East West North South

Not only is Hong Kong in the East, but also in the Northern hemisphere.

George is in the Western Cape in the Southern hemisphere, land of the penguins.

It's hard sometimes, to get to grips with the opposites.

Hong Kong has just had its first weekend of summer.   We all went sun crazy!   The swimming pool resembled a kindergarten, beaches were crowded.  At last we could use our second-most useless item: sunglasses (a wine stopper being the first).

We were filled with awe and trepidation, and felt very secure in the deep end (1.50m as I was mockingly reminded) of our pool.

At the same time, about 12 000 km away, friends, family and strangers were shivering in the first snowfalls of the season.

It is very difficult to be yanked away from a well-deserved summer in July into the snowy winter of George.

It is tough on the body clock to endure two winters in one year.

It's hard to be in wintery Hong Kong during Christmas when people are swimming in clear blue waters back home.

But Mandy keeps the home-fires burning, and soon we will be sipping pink port again.

I will pretend it's Akakies.

Opa!