i am back once again (in HK, in case I read this years from now). it's as though i never go to places anymore, i simply go back to them.

i haven't been online since friday, so that's three days of offlinedness. i have a lot of catching up to do. catching up on several levels, one of which happens here:

Saturday was Ribbons & Lace Open Day. and because i am a dutiful Old Girl and am full of Habs Spirit, i kept helping people out and showing them where to find the music school and being a bit of an unofficial tour guide ("that's dedication!" exclaims Lizzie. it didn't help that a) i hadn't been there for a year and therefore could not be sure about the curriculum or the swimming pool fund or the computers in the library and b) i forgot important school vocabularly like: "table" or "lessons". there were parents there with girls in Year 4. what were they trying to do, visit all the secondary schools in Greater London? there were little boys too, and i kept forgetting that it was a girls school. at one point i asked one of the little year four girls if she liked it and her reply was, "what is Habs?" Too young, see?

(You might have noticed that i just started to capitalise. It's my new thing.)

I was avoiding DT because I had embarrassed myself by asking Nay to get my GCSE paperwork and give it to Amy to give to me so I could have some sort of portfolio should I decide to study Design in University. Mr. Squire said that I already have it. (Squire 2, Lam 0) However! The people whom I was showing around wanted to see DT and I didn't want to deny them the pleasure simply because of my pettiness. So I crawled back and the embarrassment ruined the experience, although Izzie's Miffy deck chair was muy cool.

(I dreamt last night that i was wearing the R&L uniform - the blazer, at least. I miss it.)

Did I mention that Jenni stole the school magazine that I bought for TWO POUNDS? So I ran (really) from the DT block to the music school where Mrs Bernays told me to go to Mrs Hale's (haha) office where everyone was actually reading MY magazine. Then I wanted a drink and was heading off to the dining room when I saw Babs in a SKIRT and VERY HIGH HEELS. Cue photos. Then Amy and Denni came (having been on my trail starting at DT, clever girls) and Lizzie saved my life by giving me Elixir (Volvic? Evian?)

Ash showed Wongsiu around, now she claims to know the school better than I do. You wish, girlfriend!

When we got back, I dragged Wongsiu to my other old school which was about fifteen minutes away from Amy's house. All this to visit Rosy, who lives right opposite it and whom i haven't seen for six years. cue crazed reminising about the school play - she was Ali Ba Ba's wife, I was Aladdin's and Aladdin was a cute little Jehovah's Witness who had to leave the room during prayers and wasn't allowed to celebrate his birthday. According to what Rosy said, half the people from our year are now mental and the other half fat, except for us, who have stayed pretty much the same and could still recognise one another. I also met Alan (attachee to Rosy's hip). She has been telling me all about him since we began our email conversation and he is as fantastic as described and therefore has my blessing.

Sunday was Flight Day. I find that my social filter disappears in situations of sleep deprivation. I did not sleep for a second on the plane. furthermore, I am inclined to be very, very courteous to the point of being stepped all over to strangers and so my disgruntledness was unleashed on Wongsiu, pobrecita. (shite, I didn't see Sra Cruz-Hamilton!)

Well, the people in front of us and the boy sitting next to me were rude, so they deserved it if they heard my loud bitching about their rudeness. The torrent didn't even start until I got off the plane into breakfast with our parents.

First, I must bring to your attention that flights to and from HK are generally full of rude people. I don't mean to offend anyone or diss my native land, but that's my observation, and quite a correct one, I think. There seems to be an abandonment of traditional Chinese customs with the people of HK and with it, all sense of etiquette and politeness. I have never seen such a large number of people jumping over aisle seaters in order to go to the bathroom. Perhaps some don't mind being strode over (and they were not always friends with the strider) but the leap also involves putting weight on the seats of the people strode over and infront, therefore disturbing three individuals. The strider is not the only one to blame; whatever happened to getting out of one's seat to let others out (when awake, that is)?

