Home sick home

Well it's finally done. After exactly 69 days of having no home, on April 1st 2011 I moved into my little apartment here in Honkers. *there's one* The move was pretty easy, just a few boxes to have shifted across. I never unbothered unpacking anything except my far-too-big-for-this-little-island iMac, so the remnants of my life were still boxed up nicely & therefore easy to transport. Was a bit surreal for the moving guys as they'd come & moved these very same boxes five weeks previously from my hotel to my boss' place. When they saw the same gwai low & the same boxes they must have thought I was some kind of professional squatter. *and that makes two* I got that kind of smile from them that you usually get when someone only half understands what your saying but still wants to politely acknowledge that you've just made small talk, but was overlaid by the kind of rictus that someone attaches to their face when they do not at all trust the person that they're smiling at but they still hold that smile anyway out of fear or misunderstanding or just because they really have nothing else to do with their face. You know that smile? Anyway, that's the creeped-out smile I got.

*excuse me*

Oh, that's better. Sorry for the interruptions, but I've been sneezing about 600 times a day for the last two days & I think I've gone through about four boxes of tissues. You see I think that this moving experience has been one of the catalysts to me getting a really frigging annoying cold. The kind where you're not delerious & sweating in bed. But the kind where your head leaks incessantly & you periodically feel like you're getting better so you do something like walk outside for 15 minutes only to just barely make it home in time to lie on the couch utterly rooted for half an hour groaning until the bubbles in your brain force you to get up & blow your nose for the 8 millionth goddamned time. In short, gross. Well, the moving has ben a catalyst, probably along with some exposure to the actual virus somewhere along the way.

Anyway, about the new house. So: I think in a few ways it's a slightly better place than the one I was just housesitting. For one, there's more light & it's also slightly bigger (we speak relatively in HK: 'big' here means if you're lying in bed you won't bang your elbow on the kitchen sink when you roll over at night). There's also a door to the kitchen which means the couch & rug & bed won't smell like whatever I've just cooked for a week afterwards. That to me is huge. Actually, the fact that I now have a kitchen is just beyond amazing. The first thing I've had to cook for myself from scratch was a chicken noodle soup to help in combatting this ridiculous virus, but even so I was still nearly crying tears of joy putting those fresh veggies into the pot & watching MY soup turn a lovely golden colour. Was really tasty too. Not sure if it's just the fact that I've not had a home-cooked meal in months, but I honestly think this is the best soup I've ever cooked. Num. BUT, in a number of ways, there are also a few things I've missed out on. For one, there's no gym in this building. That sucks as I'll now have to join one & lug around the clothes & towel & all that. First world dramas, I know, but you kind of get used to having a gym right there. It's very handy. What else? There's no balcony. Not sure if that's a great issue other than having no ability to dry clothes outside. And storage space is a little lacking, but honestly, that is just an ongoing Hong Kong story. *Oh, for crying out loud. Hang on*

Where was I? House! Yes. So, even though this blog probably has a readership that I could count on my fingers & toes, I'm still a little cagey about sticking up a huge number of photographs of the inside of my apartment on the internet for all to see. No idea why, wouldn't do anything, but that's just the way I roll. Having said that, here's a couple though just to give you an idea of what the story is. The place when I first got here was - understandably -  a bit of a shambles:

Computer bits went EVERYWHERE. How many cables can one person have after having moved so many times?

The living room. Not for living.

The worst bath mat ever made. If it wasn't a part of my bond  I would've torched this hideous thing.
Also, my crapper. Exciting.

So there was a fair bit to be done. Boxes to be disposed of. Bits & bobs to be stored away. A bear-themed rug to be expunged. And most importantly, I had to get The Essentials arranged. Having a full cutlery set is important, to be sure, but having no plates or bowls or cups, seems to make them a little redundant. I drank everything out of paper cups for four days & had to prepare my vegemite & cheese sandwiches using the bread bag as a plate. Talk about living the dream.

So a *three* workmate volunteered to take me shopping to some of the places where the locals buy their household goods. This, she assured me, would save me a bucketload of cash. Well, she wasn't bloody-well kidding. In Wan Chai, just around the corner form the market there is a homewares store, which is like an old-school hardware: Really small frontage, but it just keeps going & going & going. Found all sorts of awesome crap in there & all for rock bottom prices. Had so much stuff that I had to do a run home & drop it all off, before heading out to the Stanley Market. Stanley is kind of like Brighton. It's a bit posh because it's next to the seaside, but unlike Brighton it's not full of jerkoffs who will tell the cops to tazer you if you try to take a shell off the beach, & it also has a really cool little market. There's a number of rad things to find at this market, but we were there specifically for bedding. I needed some bad & the market delivered. Again, rock-bottom prices & really good quality. Go Hong Kong. So all-in-all Tuesday (which was a public holiday in HK) was a day *Four. Argh!* was a day which was so amazing for finding unreal bargains, stocking my place with necessities & also hastening my death by cold. Felt FINE on the day, but Wednesday I was a mess. Had to wait around for half of the day for the clowns from Sogo (think Harris Scarfe, right down to the crummy layout, elevator operator ladies & ability to surprise with it's vast array of....why do they have so many of those...?) to deliver a bunch of stuff that I'd bought on the weekend, then went into work & immediately regretted it as I descended into a Rubick's cube quality head-bender of a cold. So consequently, I've been home for most of this week. Upshot though is that although I feel exactly like poopies, it has given me the opportunity to fix this place up (at a snail's pace). Check it, yo:

F*ck that bear rug.

'Galley' style kitchen. Mind-boggling. Oh, & this was taken sitting down. The fridge looks big here but it's like literally four feet high. It's legally a midget. Also, there's no hot water in the sink. This made me lose my mind at the agent. Poor bugger. But it is really annoying. Oh well.

Living room sans-crap piles.

So there you have it. A near-pointless, rambling monologue about my new apartment & how it was really messy but now it's not anymore & I got a cold with the bargain. And that strip of carpet between the couch & the tv? Y'all are welcome to stay anytime. There. On that bit of floor. You should probably bring a sleeping bag, or even a camp mattress. Anyway, I only sneezed four times will writing this. Perhaps that's a good sign? I'm going to fix myself a cup of tea & a bowl of soup anyway. Home remedies: The second best remedies.

Later all.