32C and 78% humidity

I think I could get used to this life quite easily. This past week has been busy getting the children settled into school (not quite achieved yet but we are hopeful for Monday), securing additional furniture for the flat, buying plants at the flower market, visiting stanly and generally beginning to settle into a more ordinary existence.

Adrian took two days off at the beginning of the week as holiday, which was nice though we were a bit jet lagged and overwhelmed. Simon Adrian and I went up to the Peak on Monday as it was a beautiful day. We got there by taking a train to Admiralty, which has some extremely nice shops and then walking through Hong Kong Park. The park is a real urban retreat. There is a glass house, which is kept cooler than the ordinary outside temperature housing exotic plants and birds. There are over 200 different birds in this house, and they are really lovely and exotic. You walk through and then at the other just a bit further on the path there was a restaurant with Thai and Italian food (sounds a bit weird, but the food was good and the setting was lovely). I had a nice salad with seafood for lunch, Adrian had some other salad and Simon had BBQ ribs, which he enjoyed. We then rode the tram up to the peak to look out at the stunning views. On one side you can see Hong Kong Central and Kowloon with Lion Rock in the background. On the other you can look down on Stanley, Repulse Bay, and Deep water bay. Really nice. There is, of course the usual assortment of shops etc as well. Simon purchased a watch that he is very proud of. We learned that one can bypass the line of people waiting to get a ticket if you use your octopus card. Another reason anyone visiting Hong Kong should buy one of these very handy things. We then walked back down from the Peak on the path, which took us about 45 minutes. We were quite sweaty by the end.

The next day was not quite as good as both Simon and I lost our wallets. Fortunately mine was found as it was lost just outside the gate of where we live. I must have dropped it when I got off the minibus. Simon was not so lucky as he left his somewhere in the mall and someone picked it up. It could have been worse as he did not have all his relevant cards etc yet so very little was lost. Just a bit of money, but not a nice thing to happen none the less.

On Wednesday we went to the school to discover why they did not yet have Grace on their system. This is a situation that did not set well with her. Apparently they sent info to us in early July, but to our old address in the UK. We were able to get all of Simon's items. They both will be taking an English exam on Monday to determine if they are able to keep up with the other children's English skills. I don't anticipate a problem. Then on Wednesday Grace will have an orientation with the other children who are starting in her year group--there are 10 mostly from the US but one from the UK. I think she is hoping that she will make some friends. Unusually it rained most of the day, but cleared at the end. Grace, Simon and I finished the day by meeting Adrian in Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong for a dinner out. It was a nice end to the day.

Friday represented what I hope will become a more normal routine. I went with Adrian to the coffee shop in the early morning and did some work. At about 10:30 I went to the shops and got some food for us for dinner, then got the bus back home. My groceries included some wheatgrass drink that was really good and some soup mix that is supposed to improve your liver and eyesight. When I got home I made up the soup and started some laundry then went for a swim while the laundry was washing. After my swim I met one of our friends here at the flats and had a cup of tea and arranged with her to go out this morning to the plant market. A bit more work in there somewhere, but the lunchtime swim was wonderful.

Also wonderful was the plant market today. We now have a full complement of greenery for the house and the deck. I shall elaborate on this later as it is now probably time to sign off...