Being at home

Means being normal - and it is so utterly lovely.  On Sunday night, after a pretty lazy day, we went to Hang Hau for dinner at the Italian restaurant - you can say that, "the" Italian, because there really only is one.  The food was fantastically mediocre - just what was expected - and we got to check out all the beautiful bicycles on the way in.

Monday morning, great excitement - year 4 and year 6 camp - which means that both the boys will be away this week.  Frustratingly for me, I'm in HK - though it was cool to be part of dropping them off.

Modern kids, wheelie bags ffs - what happened to lugging your rucksack?  Aiden and Ev ready to go - just stopping to pick up Liam whose folks are traveling this week. 

The wheelie brigade... I was thinking to my self, what is this for - ah, training for modern life - pulling your wheelie over rough terrain - like you might find outside the Airport in Lombok (certainly no longer in Manila or Hyderabad or some such, all of which now have the ultra mod bling bling internationals.  Weather could not be better; crystal clear - 22 degrees.

Looking for Aiden to say goodbye.  Where is the child?  Of course, on the roof of the school having a quick game of tennis ball soccer.

Sunday black and whites of the boys

Vidhu Shekhar - CFA Institute's first India Country Head

CFA has opened an office in India for the first time in it's 50 something years - Vidhu has been appointed country head.  Lovely human being who you would enjoy; software engineer, IIM Graduate; wildly interested in everything.  He was here for lunch, and I grabbed a quick patio portrait; Ev as assistant. I changed the original to this one - befitting of smiling and full-of-humour person. 

Saturday morning - Mustangs (Aiden's team) vs Hong Kong Cricket Club.

Could not have been a more perfect Saturday morning - bright, cool, pleasant breeze.  Aiden with my old bat - my tenth birthday present - sanded, new handle.  Makes me smile.

Aiden steaming in.  The opposition was not up to it; a very one-sided affair.  In case you are wondering about the massive no-ball - they bowl from a shortened bowling crease until under 13.  Now under 11, so it can be pretty lively for the batsmen.  No pads needed; the ball is a slightly squidgy shiny plastic with a pronounced seam - swings like mad - but delivers a stinger at worst.

Hyderabad Hotel Spaces

The Trident in Hyderabad - part of the new brutalist city; not India feeling, stark and clean; nice lines in the wrong place.

Subterranean reflections

Macy and Louisa on the Sunday before all the events kicked off on Monday; without going into it - lots of moving parts and risks and unknowns.  They could run a small country in their spare time it seems.  I slept intermittently the weeks before, thanks to them; would have been completely sleepless without.

Palpable relief; Macy and Vidhu on the train in the HK airport on the way home.  Well earned smiles.

Combat duck to water

So it turns out that Ev really liked his first rugby tournament.  For a dreamy kid, there was no holding back.  From the kick-off he chases really hard - way ahead of team mates - and just simply goes for the ball.  You can see old green shoes below calling out a warning, but grrr, too late, as the Evinator arrives... could not get a clear pic through all the traffic.

Each team got pretty much the same treatment; kick, chase, attack the ball. Literally.  Everyone sort of stands around a bit unsure of what to do.  What you cant really see from the pics below is that the group of red guys ends up traveling backwards - such is the ferocity of the terrible Evinator :-)

24 Hour Race - The Black Shripms back in action

The Nautilis

Evan gets into tackle

Ev played in his first proper rugby tournament on Sunday - and absolutely loved it.  He ran and passed nicely - though his ball attacking skills were definitely the stand out.  Look for a later post for some of those.  It is worth noting that by far the most impressive player in team was the (one and only) little girl, third from right in the picture above.  Maya.  Who I gather has a couple (if not a few) older brothers, one of whom had given her four stitches in the ear a couple of days before.  Nope, she was not missing this - hence the ear taped up with blue tape.  And man she gave it stick!  I think at the end I was seeing the perspective of the brother who did the damage to the ear.  Might well have been in self defense.