Well, Tim, here i am flat
on my back. No, i don't mean i've succumbed to the pleasures Wanchai. It's just
that i've been laid low with food poisoning. Quite infuriating it is as there's
a super party on tonight and I'm just going to have to miss it. Also it
is Chinese New Year's day, so gong hei fat choy! Thus commences the year of the
dog, a very bad year for marriage, so you might as well leave it another year before
you think of sending me one of your telegrams!
Many thanks for your
letter of, dare I say it, four months ago telling me all the news of our street.
I must say I do miss the milkman. We don't have one here and anyway men aren't
allowed into the bedrooms of the Y, which means one’s sporting activities are
somewhat curtailed! As if things weren't bad enough what with revolting food, basic
conditions, etc., we now have a curfew of 1:00 AM on weekdays and 2:00 AM on
Saturdays and Sundays, which makes things well nigh intolerable. However, we
have no choice. There just aren't any flats at all. We've been let down
on about six occasions. It's been instructive and exasperating. On one occasion
we were offered a flat if Marian agreed to the attached strings and on another occasion
if I agreed to the strings attached. Now, of course, that we're absolutely
desperate we aren't offered flats on any terms! This week, however, we were
lucky. My brother has gone off to Thailand for a week so Marian and I have
moved into his flat, which is just as well because if I'd been this sick at the
Y I think I would have attempted suicide.
Anyway, Tim, I mustn't
complain because since I went to a party back in December, I've hardly had an
evening off and really met some terribly nice people. I go out regularly with
about four men at the moment and so far have managed to keep them apart! This
can't last long, because Hong Kong is so small and either everyone knows what
you're up to or else you bump into people when you're with other people. Still each
knows I go out with other men and they certainly go with more than one girl so
there can be no sticky weather. Speaking of which, we will certainly have to
get out of the Y before that arrives because we don't have any air conditioning.
Actually, what we really need are some more riots. The only way to get into a
flat at reasonable rent would be to frighten some people out of the colony.
I had a letter the other
day from Davina, the flying Scotsman girl. Apparently, although the
organization side was chaotic, the actual trip was well worthwhile, if not
profitable, and in fact a second tour is now envisaged.
Tim, I haven’t been to the
roof of the Y in Kowloon yet. Don't go to Kowloon very often as and all my
friends are on the Hong Kong side and not having Saturday mornings off doesn't
leave much time for shopping.
I’m not feeling very
inspirational. In fact feeling sorry for myself as Marian is getting ready for
the super party. Perhaps I'll drag myself from my death bed and go there
for an hour. No, that would be idiotic, as i still feel sick. Anyway I'm going
for a long walk tomorrow, which is a much healthier idea. Then on Monday a
crowd of us are going out for the day on a converted junk, which should be fun.
Well, Tim, three weeks
have gone by since writing the above and I'm now down to two men plus one who's
turned up from the past last week. I never did get the letter into an
envelope, but I have high hopes of getting it into the post on Monday.
Well, I didn't get this
to the post, but today I really do intend finishing it. I'm now down to two men.
I gave one the push this week (a Norwegian diplomat with a wife and two kids in
Norway) as I’ve always had the urge to wear Jack boots and shout Seig Heil when
he was around -- very good looking but hard as nails. I did meet an awfully
attractive man at a party 10 days ago and he in fact asked a girl for my phone
number, but she didn't know it and couldn't remember where I worked and now I’ve
moved out of the Y for six weeks so all contact is broken! Isn't that a shame?
As I said, Tim, we've got
a flat for six weeks from a friend of my boss. An American girl who works in Hilton's
public relations department lives here, but she's gone off to Singapore for six
weeks. This really is the most fabulous flat, very tiny, but stuck right in the
middle of a roof halfway up the peak -- one bedroom, sitting room and bathroom.
The kitchen and bedroom cupboard are outside on the roof! I have the place to
myself this weekend as Marian has gone to Macau so I am reveling in solitude. To
have privacy for the first time in five months is an unbelievable experience.
Diane arrives tomorrow but
I believe there's a strike at Heathrow, so I expect to see her when I see her. She's
left things so late I haven't been able to organize anything except book her a
room into the Y for a week as hotels are full. I hope she's not expecting blue
skies or a tropical climate as the weather has been hazy the past week or so –
gray, misty, cold by Hong Kong standards. That said, I believe you've had a
fantastically severe winter, so she may find it warm.
I must close now, Tim, and
get on with some other letters now that I have the chance.
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