Introduction

Mad Dogs and Englishmen seemed an appropriate title for the trip, given that it enjoyed distinctly dubious weather throughout, ended in the horrors of the swine flu epidemic and included a visit to the firing of the noon day gun.

It was only after the third day of continuous doom and gloom that I made it a policy to take a photo out of my bedroom window (or somewhere adjacent) every morning. These would make a story in themselves, including views over both the most rural and most urban of scenes, taken from a 17th century historic house, a village pub and a couple of city centre tower block hotels.

The trip went strictly according to plan, with only one person crying off sick rather than meet me and my own health surviving everything that I threw at it. Best of all, I put on less than a kilo in five weeks in spite of my numerous meals containing beer, chips or pork scratchings. Food did prove a problem, with a whole series of restaurants being closed for repairs or having vanished altogether. On the whole, I ate very well, the best Indian meal being, yet again, at Ayesha in Dronfield, and the fish and chips at the Marquis of Lorne in Nettlecombe being quite outstanding. I don’t remember any beers in particular but I am sure I must have had quite a few very good ones.

Air New Zealand looked after me well on all of the flights, in spite of my having to fly with the poor or relatively poor people for the first time in years. The change from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 at Heathrow was a huge bonus, the latter being an amazing improvement. Hong Kong airport has comfortable facilities and excellent food. The less said about the food at Auckland International Terminal, the better.

The highlight of the trip had to be the noon day gun ceremony in Hong Kong. This was a remarkable mix of the old Commonwealth and modern China and was surprisingly emotional. England was excellent, as ever. There are many aspects of it which I miss, not just the people. The scenery is as wonderful as ever. New Zealand is pretty, magnificent in places, but it has nothing like the history of the older English towns and villages. Every time I visit, I wonder about staying and how well I would adapt. I suspect it will be thus until the end of my days.

CIC
© June 2009