The main source of annoyance for me was the boy sitting on my left. He had misread "E" as "G" and accused Wongsiu of sitting in his seat. This led to me laughing to Wongsiu and saying something about not having cordial feelings. I think I actually used the word "cordial". I have a loud voice, especially in planes, so his feelings towards me must have been less than cordial. I admit that I was not too polite at the sight of such rudeness and might have given him the pompous "ha ha, I'm so much prettier than you" look. So it was understandable that he completely ignored me throughout the flight. Did he say 'thank' you when I held his cup noodle while he was trying to climb over the sleeping Australian woman in the aisle seat? Can't remember, but that's the least he could have done. The whole idea of getting the cup noodle was stupid since he could very well have spilt it over her and I was not obliged to be awake or to help him. Perhaps he ignored me simply because he was too embarrassed at having wronged Wongsiu. I was also being a bit of an arse when he was chatting to the Australian woman (who was very nice and we talked about the fabulous Sunday Times because he came along) about studying for his GCSEs and doing his Chinese GCSE early. When he was wondering aloud when his results would come, it was almost a question directed at us! But instead of saying, "excuse me, I couldn't help but hear your conversation (because you sit within six inches of me)..." I said, quite audibly, at Wongsiu, "it's mid-to-end of August, isn't it?" and I did this quite obnoxiously several times. Come on! People love talking to me on planes (so they don't have to overhear the conversation?)! My last chat with a stranger on a plane landed me with the phone number.

Anyway, to add insult to injury, he took the armrest. It's an unwritten rule that one does not take the armrest between oneself and a stranger without asking politely. And chivalrous gentlemen would let ladies have it, even if he is ensuring his own discomfort. And he was coughing/sniffling/sneezing everywhere without a tissue or an "excuse me"! I thought I was getting SARS.

Oh, and I queued for approximately 34 minutes for the toilet. I say this because I left at Left Behind and returned at Good Goodnight. Still Life is 42 minutes long, containing ten songs, so each is about 4 minutes in duration. 42-4-2-2=34. Had I leapt over Wongsiu, I would have waited for about two, but due to inconvenience and a copy of the main news part of the Sunday Times (I should have heeded to Chess' suggestion and bought a copy), two people got in the queue before me and then I let an old lady in because old people have less anal sphincter control (I know because she told me because she couldn't find the flush button). She spent so long in there that I thought she had died or at least lost consciousness. Anything is possible, and I read about this in MAD magazine. You should have heard my heart beat. Her 15 minutes i understood, but why did the other two have to take 7 minutes in there? I tried to read Elle HK but the cabin was dark and I didn't want to open the window. Quiet singing actually works because the engine noise conceals your voice. I was beyond the weird looks thing by then.

I'll just put this under Monday, because the beginning of days is debatable when one is travelling through time zones. I saw CSI thrice because I kept missing the beginning. (Saw it when I got home too. 10 pm ATV World.) Little Britain is fantastic! Kelsey Grammar School in Flange (??) was particularly funny at around 3am BST. Which one is the Ribbons & Lace boy? Probably not the tall one as his Package is clearly visible in the shiny lycra Gaysuit.

Tuesday - today. I am mostly regretting not buying that navy HK$10 messenger bag with white Buddhist images on it. Bet it's Thailandaise(? Siamese?) I'm off to Bangkok in several days for a short shopping trip. I've been told that not only are ethnic clothes cheap but there are also a few Lingerie factories in the area... The only things I know about Thailand I learnt from The Beach (good book and crap film), a documentary about transexuals there and a film about a true transexual volleyball team.

I almost forgot to say (and how careless I am) that I'm really missing London. The moment I landed, all the romance that I had given it dissolved and it was as though I had never left. I should have done so much more, of course, (like buying PG Tips for my dad) but I had a joyous time thanks to Wongsiu and Amy and family. How excellent they are for putting up with digressions like the above!

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th since 5th october 2001