Our Day out at the Queen Mary Hospital for sick actors

What a day indeed. Yesterday morning as I stumbled across the landing to the bathroom I felt a slight twinge in my lower back. Yep you guessed it by lunchtime I was flat on my back in none too good a mood to say the least. After spending the majority of the day on the floor and a rather restless night I called it quits on Monday morning and we set off for hospital. Living on Lantau that is no mean feat either.

As I was lying on the floor I remembered the last time this happened, some fifteen odd years ago and how I had languished in bed for weeks. Anyhow I digress. The three poor ambulance men who turned up probably weighed in at a combined weight of me and had to work hard to get me and the stretcher into the back of the van. One of them looked like he needed the stretcher after picking up the trolley and shoving me into the ambulance. If he is reading this, sorry. After a shiort stop at the local first aid post by the post office, we went by ferry to Hong Kong to discover no ambulance had tuned out to pick us up. I crawled (literally) into the back of a taxi and eventually turned up at the hospital.

To cut a long story short Nuch and I had a great day at the hospital. Nuch had the stndard plastic chair to sit on and I had the bed next to a procession of people who all probably attended the Royal Academy for Performing Arts and graduated with honours in impersonating persons who are on the brink of death but after a quick chat with a doctor and being handed a two day sick note miraculously recover, jump out of bed and skip down the corridor. Actually to be fair there was one fellah who looked quite ill.

Nevertheless, after six hours waiting (no doubt lengthened by my refusal to enter into the spirit of the amateur dramatics) an injection of pain killers in my bum cheek and some antics with a rather bossy nurse on the x-ray table I was told I had "lower back pain" and could either be admitted or go home. As there was no miracle cure on offer........

After two nano seonds of indecision I chose the latter and was swiftly handed three pieces of paper. I wonder how many papers I would have been given if I had decided to stay? The first paper was a list of clinics for physiotherapy, the second to see a specialist on the seventh floor and the third to collect some pills from the first floor.

Nuch andf I shuffled off to the first floor pharmacy where all the actors were hanging around, we then moved on to the seventh floor to make an appointment with the specialist. The nurse there was happy to tell me that I was at the top of the shortest list which meant I could expect to get a letter in the next three weeks telling me when to come back . I asked what it would be like at the bottom of the longest queue and she just laughed.

We went back to the pharmacy to collect the pills and while there we rang the physiotherapy clinic to make an appointment. The kind lady there told me to call back later and put the phone down!.

We went home. I will call the physio clinic tomorrow. Night all

Typhoon Hagupit - A wet and wild night

This is the track of the latest typhoon to zoom past Hong Kong yesterday. Typhoon Hagupit was the third typhoon in the last two months to come our way. Pictures courtesy of the Hong Kong observatory. However unlike other countries who shall remain nameless, we all simply got on with it and did not turn it into international news. OK it did not directly hit Hong Kong but it did (as do most) come quite close. Close enough to close the stock exchange, all schools, banks and ferries and in fact send everyone home from work. No national guard call out though!

This one, on 23 Aug 08, typhoon Nuri was a direct hit and went to typhoon level 10.
And this one, Typhoon Kammuri, on 08 Aug 08 had so much fun it hit land ran down the cosat of China towards Vietnam causing chaos as it went and then turned around and came back on itself before eventually calming down.

Hot gossip re the kindergarten lanterns

It's just too much to bear. It cannot be true? Are the rumours right or is it just malicious tittle tattle to unnerve us all before the results are out? What if it is true? What should we wear? What did we wear last year? What should we say? Do we make a speach or should we shrug it all off as a lucky accident? How will we ever keep ourselves from smirking at all the other pushy parents who laboured long and hard to no avail? It's just too much to take in. Has Matthew really won the "Best in class" award? Roll on the 26th when the votes are finally counted and the prizegiving takes place. Oh if only it could be true?

Disneyland - Hmmmmm

Today we took the boys to Disneyland Hong Kong. We must have been mad. 90 degrees plus and completely cloudless skies. The boys of course were oblivious to the heat and the crowds and just in awe at all the rides and toys and ice creams and rides and toys and ice creams and rides and toys and ice creams. Although children love it, hot and irritable parents are less forgiving when forced to stand in line for an hour and a half to go on a five minute ride of Winnie the Pooh's hunney pot.

You know, actually its not that child friendly a place. They make barriers at the ride queues that just scream to children "climb on me." And the poor attendants spend most of their time runnning up and down the line telling kids to stop climbing them. The answer is (in my synical world) to either make more rides so the kids do not have to queue so long or bring out some distractions, (TV screens with cartoons, actors dressed in character, etc.) and make the barriers less attractive to bored chidlren. Hey ho.

Oh and while I am busy slating Disneyland management I suppose I should add that its great to be able to get food quickly but its not much use when you find there are not enough tables and chairs to sit on. Try explaining to a three year old and a five year old why they cannot have their pizza shaped like Mickey Mouse for twenty minutes while you stalk around the between the diners, silently pressuring some other overheated parent to gobble down the food and vacate the tables. It got me all antsy but the kids still ate the pizza even if it was soggy and cold.

