Lightning and Fun-da

The week tried to end poorly.  It's been raining torrentially, with invading hordes of thunder and lightning; one of the troops zapped (the house? close by? not sure) the computer - a mother-board cooker.  A real pain (which the asprin of HK efficiency went a long way to alleviating).  This evening it let up for a while, and there was a super-low tide - and of course hot and sticky despite appearances - so we hit the sandbank for an hour.  The water was silty from all the run off.  Costruction featured.  Combat too.  Of course speed trials - running off 150mm of downpour induced cabin fever.  Tomorrow is Roy's 60th birthday bash - three junks, one beach - hold thumbs for the skies.  We've been thinking of you - hope the big Q's are going OK.

Sunday late afternoon at The Short Bar

A long weekend with perfect weather - in hospital

It was one of those beautiful things, a Monday-off long weekend, with Southerly winds, which means crystal clear air, blue sky and seeing for miles like you do in ZA.  But alas, it was not to be, Aiden was struck down by some dreaded lurgy, which went to his chest, and we found ourselves in the wee hours of Saturday putting him on a nebulizer, and then I thought, it doesnt seem to have done the trick, so into the car and off to hospital to get a professional opinion - which was that he should be hospitalized - so that's where we spent those lovely sunny days off - attached to machines which counted this and that, chilling to the music of eight other kids in varied states of distress.  I felt a bit cheated - but also grateful that the facilities are so close to home, and super well- resourced and managed - and all those things that great infrastructure can give you to be thankful for.  By the end of it all Aiden had mastered a good couple of games on his i-touch and I was in a pretty bad mood - having slept on a chair type thing, and been woken up every two ours through the nights to give Aiden another dose of ventolin.

The first of June was our 10th anniversary in Hong Kong - a bit of a surprise how such a seeming tract of time can zip by - so I took a pic that evening. We also had to go and get Ev a passport - his baby one is about to expire. This involves all three (both parents + the child in question ) showing up in person to submit the application (which includes the inevitable forms - black ink only - + cash + photos) - and of course all within a short window of time daily. So we did all this, Ange chose a day she wasnt working on, and that I had meetings close by with a gap inbetween, took Ev out of school - showed up in all our finery - to be told that the passport photo was not OK - there were teeth (huh?!) - "no, the new rules are no teeth" - you cant be smiling (or catching flies).  OK so we have a new one now, and will go back - no smiling is no problem with Ev as it turns out - hope they dont mind the hint of a scowl.

The final whirl for a smile is of Ev, swining a small blue torch on the end of a string (part of my laptop bag, not sure why, perhaps a keyring sort of thing) in the pitch dark in our room.  Not sure if you can see him - but he's there somewhere in the middle of the big blue scribble.

Amandla with the last of your exams lovely Josh, so looking forward to seeing you in the months ahead.