October 23

A wonderfully benevolent businesswoman, moving suddenly from a group of flats she had just sold, gifted with a wagonload of small furniture - two solo gas ovens, five wicker chairs in mint condition, a plastic garbage pail, plastic stools, an ironing board, two mirrored wall cabinets, and a few tables.

I had been on my wat to a Brit's home to pick up a color printer and actually pay for it, except they were sleeping late, and missed my call, and FREE had a magical ring to it.

Joe was in town lunching with Visiting Chinese Relatives, and I had to handle all this moving myself, while waiting for him to get home to help with the wardrobe, bed frame, gas tank, etc.

In the interim forged a warm acquaintanceship with my new friend - corrupt enough to quickly view anyone as a friend who helps me practically in this at first arduous town of Hong Kong- and found her own colorful Chinese history.

Her dad was in the specialised media, running completely a racing newspaper covering all the horse news at major racetracks. Her mom was a housewife, and like me, she is tied to both Vancouver Canada and Hong Kong and China.

She loves China too, as I do, and frequently takes short trips there, usually with a tour group. I was fascinated to learn she has recently returned from Mongolia.

She told me an amusing anecdolte about purchasing a tea-set from a famed tea town in China; when she got it home, carefully unpacked it, and washed it exactly as the vendor instructed to, the brown colours turned into white, in a mottled pattern.

I felt guilty though for previously castigating the Hong Kong Chinese as money-minded when I was the recipient of such largesse, and also I still have my first friend who runs her own large beauty salon with her husband who is a hairstylist and businessman.

I have done this sort of thing myself, the time it takes her to sell all these things is more valuable to her than the things.

Her wisdom and common sense and balance of priorities also have made her a successful and honest local businesswoman.

She owns two flats together, and other Hong Kong business people have purchased these apartments, and two other adjacent ones, to create a large holiday place for their families including adult brothers andsisters.

The internal walls will be torn down, and external walls will be altered into French sliding doors

Firstly, a guy that does apartment work for her came by to fetch a handsome wicker couchand chair that she had saved for him. She praised the man as an expert on alltypes of cleaning.

I quickly thought to find out if he knew how to remove ugly deep rust stains from white ceramic patio tiles. They wrote in Chinese the name of a killer cleaner, and warned repeatedly not to get it on my hands, or even to let it splash up.

Then another Chinese guy came by to pick up some more furntirue, and finally a previous tenant, a congenial Brit to pick up his bright yellow bike in storage.

The Chinese lady knew a lot about the island, though she modestly denied that. I offered repeatedly to do some Business English Writing for her, and she told me about the area she lived in now, around the Hong Kong Film Museum.

I worked on my ebook this morning at seven in the morning, and that project is moving along like a cityh of snails.

I am the sort of person who is happy to connect with the domestic in its creative aspects, and to conclude this joyful day,

I must go to watch Joan of Arc, a miracle of local TV about a miracle woman, as we have only one channel out here on Chamma Tau, and this is a great movie when you have little else around in the movie department.