Anyhow, I still got to level 5 on the Buzz Lightyear ride, which is four levels higher than most of the other five year olds who were sitting around me. Who said military training was not useful!

I'm off to bed, I am obviously too tired to be positive about anything.

Night all

Man Kok Tsui - Off with the Roof!!!

We spent Saturday knocking down the wooden roof structure at Man Kok Tsui. Hot and very dirty work but quite rewarding. We had been hiding from this task (or at least I had been) as I had no idea how easy or difficult it would. It turned out to be a doddle.

The roof was made of large 8 x 4 feet sheets of wood, covered with bitumen felt and then netting. We ripped off the netting and then used crow bars to pry the sheets up from the supports. The bitumen was so degraded it just ripped away. Once the roof was off we set about the beams and legs. Sorry no technical terms.

After much grunting and puffing we eventually finished the job in time to have an hour on the beach with the boys and the dog before jumping in the boat back to civilization.

Obviously and before anyone mentions it, the reason I am not in the pictures is I was taking them! . We think removing the roof has done a lot to reveal how much potential the place has. Next will be the wriggly tin affair on the left side of the house.

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Man Kok Tsui - The renovations

As some may or may not know we have begun to renovate our little house at Man Kok Tsui. The house is not quite visible in these pictures as the trees were not pruned back when these photos were taken. You will have to take out word for it when we say it is between the two houses you can see or why not look it up on google earh, here are the coordinates: 22.16.03.14 North and 114.01.14.49 East

At the moment the house is completely empty and we are awaiting the local government to tell us what action if any they are planning to take regarding the slope behind the house itself. As the back wall of the house is now touching the toe of the slope we are hoping that the government will come along and dig the slope back to where it shoud be.

We do not have any decent photos of the house itself yet but we will do soon and as soon as we do we will stick 'em up here. To give you an idea of how remote the place is I have added some pictures showing the beach and pier. Basically the only way to get to the house unless you prefer a 45 minute hike along the coast path.

The Birds

Just two photos of our pet parrots, Wong Dai, the Orange Winged Amazon parrot (on the left) and Mango, the Blue and Yellow Macaw. Wong Dai is approximately eight years old or so and although completely tame with Glyn has never uttered a word. Mango will be seven this year and is a real chaterbox. We have no idea if she is aboy or a girl but we like to think of her as a she. She has an uncanny ability to say hello to anyone who enters the yard. Its great to watch people's reactions as most of the time they have not spotted her in her cage and are looking round to see who is talking. Similarly when people come out of the house and say good bye she will always say goodbye back.

Webcam Samples

For those of you who do not yet have the passwords or logins, here are two sample pictures.

In one picture you can see "NIpper" lying outside her kennel and just make out "Mango" the macaw sitting in her cage behind the bicycles. When I get time I will try and work out how to set up a camera inside her cage (one that is parrot beak proof!)

In the other picture you can see across the garden to the mountains behind. You would never believe this was Hng Kong would you.

Web Cams at MW8

After much head scratching and illogical thought MW8 is now bedecked with two webcams. One is facing the backyard and the other out over the garden to the mountain behind. The cameras are not always on line as the kids keep unplugging them.

http://mw8.ath.cx:1024 and http://mw8.ath.cx:1025 will lead you to the cameras but to see them you will need a log in and a password. I will pass over the passwords etc to those we believe deserve to see into out lives. Sorry no moochers. Do not forget that we are in Hong Kong which is seven hours ahead of UK in the summer and eight hours ahead in the winter.

Mid Autumn Festival - lantern Competition

Each year the kindergarten send the children home with instructions to the parents asking us to help the children make a lantern for the mid autumn lantern festival. And yes for the third year runnning we ignore the letter until the night before the lanterns are due in school.

After some frantic efforts with torn up newspapers, glue made from flour and water and some balloons and paint we eventually arrived at the end result.

Matthew, on the left is proudly displaying his "Sponge Bob Square Pants" lantern while Arthur is holding his "Patrick" lantern.

Nipper - The Fox Terrier

This is Nipper the Fox Terrier. Nipper was rescued / adopted from the SPCA where she had been abandoned with behaviour problems.

Nipper is a great little dog who just loves to play, trouble is she also likes to chase an eat cats!

A true terrier, Nipper just cannot resist the thrill of a chase and feels it is completely acceptable to chase a cat and kill it.

MW8 The Beginning

I decided to make this blog site after trying face book and myspace and just finding them all too complicated and fussy. That's us in the picture on the left there. It was taken last year in Langkawai, malaysia. That's me, Glyn, holding Matthew. And that's Nuch, the love of our lives with Arthur (A.K.A. N#1 Son).

MW8 is a blog site about us and what we get up to. It's for us and our family and anyone else who is interested to enjoy. All we ask in return is we keep it clean, fair but above all fun filled.