Val went to HK side to put in our applications for our visas for India, but I could not raise the energy or enthusiasm to do very much at all, + had only just sat down to begin re-reading our mail – we’ll be sending it home tomorrow – when she returned. This did mean we could collect our photos – she had the receipts – + you can imagine how the next hour or 2 were spent. All in all, they were very pleasing, + provided a good record of our Chinese adventure, tho’ there weren’t perhaps, the absolutely stunning jewels of our collection that other sets have produced. We had one lengthy interruption mid-stream when we went to phone my mum – she had sounded worried about non-arrival of mail, so thought she’d appreciate it if we called (+ it really didn’t cost much.) It was a superb line, + she sounded well + most unsurprised to hear me. There wasn’t, of course, any real exchange of information, but that wasn’t why we had called. Like letters, phone-calls are links; less satisfactory, but more immediate.
Beer from the supermarket is dirt cheap in HK, which is just as well, for as evening approached I started to knock them back, becoming quite pickled, yet managing to write a reply to Dave T. After dinner, Val + I went out to take a photo of the HK lights, + when she returned, tired, + still not all that well, I carried on to the pub + continued drinking – it’s been a while since I went on a small binge, so I felt no guilt. In the Blacksmith’s Arms I met a fellow lone Englishman, so we talked + drank there before moving on + continuing at the 4 Sisters. He wasn’t the most sparkling company, too weighed down about what to do with his pregnant Thai girlfriend, but it’s probably as well I met him, for I had vague thoughts of seeking out some naughtiness of my own. I don’t suppose it would have come to anything… no money.
Shan’t dwell on what that naughtiness might have comprised, and actually it came to naught, so best left unremarked. But we definitely need to be on our way, as we are doing nothing but wasting time.
