And so to Honkers...

[Written on the plane en route from London to Hong Kong]

Well chaps, I’ve learnt one thing in the last three weeks: being a lady of leisure ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.

While you all no doubt thought I was lounging around staying in bed until at least midday, having long walks in the park, perhaps partaking in a few games of bridge with the other ladies what lunch in Clapham, I was in fact running around like a blue-arsed fly.

Who knew that two people could accumulate so much junk that the task of sorting through it to determine what to send on the shipping container, what to pack in suitcases and, most importantly, what to donate to our good friends the landfill sites, would be such a nightmare?

Then there was the actual packing, the clearing, the giving away to charity (and special friends who would appreciate the rubbish that we didn’t want), the cleaning of the whole flat, the gardening (oh yes, that was in the contract too), the attempting to sell the car…be warned people: start getting rid of stuff way, way in advance of your moving date. Or better still; don’t hoard in the first place!

Now obviously the primary purpose of the ramblings so far has been to elicit some sort of sympathy, so you can share my pain and understand that while you’ve all probably been wistfully thinking about how much fun not working would be, when you’re preparing to emigrate – it’s not fun! (Though if the Hong Kong government should happen to call, it’s only Colin that’s emigrating – I’m just “visiting”.)

However, the other significant reason for sharing, is that finally, today, I have no more errands to run, no more packing to do and certainly no more weeds to pull up. Today, I’m free! And I can finally start to get excited about the adventure ahead – bring it on.

We’ve now been in the air for about six hours and I thought it would be a good time to put pen to paper (or in this case, fingers to keyboard) to document some thoughts. So far, I’ve watched two films, eaten a sumptuous lunch of prosciutto & salami with tomato salad, feta and kalamata olives followed by grilled tenderloin of beef with herb roasted potatoes and veg, I’ve had a little nap on my fully flat 6ft 4” bed and I’ve played repeatedly with the seat adjustments (especially the massage function).

As I think about indulging in a light snack, it’s now beginning to dawn on me that we’re off to Hong Kong – meaning not only am I speeding towards a country I’ve never set foot in, I’ve never even been close to the continent in which it’s located. Oh, bugger…

As you can imagine, there is a huge amount of anticipation brewing based on the fact that this isn’t just a little sojourn to check out a former colony and get some authentic dim sum – what if Colin has to work all the hours God sends and I’m stuck at home reminiscing on the days of yore when we used to go out for dinner and drinks? What if I can’t make a career out of writing and end up back in an office doing a job that bores me to tears?

And most importantly, what if everyone who said they’d come and visit suddenly realises they can’t afford it/haven’t got enough holiday/would rather go skiing and I lose touch with life back in the GMT timezone??

The flipside of all this of course, is that I’m incredibly lucky to be able to live in another country and try doing what I enjoy for a living without the pressure of needing to actually earn a decent salary from it. From that standpoint, I can’t wait to get there and get started, especially as the general reaction has been “Wow! My sister/ex-flatmate/mother-in-law’s second cousin’s second husband lives/lived in Hong Kong – and they loved it! It’s amazing.” Just to experience another culture is going to be pretty cool – particularly one that’s not too similar to the one I’ve grown up in. I might even end up learning Cantonese – you never know!

So, the immediate plan is to pick up our priority-tagged luggage whilst looking smugly at the cattle class plebs and then get the ‘tube’ to Kowloon station where our serviced apartment awaits just across the road.

Then we have an orientation tour planned for Tuesday, Colin starts work on Wednesday and I have to get stuck iinto the serious business of finding us a flat and locating the shopping district of course!