Playing Catch Up With Friends.

We've been back in Hong Kong since the middle of April and have caught up on lots of chores. The weather has mainly been terrible. It more or less rained solidly for about three weeks. Thankfully the sun has now reappeared.

At the beginning of May we met up with our friends Graham and Shirley in The Outback in Central. They will soon be leaving Hong Kong to return to Britain so it was lovely to see them before they go. I wasn't impressed with the restaurant though. We had terrible service, indifferent food and it was very overpriced. The only good point was they gave us free ice-cream as they managed to get our order wrong twice.

The four of us.

Peter, Graham and Shirley.

Peter found himself sweating too much in the Hong Kong heat and humidity. This made his skin itch, which drove him crazy and listening to him going on and on about it endlessly, also drove me crazy, so not the most successful night out.

On May 9th I met up with my friends Jason, Sheena and Linda in Villa Villa near where I used to work.

It was a very windy day and when I took the bus from Discovery Bay to Sunny Bay, the cotton trees at the side of the road were shedding their seeds. There are so many cotton trees here that it actually looked like it was snowing. It was really quite beautiful.

I went over to North Point a bit earlier than our meeting time and had a wander around Oi! In Fortress Hill. This is an art gallery located in the former Yacht Club Building. It's always interesting to go here, because its exhibitions change frequently.

Oi! Gallery, Fortress Hill.

Oi! Gallery, Fortress Hill.

Oi! Gallery, Fortress Hill.

Oi! Gallery, Fortress Hill.

The current exhibitions are: "People Mountain People Sea" by Gary Card and "Encounters: oi! oi! oi!” by Toolbox Percussion.

"People Mountain People Sea", as I understand it (and I admit I don't know much about modern art) is about how people are changed by the things they accumulate over time, so the artist starts with an image of a person and covers it with every day objects including some that may have been acquired long ago. As the everyday objects pile up it becomes harder and harder to see the person as they started out.

Poster for People Mountain People Sea.

People Mountain People Sea. 'The dream of Mr Somebody'.

People Mountain People Sea.

People Mountain People Sea.

People Mountain People Sea.

People Mountain People Sea.

People Mountain People Sea.

People Mountain People Sea.

People Mountain People Sea.

People Mountain People Sea.

People Mountain People Sea.

People Mountain People Sea.

People Mountain People Sea.

"Encounters: oi! oi! oi!” takes every day objects and wires them up so that they make music and move. It made me think differently about the warning cones people place near wet areas or holes in the ground, as the ones here suddenly leap up in the air which in my case almost gave me a heart attack.

Encounters: oil! oi! oi!

Encounters: oil! oi! oi!

There was also an exhibit about making mahjong sets, an organic garden, deckchairs in front of a large screen and revolving trees.

Mahjong.

Mahjong.

Organic garden.

Organic garden.

Deckchairs and screen.

Revolving trees.

After spending some time here, I hurried off to meet Jason, Sheena and Linda. We had a very pleasant chat over some drinks and very tasty fries that had been dipped in egg yolk and were probably several thousand calories a bite. It was lovely to get together again.

Jason and Linda.

Sheena and I.

The four of us.

The four of us.

Next day I was out again. This time it was to celebrate Linda's birthday along with Maggie, Yang, Sarah and Elizabeth. We went to a Belgian restaurant called Frites in Taikoo Shing.

Again I went there a bit early to have a wander around. I took a look at Quarry Bay Park. This is a park in two halves. One half is next to Victoria Harbour and the other half is located on the other side of a motorway. The two parts are connected via a bridge. I've been to the Victoria Harbour side of this park several times, so this time I just looked at the other half. There were a couple of art installations, but mainly this park was devoted to sports facilities. There were people playing tennis, football and basketball. There were also running tracks. I rather liked the pleasant, relaxed atmosphere here.

Quarry Bay Park Entrance.

Quarry Bay Park.

Basketball.

Running track.

Football.

Artwork.

Artwork.

I also remembered some sculptures from previous visits here and took another look at these. These are located in Taikoo Park just behind the restaurant we were going to. One was a sculpture of three huge cats facing down a dog. This is called 'The Meeting' by Anne Ross. Another is a sculpture of a huge disembodied horse head hanging suspended above a pond. This is called 'Horse at Water' by Nic Fiddian-Green. A third is a flowing wavelike sculpture you can sit or lie on. This is called 'Please be seated' by Paul Cocksedge.

The Meeting.

Horse at water.

Take a seat.

Frites was surprisingly dark inside and it took me a couple of minutes to locate our table. The birthday girl was the last to arrive.

All of us.

All of us.

Maggie, Sarah, Elizabeth and I.

Maggie, Linda and Sarah.

We ordered salad, spaghetti, steak, pizza and fish and chips to share. The food was very tasty. We had lots of news and gossip to share and it was lovely to get together again.

Salad.

Spaghetti.

Pizza.

Steak.

Fish and chips.

Linda and Sarah.

A full table.

We gave Linda her card, which Maggie had made for her using photos of previous events we have celebrated together and her present which was a voucher for a spa treatment.

Linda opening her present.

Linda with her birthday card, which Maggie made.

We ordered Linda two birthday cakes and, with my usual impeccable timing, I had gone to the loo when they were brought to the table by a posse of singing waitresses. Oops! Still it was quite funny to catch the end of Linda being serenaded with 'Happy Birthday to you' much to her embarrassment.

Linda making her birthday wish.

Cake.

Cake.

I always get to relax when Yang is at dinner as she does all the photos, so all the shots of the people and food were taken by her and a very good job she did of it too. It was a lovely night out and lots of fun.

Leaving the restaurant.