A Late Autumn
I recalled a conversation with a colleague while we were washing our hands in the toilet on a cool October morning around 1980. We were working in the Civil Service Training Centre which was then housed in Wing On Centre in Central. The elderly gentleman told me that he had tracked the Hong Kong weather for over 25 years and noticed that the mercury always fell by at least ten degrees Celsius around the 25th day of October year after years, without exception. I have no idea where he is now – probably enjoying his retirement somewhere – but he was right again. We had very hot weather in August and September with unsettled weather, severe and prolonged rainstorms and more than a few tropical typhoons and indeed hurricanes. Last week, we had a few days when we were below 20 degrees Celsius, on at least one occasion around 17 degrees, but that was it, we are now back to the twenties. It will be Chung Yeung Festival in a few days; and it ought to get cooler anyway. Well, at least it had not been humid.
It was almost a month since I posted my last blog and we had not travelled anywhere in the last two months, which somehow surprised a few brethren in Zetland Hall – at least that was what they said to me. We had gone to a few ballets and operas, taking advantage of the fare reductions for seniors; and Su was getting to be an expert in getting the best deals and the better seats. Tonight, we will be going to a concert at Tsuen Wan Town Hall featuring Laura Fygi, a famous Dutch jazz singer; and we very much look forward to her singing.
We had also just completed our wine education at ABC, which comprised four evenings of wine tasting over four months or one a month. We had both enjoyed the experience, the wine more than the education of course. Su worked out that the sessions were good value for money and she always bought a few bottles afterwards, again at good prices. The cooler days and evenings had encouraged us to use ABC more, particularly with the trips to Middle Island. Shirley’s two kids – our godchildren – had started their cricket training at KCC and were having a great time. It was hard work for the entire family, but it was worth it. Su had watched them play at one session and had thoroughly enjoyed herself, ending up with having a greater time at the pool afterwards.
Last week also saw Su and I making an impromptu visit to her parents at Laguna City. Su’s original plan was to go at breakfast time to find out how they got on with the maid’s cooking and day to day chores, but the traffic conditions in those hours were not conducive, and she decided to go at lunchtime. She bought some fresh food including fish and clams from her fishmonger friend in Mei Foo and asked me to drive her there early so that we could stay for lunch. She was pleased with what she saw, well almost. Her mother chatted with me for nearly an hour, correcting my Putonghua pronunciation and enjoying herself, but her father appeared somewhat tired. Later in the evening, he called Su to explain – somewhat apologetically – that he was getting on and could not be operating on top gears as before. Well, there are both over 93. At least they appeared to be reasonably healthy and happy.
Meanwhile, we continued to have home cooked meals – mainly by Su – which we always tried to enjoy and finish over some nice wine, Japanese, French or Italian, coupled with malt whiskies. In between, we had eaten out at our favourite eateries and we are never tired of having good food and wine. Lest some friends might get the wrong idea, we won’t spend a lot or too much on our food. Su is very good at getting the best deals wherever she gets her food, or wine, or other consumables for that matter, through keeping herself abreast of price changes at different places and at different times. She had noticed, for example, that supermarkets routinely jacked up prices of even toilet rolls before typhoons and so on.
Such is how we are getting on with a warmer than usual Autumn. The key is to live well by eating well, sleeping well and trying not to upset oneself or be upset by others. Su often advised not to eat and drink too much in the evening. It would affect one’s sleep, she said. Indeed, it could, I had some strange dreams last night, going up a cliff surrounded by waters and finding as I was near the top that the soil was giving away and that I couldn’t find a sturdy point to hang on, at which point my mind had a flash of the image of Virginia Woolf walking out on her favourite river with rocks in her pockets in 1941 and never to return, at which point I woke up, luckily albeit almost frozen.
