Ways and means

Sometimes all you need for a bit of inspiration is the ways and means to make it happen. Enter the childhood favorite the moomins.

Thanks to ye who helped facilitate :)

That Holiday Feeling

The end of a long working week makes you feel in need of a holiday - we've all been there. Wanting to get away. Be somewhere else. Be somewhere different. Feel entirely removed from the city and workplace. I may now be living on the other side of the world but in Hong Kong, a tiny Island a fraction the size of the County I grew up in, I have found that holiday feeling half an hour from my front door. My holidays name is Stanley. (And it was about time there were more photos added to this blog - I must thank google for them all!)

All I need to do is hop on the double-decker bus and for c. 80p each way wend my way along the narrow winding roads to Stanley, putting all my faith in the driver of the vehicle that is far too big for the road. It sometimes feels like the attitude to road building here was at times similar to the mindset of those who built the multi-story car park in Kendal: not quite big enough for vehicles. This put-your-life-in-the-drivers-hands feeling is more than worth the initial trauma (after a few journeys you get used to the renegade branches and sudden breaking... it's all about rolling with it!)You leave the city quickly and there doesn't seem to be any gradual change from city to countryside. It is very much a *bam* and you're in it kind of journey.

The bus journey to Stanley from either direction also allows for excellent beach viewing. Not being a huge beach lover (I still haven't properly "been to the beach" yet) I wouldn't know what to look for, but a few of the beaches I have seen on the way to Stanley have made me want to hop out of the bus and straight into the sea. Turtle cove beach is on the top of my list, being slightly removed and nicely enclosed:

Stanley itself has changed dramatically in the years between family visits (but then we are talking a healthy 35 year gap) though Stanley market remains essentially unchanged and the post office looks pretty original:

With the water and the sun and the relaxed feel of the place, any time spent in Stanley is like having a holiday - made better by the the knowledge that it doesn't matter if you don't "do everything" as you can always pop down again next week and you never know what you're going to find anyway!

The Dark Bathtub: #2

They had little in common, the younger woman and the older one. At the root of these differences was of course age, but this was compounded by differences in culture, in class and in language. They could not communicate with each other through speech. So when the younger woman went in search of something, it was not going to be a simple task to achieve. At first the older woman wasn't there. Every time she went in during that day she did not see her. Not once. It was very strange that it should be so, for it was more usual to see her what felt like ten times a day; and this week of all weeks she needed to find the older woman. Two days later their paths once again crossed. The older woman saw her and approached her from across the room. She said something. Something that the younger woman had no hope of understanding. The younger woman shook her head and smiled apologetically as she made this point clear. The older woman advanced towards her - towards the cupboard on wall. Opening it, she took down what the younger woman had been looking for and handed her the two knives.

© Nancy Laidler 2012

The Dark Bathtub: #1

They ran to a strict timetable, especially in the afternoons when the frequency of people milling around the small space was higher. Each lesson ran seamlessly into the next, the changeovers at 4pm and 5.30pm smooth and on the dot like a well oiled machine. A machine that did not cope well with disruption. He appeared in the doorway of the classroom at 3.55pm. 'Do you know where the Guess Who? cards are?' he asked, easily heard by the assembled mass in the library. The two teachers for whom the remark was intended knew what he meant and both shook their heads and uttered apologies. He nodded and, muttering, withdrew back into the classroom closing the door behind him. The two teachers subliminally glanced at the clock, and then at each other. Unable to say anything whilst surrounded by parents and students they simply raised their eyebrows in a simple, wordless communication. The class was not going to finish at 4pm.

© Nancy Laidler 2012

On Finding Your Way...

In all honesty it is a wonder how anyone finds anything in Hong Kong. There is hardly a direct route to anything. The one exception I can think of is the elevated walkway that takes you straight into Immigration Tower (though as I discovered this only works if you exit the MTR station in the right direction.)

No, in Hong Kong it sometimes feels like you have to go round in five circles, do eight star jumps, a hopscotch and then you might as well throw in the monster mach for good measure - and that's well before you even reach your destination. It's not that things aren't well signposted - the signposting in Hong Kong is some of the best I've seen - You just cannot go anywhere in a "straight" line.

Not that this is something to really complain about - you get to see a lot of the city and take in the atmosphere, but at this time of year the heat (or rather humidity) can make it somewhat of a challenge. On the upside, this convoluted way of getting to places means that you can stumble across the most extraordinary and fantastic things that otherwise you might never have found.

In Hong Kong you never know what may be around the next corner!

The Thor Factor

I can now truly say that I can understand how Norse myths and legends came about!Wednesday nights thunderstorm was incredible! There were thunder claps that I could swear made my bones shake and at times the lightening might as well have been strobe lights, and all as I was about to go to sleep! Naturally the only reasonable thing to do in this situation was.... to get up and watch the storm!

Here is a picture of the storm that was the prequel to Typhoon kai-tak (coincidentally also the name of Hong Kong's old airport!)

Thanks to a more skilled photographer than me for managing to capture this most incredible of storms. And much as I enjoyed and in awe of the spectacle; I do request that next time Thor is up for a fight that he goes about it with a little more subtlety.... Is that asking too much....

Always worth a try...