start!

The whole reason for me being in NYC was to see two of my best friends get married – I was so proud to be able to be part of their special day, seeing them commit to each other for the rest of their lives and be able to feel that happiness from everyone around them.  The walk down 5th Avenue with four men in kilts was interesting, we became the tourist attraction for some that day!  Quote of the day from a passer-by ‘ah don’t see the bride, where is the bride, this must be the grooms family!) I recently watched the video of the wedding again and it still makes me cry (just like I did on the day, why do I get so emotional at weddings?) We had a fantastic meal in the Peninsula hotel restaurant and cocktails on the rooftop at sunset – it really was a perfect day but the best part was how relaxed and happy both James and David were, it made everything all the more special.

All too soon it was time for us to say goodbye – the boys had an early morning flight and I was able to sleep for a few more hours before leaving the hotel – I think I found a secret formula to saying goodbye (always the worst part for me) and it is wake me up in the middle of the night (4am)to say goodbye!  The boys were off to their next American adventure without little old me!  but a girl has to have some limits – I had a whole day in NYC to myself before I started my behemoth of a journey again – after a nice breakfast in Juniors diner in Grand Central Station I jumped on the train to MOMA – one of my favourite museums in the world apart from the Musee D’Orsay in Paris, I mooched around while listening to my ipod, drinking my coffee, soaking up the culture of some amazing artworks and feeling very grown up!

Headed back to the hotel to pick up my luggage, find the bus, get to the airport to find the weirdest check-in set-up in the world.  No staff just an array of machines where you scan your own passport, key in all your details and then queue up to have your luggage weighed and get your boarding pass – at this point – after listening to a French couple in front of me have a major domestic in full voice – I realised that the self-check system had only allowed me to check me through to Haneda, Tokyo and I needed my luggage to go all the way through to HK otherwise I would be landed with it for 12 hours in Haneda!  Well this obviously caused a huge problem and the people were backing up, staff getting stressed, turns out I was 10 minutes over 12 hours and they couldn’t check my luggage all the way through – well I went into a panic as I had no idea if I needed a visa to get into Japan! They then said that this was my responsibility but as I pointed out in my best schoolteacher voice I had no intention of entering Japan as I was only transiting as far as my booking was concerned – so therefore they better find out if I needed a visa right now! Thankfully the schoolteacher voice did the job and I got hauled off to the side and given a member of staff who found out in three minutes that indeed I didn’t need a visa and I would be ok – thank feck for that!

Boarded the plane only to realise it was more than half empty! RESULT a nice four seats all to myself! Slept most of the way which was awesome, as it was the same movies and I had seen them all!  Arrived in Japan, got through customs with the minimum of fuss, another stamp in my passport woo hoo!  The search for the Cube Hotel was on – and amazingly I only had to walk the length of the airport three times, on three different levels to find it – but it was worth it.  The Japanese know service I will give them that – the bowing alone made me feel like a princess (well I am a middleton after all) but they were so nice and thankfully I have had some Japanese kids to teach in HK so I was able to understand their stilted attempts at Engrish! The cube was great, with everything a girl could want, a USB charger, a TV  other electrical outlets that just looked plain weird, a mattress which was surprisingly comfortable, a magnetic roller bind for a door, paper thin walls but most importantly earphones to plug into the TV and listen so as not to disturb anyone.  I wasn’t really tired so just dosed on and off but it was better than being out in the airport I suppose.  The absolute best part of this whole experience was the spa shower, where everything was provided for you, towels, soap, sponge,toothbrush etc and then the shower cubicle was not just an overhead shower but jets of hot water pouring out of three walls to hit every part of your body, it was like a massage, and totally refreshed me – so well worth every penny! I would love to go back to Japan and actually leave the airport to experience the whole sights and sounds of  Tokyo – next year maybe!

Anyway my flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong was very nice and I definitely chose the right side of the plane as I had the most amazing view of Mount Fuji – absolutely stunning – this is where I wish I had a decent camera on my crappy phone!

Overall my NYC adventure of 2012 was completely and utterly one of the best experiences of my life and it will take a lot to beat that!!

Love you all

xxxxx