Departure (Just), Arrival, Herring and Liver

10 March 2009

I hate running late for a flight. I left home in what I thought was plenty of time and quickly hit a band of sleet, which soon afterwards became snow. Not long after that, I was in a blizzard and traffic had started to move more slowly. On the M3, it stopped.

I dumped the car in the long stay and hopped on a bus in short order. The driver was an absolute brick, stopping at a green traffic light to let me out (into traffic) so that I could leg it to the bag drop. I made it with a single minute to spare.

The flight was uneventful. I struggle to sleep on 'planes (unless it's one of those exceptional occasions when I get a flat bed), but am glad not to on a flight that arrives in HK at 17h40. So instead, I watched Slumdog Millionnaire and I highly recommend it. Then, fancying something rather lighter, I watched Tropic Thunder, which I would only recommend to those in an especially silly mood.

To balance things up, I then watched Changeling, a film I almost had to stop watching at one point since I was finding it distressing. Watch it with strong drink to hand. It's very good. Annoyingly, they switched off the on board entertainment when the film had approximately 5 minutes left to run.

Off the 'plane, a train into Central, a taxi ride to the hotel, all achieved with the usual smoothness. A quick shower and I was out to the Hong Kong Club for dinner: a very kind invitation from a HK resident I have known for some years. What better way to start my visit than with herring prepared three ways and then calf's liver? A bottle of 2004 Fiefs de Lagrange was as good as ever. This is one of my favourite 2nd wines of Bordeaux. It's also one that can accompany a good cigar, being not overwhelmed by Havana's burning.