into the white: Sleeping Man, Flying Rodent

It’s early October and it’s 30c out everyday. I met a friend for coffee and ice cream yesterday and we sat for a few hours. The aircon was on full blast as usual and by the time I was signing for my card my hands were shaking so much I nearly couldn’t write my own name.

I am writing from a small park in Tsuen Wan just outside where I am staying. It’s nice and peaceful despite the traffic of motor close by. Elderly men sit and fall asleep for hours here. They also do their daily exercises, arm stretching and swinging. But mostly, they sleep in the afternoon shade as this whole park is covered with a canopy of trees. I have had a few liquid deliveries from the birds above onto my Mac but nothing serious so far. This is living dangerously.

Last night my cousin Sandy found a cockroach in the bathroom. She sprayed it with repellent and claimed it was dead. About fifteen minutes later I heard a rustle under my pillow. When I flipped it over, the flying rodent seem alive and kicking to me. Dead my ass. But we got it in the end. The disgusting scary thing was 3 inches in length.

Didn’t get much sleep again. But that’s not because of the flying shit infested scary motherf**ker, it may be because the couch is too short. I have the option of the floor which is hard linoleum. I used to be able to sleep on that but I haven’t been able to this time around. Maybe it’s just the heat.

There is a great upmarket supermarket called City Super. You can get Heinz Baked Beans, Illy coffee (but it’s $90- £7 for 250g) and EVEN Varlhrona chocolate (which as far as I know you can only get in Selfridges and Harrods). I even brought my Baletti Expresso maker from there. I normally do bring my maker but didn’t this time and it’s cheaper to drink in. But I have been buying coffee outside too because of my lack of sleep, which is a bit retarded. I’m pretty sure that 10 years ago, they didn’t even have supermarkets (just markets) apart from Welcome (which is like Wilkinson, and not just because they both begin with W). In recent years though there has come Park N Shop which in Cantonese sounds like ‘Bitch’ if you change the last word to ‘woman’. In fact there is a place called ‘Mei Foo’ which sounds like ‘No Trousers’, another called, ‘So Uk’ and a clothes retail outlet called, ‘Wanko’.

McDonald’s never really made it big over here despite being the cheapest McDonald’s you can get in the world. This was largely due to the fact that you could get a bowl of noodles for less than a £1 (US$1.75) and the diverse cheap restaurant outlets and fierce competition. Subsequently, a set meal at McDonald’s cost about HK$24- which is about £1.25. A bowl of noodles still doesn’t cost much more than £1. I ate a bowl of noodles, a plate of greens and drank an old school green bottle of coke with lemon for less than £2 today. In your face Ronald.

Anyway, my lack of sleep is making me ramble. No mind shifting images of yet. But heres some signs and retro portents...