T9: Inside Nuri
As predicted, Nuri hit Hong Kong head-on. Tess did an excellent blog about our day that you can read here (including some pictures.) We had a strange few hours this afternoon where the eye of the typhoon actually passed over Hong Kong… no winds, eerie silence, no rain but lots of thick, low fog. Then WHAM! About 7:30 PM the winds started up again and feel much stronger than they were this morning. You can see our taped windows (taken this morning,) intended to reduce the damage that might be caused if one of the windows shattered. The heavily taped window has a crack so we are being extra cautious.
Hard to believe that a month ago we were at Fintry on Lake Okanagan and that this was a typical scene each evening. Truthfully, most evenings didn’t look this stormy. I took this picture at the tail end of a cold front and few days of cloud. Even though Sebastian has started back to school, it’s still cottage season back in Canada with a few more cottage and sailing weekends before our Canadian friends and family will swing back into school and regular non-summer routines. I’ll probably take some time this weekend to post pictures form the summer so be sure to come back for a quick peek in a few days.
Coming in for a direct hit…
Watch this space over the weekend folks. We are currently at Typhoon Signal 1 with a pre-warning that we will be at T3 in a few hours. Typhoon Nuri is coming in for a direct hit on Hong Kong, as you can see from the graphic at left, showing the storms trajectory over the next 48 hours. (Hong Kong is the red * next to the eye of the typhoon.) The last two typhoons hit Hong Kong at a distance or tangent. This one will be different and with reported winds far in excess of 100 km/hr this could prove to be a very interesting weekend. I’ll be charging the camera batteries tonight… after we’ve cleared the veranda and taped the windows, of course.
You can see Hong Kong harbour here.
We’re back
We arrived back into Hong Kong a few days ago after a relatively painless flight but were greeted by a building typhoon. The last few days consisted of kid jet lag management while Hong Kong crested at Signal 8. (The streets are a mess – trees everywhere.) I thought we were winning with jet lag until Sebastian and Jasper awoke this morning at 2:30 AM. The typhoon made kid entertainment especially challenging, too, with zippo available outdoor activities.
We had a great summer but curious one. I stopped drinking on June 13th and therefore did not have a drop of alcohol all summer long. Long story attached to that choice – nothing to confess about addictions – just a personal, spiritual choice. The upside: lack of alcohol helped keep my weight down. Of course, juggling four energetic, excited-at-every-step-of-the-way kids helped, too. But now Tess and I feel we need a holiday to recover from our holiday. Can I just go on the record as saying that taking four kids on holiday enhances one’s natural snappiness? No further comment. We have lots of great photos. Not sure how to present them all – I thought maybe a video collage featuring the best of…? Any suggestions?
Regardless, it’s good to be back with new perspective and as the rat race approaches I am reminded of the lessons learned while reading "Half Time" during the past six weeks.
RCYC Summer Ball
We arrived into Toronto last Wedesday evening. The night before we left, Hong Kong was hit by a Signal 8 strength typhoon that caused quite a bit of interesting damage. The storm settled by mid-morning the day we left, but our flight was still two hours late to depart. Reportedly, the airport staff were a little careless when loading a cart of food onto the plane. The typhoon’s high winds overturned the cart, blowing food all over the back of the plane that then had to be cleaned up and new food ordered. The pilot made up one hour en route.
Upon landing in Vancouver we missed our flight by only a few minutes: the Westet transit desk was closed. The timing of the connection was based on us going directly to that desk. No luck – upon arrival we found it closed and had to haul our luggage across the airport to the domestic check-in. C$ 42 each later, we were stand-by on another flight from Vancouver to Toronto. We made the flight, arriving into Toronto at midnight instead of the previously planned 9:30 PM. Overall the kids were very good about the trip, despite having had very little sleep. The first two nights were crazy – the kids were twisted all around and had hard time sleeping through the night. On Friday night the kids slept right through for seven hours and Saturday eleven hours. Therefore, we are back on track. (Above: my sister Penny & Dad.)
Also on Friday night, Tess & I went to the Royal Canadian Yacht Club Summer Ball. The theme was "Beijing Night" in honour of the upcoming Olympics. (Above picture – we were greeted by Chinese dragon dancers after arriving on the island.) The RCYC will have several young sailors representing Canada in the Qingdao olympic sailing events. Several jokes jumped about all evening about Tess & I arriving from Hong Kong to attend a Chinese event. When I ran my business in Toronto years ago I attended the RCYC balls faithfully, typically hosting a table with plenty of friends. Going back after living away from Toronto since 1992 was, of course, surreal. It occured to me that the last RCYC Ball I attended was in 1990. I had two dates for The Ball – lucky me – with Tess and my sister, Penny, gracing my arms. My sister, Carolyn, and her husband, Keith, also attended along with my Dad and his date, Marnie. The weather was gorgeous. I have a "hole-in-the-wall" tailor I use in Hong Kong with a mandarin collar dinner jacket on display in the window. The chinese theme for the ball gave me the perfect excuse to have one made for myself. In the past my shawl collar dinner jacket usually drew comments referencing James Bond. With this outfit I was a villain, looking more like Dr. No. Hmmm…. Pictures ended up being spread across several cameras but once I have them all I will post them.
Where’s Matt? Making another video!
Below you will find the latest version in the "Where the Hell is Matt?" videos. I thought I posted the original long ago but cannot seem to find it on my blog. Therefore, I have posted both below (2nd video is the original.) What’s special about this latest video is Vancouver. If you pause on that city you’ll see an orange shirt in the front. That’s my Vancouver Island friend Peter Vickers dancing with Matt, his wife Carol dancing next to him. This is a fun video that will bring a smile to your face. Enjoy.
This is the original video:
