ON A LIGHTER NOTE

The weekend here in HK was wonderful. 20-odd degrees, sunshine, a cooling breeze - heaven...

Had dinners on Friday and Saturday night, both with couples who are leaving the fragrant isle.

1 couple consist of a woman who was born and brought up here and her husband who has been here for 10-15 years. They are going travelling for a year or 2 and then going to live in London for a while in a flat they own but which is currently rented out. Sounds amazing and I am very jealous.

The plans of the other couple I'm not so sure about. They want to go to New Zealand ultimately, and so, to activate their visas, the wife is moving there for a year with their 2 children while the husband stays here working. Sounds far from ideal to me, but each to their own. The bit I really don't get though is, why New Zealand? Both are English born and bred, so surely if they want to be cold and wet they can just go back to blighty? At least then Europe is on your doorstep. Why go to New Zealand?

The irony to this being, I'm off to NZ myself this week for a business trip and spending the weekend in Auckland. It'll be the peak of summer. I must remember to dig out the waterproof fleece and a nice thick woolly jumper....