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London to Hong Kong16 Jun 2009
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Tues 16th June---Weather:-Steamy/Hot
13:10 Ar. Hong Kong
You can expect a rush on English Migrants in the construction industry to Australia. Before we left our apartment in Pimlico we had a talk to some of the guys who were working on the outside of the building that we stayed in and although we had seen scaffolding all over the place in London and were under the impression that work was abundant we were sad to hear that the guys were not getting enough work and also that the wages were very low on a National average. That leads me to believe that there must be enough work around but that there are too many workers. The lads said that the problem was-as they saw it-to many people bought in from underdeveloped countries, without language and experience but doing the jobs at half the price. The quality of the work certainly would not pass Australian Standards. I as an untrained handy person would do a better job and I do not say that to boast. I was under the impression that our landlords had done the work themselves (a little fault with everything) but was later informed that a plumber had to come back to fix things. As we understand it in England people can still do their own plumbing and electricity.
Our flight from Heathrow to Hong Kong was done in surprising comfort, we had booked the back row side seats in the plane giving Herman about 30cm of space between him and the window and I had the aisle seat with lots of room behind us to stand up if we wanted. For short people like us we also did not suffer from lack of leg space. The change from diabetic to normal meals also gave me a more palatable and less sugary sustenance. We were picked up from the airport in a shuttle bus and the ride to our hotel told us that Hong Kong was a lot bigger that we thought it was. We were also not prepared for the humidity. Getting through customs was not a simple thing for because we had had the flu over the last 10 days we had to have a thorough physical before we were given clearance (and a nervous wait before we got it). We had already noticed that a lot of the Asians that got on the plane in Heathrow were wearing surgical masks—and did so for the whole plane journey—I felt guilty if I had to cough but in reading the health declarations before landing we were reminded that these people had already lived through the Bird flu epidemic and were familiar with the routine, if you have a cold or cough you have to wear a mask and if you have a temperature you must stay at home. I have joined the ‘white ninja brigade’ wearing a mask when I go outside. I heard a smarty American man commenting after spotting Herman and Myself at the airport wearing our masks saying ‘when my time is up, it is up”. He did not realize that we weren’t trying to protect ourselves—we were trying to protect him from our germs. As someone who rarely gets the flu I am still taking a battering with all the symptoms returning today. After not coping with the central heating in London we are now under siege from 24hour air-conditioning that cannot be turned off---Oh how I long for the open windows at home.
Our arrival at the hotel was with high expectations and to our delight they were met, these three days are just for unwinding and getting me ready to hit the ground running when we return to Adelaide. My customers have been more than tolerant with my comings and goings of late so on Monday I will work a double shift. For the last couple of days we have been chaffing at the bit for normality. Having not slept much on the plane (3 hours for Herman and ½ hour for me) we stayed up remarkably late (11:30pm local time) sitting out on the ‘Water Front Terrace’ spending a delightful evening talking to some English people while being surrounded by the evening light display
