Late night ramblings

Thank god for English tea. With full fat milk. And Rich Tea biscuits, or even chocolate digestives. (McVities of course)

Despite my fantasies about relocating to another country to do something fabulously different, I have my reservations about leaving the things I love best behind. Now I've travelled a fair amount, I've been to the US, Canada, Hong Kong, China, Italy, France, Czech Republic and so on. Out of all the places I've been, I wouldn't
mind working in Canada, or Italy, or Japan, but the problem is, nowhere I have ever been can make a decent cup of tea. Either the tea is bad, or the milk is crap. Let's not even bother talking about tea in the US - it doesn't exist. It's so sad. My life without decent tea couldn't be worth living. I'd give up my iPod, my digital
camera, maybe even my treasured Celestion speakers.

I suppose it wouldn't be all that bad. Even flying to New Zealand is only a day away. I have plenty of contacts here to send me staples like biscuits, chocolate and tomato ketchup.

Anyway, back to Hong Kong. It's an interesting place. Lots of noise, people and animals. Last year I was there the breaking news was an escaped crocodile roaming around the New Territories. They flew in Australian experts to catch it but they failed miserably, despite the camera crews being able to get footage of it
swimming along the rivers around where my mum grew up. They should have gotten Steve Irwin in.
The things I noticed about Hong Kong this time round were that

a) they don't believe in small fines - smoking in a non-designated place will cost you a $5000 fine.
Littering, spitting, eating and drinking in train stations will cost you between $1000-$3000. I think that
the local councils in the UK should take note.
b) they don't believe in hurrying. anywhere.

I will be the first to admit that working in the city for 4 years has made me somewhat of a hardened Tube commuter.
I have mellowed somewhat in the more recent years but the London commuter is a highly strung, easily frustrated sort. I don't really blame them, given that the cost of travelling is high and the service poor. I read in the Metro recently that they've agreed a deal where Tube workers will have a reduced working week to 35 hours and 52 days holiday a year. I can only dream. The only time I get to work
a 35 hour working week is if I have a day off. Anyway, I digress. The point is that everyone in Hong Kong walks like my 80 year old grandma. Now she has bad knees so I can excuse her walking slow but the rest of the country? I don't even know
how it's possible to walk that slow, it's almost painful to follow their pace. Coupled with the fact that due to the new road safety campaigns the populace doesn't jaywalk any longer and waits patiently for the red man to turn green it makes
walking around Hong Kong very slow and frustrating.

I've just noticed a woodlouse walking halfway up the wall. I think it's amazing that they can do that so nonchalantly.
It kinds of makes me wonder why humans haven't evolved any more - when are we going to be able to walk up walls? It would come in so handy! So I could understand that perhaps the height imbalance makes walking upright impossible
but I'd settle for being able to crawl :)

*****

It's been a busy week back at work. I was most surprised at the beginning of the week to discover that I had acquired a prank caller - someone who would ring and then hang up when I answered. Someone who also left me an answerphone message of them hanging up. Luckily they seemed to have given up calling now. My 'not-secret' admirer paid me a visit today - he was apparently down to see a different colleague who is on holiday this week so he thought perhaps that I might be able to help. I wasn't. It seems so complicated, this modern day political correctness -
and the eggshells of opposite-sex relationships. Perhaps I should invite this guy down to the pub so we could both get drunk and I could ask him straight out and lay things out in the open. I guess it wouldn't really help all that much even if I knew, and a little demoness inside also thinks it would spoil half the fun. :)

I was watching the Miss World lineup this evening. Besides wondering how on earth Miss UK had been nominated when I've seen total strangers on the tube more attractive, I have always wondered exactly what the point of the competition is.
And why on earth these women would waste their time trying to win it. Yeah sure, there is a reasonable cash prize but surely there are other types of modelling offering much more rewarding financial perks, and also the bonus of being taken a little more seriously? The whole idea of a competition in which hundreds of young, gorgeous women parade in neon bikinis seems too much
like a man's idea :) It's all too superficial for me and I probably wouldn't appreciate the program like a guy would but it's still fun to bitch about each candidate. Having said that, Miss Japan, Miss Korea, Miss Malaysia and Miss Dominican
Republic would definitely do it for me. Speaks volumes about my taste in women ;)

I just visited the website www.missworld.tv and discovered this:

"Simon Cowell’s latest musical protégés Il Divo and multi-Grammy award winning soul sensation Lionel Richie are both confirmed to perform live at the Miss World 2004. The Chinese hosts of the 2004 event are so thrilled at his attendance that 3rd December, the day Lionel Richie arrives in China, has been declared National Lionel Richie Day by the Chinese Government."

Wonder how Simon Cowell felt about that. Also must find out what the chinese are expected to do on National Lionel Richie Day...