Wednesday 6 May 2009

If I do leave the UK, these are the things I will miss...

I've just finished dinner, sitting down and about to continue building my web site. but then all of a suddden I feel like writing this.
I will be at risk of losing my job next monday officially, I will have to reapply (to a different post). of course there's a chance that I won't get a job at all at the end of all this, and that will mean not only losing my job, but losing my right to stay in the UK as well after ten years of studying and working here.
without ordering these in any way, I think I'll miss a lot of these if I have to go back to Hong Kong:
1. BLT, or just the expectation of having BLT in any sandwich shop, anywhere that sells sandwiches at all. also smook salmon and cream cheese.
2. travelling on trains, not the delay, not the price, but I actually quite like travelling on trains sometimes, chatting to random nice people and all that.
3. having my own place, no matter how small my room is, having to share the bathroom, kitchen etc, I have my own place and I can shut the door and talk to no one if I feel like it.
4. the occasional sunshine, which makes it precious. the summer chirping birds (which we don't really have in hong kong unless you go to the mountains to look for them). the rain, which is fun to get annoyed with.
5. the minority of people who have studied and are actually civilised and educated, their endless stimulating conversations, their dreams, their ideals, their political thinking.
6. the bbc, watching news 24 online, iplayer. listening to radio 4, the today program every single morning, john humphrey's questioning of politicians. the comedies at 6:30 in the evening. the satire, endless documentaries, countless stories.
7. the various accent from various part of the UK.
8. this may sound strange, but some of the food:) the occasional dose of fish and chips, and nice rare piece of steak, lamb, the big portabello mushroom, all kinds of starter, dessert, all these just taste and feel different to have in hong kong. and curry, the weird chinese food, eatting it while thinking about how they should taste like. dim sum, which I don't tend to have with friends in hong kong.
9. shopping online. it's not big in hong kong because hong kong is too small.
10. being close to europe, the holidays, the european languages. absolutely endless fun. the history, the complexity of it, the development of ideas. travelling to places knowing that great events or people have happened there which affected the whole world.
11. random cats on the streets, love cats. girlfriend and I always play with them whenever we see them.
12. girlfriend. and a lot of people, I am not going to name any of them.
*sigh*