Sunday, July 11, 2010

Picking up where I left off


It’s easy to hit the ground running when I already have friends in a place.

Cath and I went to the movies at midday the other day to see ‘Chloe’. I enjoyed the film, but I also really enjoyed the picnic lunch of corned beef and salad sandwiches that Cath brought along, complete with salt and pepper, other condiments, and napkins! The theatre has only about seven rows, so it’s obviously used only for art house films.

Yesterday I went up to Clearwater Bay, in the New Territories, early in the morning to do a walk with a publishing contact, Carol, and her two rescued labradors, Guinness and Penny. The views over the bays and across to various islands were stunning. We ended up at the Tin Hau temple, where there has been a temple of one kind or another since the 13th century, I think Carol said. The last time I was there was in about 1990, with one of my authors and her husband on their private junk. The other guests included an ABC TV film crew from Australia, who were making a documentary about the forthcoming handover of Hong Kong back to China in 1997.

Last night was spent at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC). I had a fabulous time meeting some more of Polly’s friends. Chris is in communications. He has written and published books on buying property in Hong Kong and Japan. He’s good fun and has encouraged me to visit Japan, as did Marty the other night. Ian is an old b/f of Polly’s. He’s with the police. I met him years ago very briefly. A really nice guy. His girlfriend Mary is with a bank and moved here from New York only last year. We had a great talk for hours. Polly’s boyfriend Charlie is a sweetheart. He works in Macau in security with The Sands casino.

Polly and Charlie came by the Helena May this afternoon for a drink. Among other things we talked about my tax status in Australia if I’m no longer going to be a resident there.

I spent four hours today working at the FCC and eavesdropping on the tantalising conversations around me. One guy was flying off to Manila in a few hours to judge an art competition, while another had just had a book published. I chugged away at editing a book on leadership in China and tried not to drop cellophane noodles from my Thai seafood salad on my keyboard.

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