Well, I'm back in HK and updating this blog again. In fact, as I write this, I am sitting in my office at work (just in case my boss is reading this - I want to say that this is done during my lunchbreak!!) surrounded by the remnants of my lunchbox and numerous tissues for wiping my nose with.
Thats right folks! The Amazing Bulk has managed to fall sick again!
Anyway, despite the fact that I feel like shit (jet lag plus sneezing/runny nose plus cough), I have decided to brave the cold waters of the internet and keep you, my loyal readers, entertained with more meaningless drivel. Ha - little do you know that today's post isn't as meaningless as normal but will actually contain some insight into my psyche!
But before we get to the good stuff - a little Jokemeister history. As you may or may not know (or even care!), I have now been in HK for 11 years. Although born in HK, all of my edumacation was in the UK. This has meant that I considered my home to be the UK. In fact, in the past, I used to travel back to the UK to visit friends and family every 2 years (although I haven't been back in 5 years now - not counting my recent visit of course).
On this trip to the UK, things started off as normal. I got to Heathrow airport only to discover that the plane upto Glasgow had been delayed by several hours. Yup - just like normal. :)
Then we got to Glasgow and the cold hit me like a sledgehammer. Having not been back in so many years, I really wasn't ready for how cold Glasgow can get (particularly at the airport). Luckily, my dad was there to pick me up otherwise we would have needed to get a very expensive taxi.
Then we got to my dads house. The first thing I do is throw off my shoes and head upstairs to check out my old room. This is always the first thing I do when I get to my dads house as going to my old room makes me feel like I have come home.
My old table was still there. The table where my old 486 PC used to sit (although its now been replaced by a newer Hewlett Packard). I used to spend hours sitting at that table playing computer games or doing homework on my PC (primarily computer games though!).
My old bookcase was still there. Still filled with some old books and comics that I didn't take back to HK with me. Some of my favourite hours spent as a kid still sit on that bookshelf. Lots of Judge Dredd and Spider-Man graphic novels - man, I used to spend a fortune on those things. Good thing I had a job even back then!
My old chest of drawers was still there. The old HP Deskjet sitting on the top gathering dust. I understand the thing still works although it was currently out of ink - which is a testament to how well built HP printers are!
My old posters and other bric a brac is still stuck on the wall (although someone took the USD100 that I had stuck up there - don't ask me why there was USD100 stuck on my wall!). In particular, there were two handdrawn posters of a TIE fighter and an X-Wing. Handdrawn by yours truly I might add (in a rare feat of artistic genius!).
All of my old stuff was still there - my dad had basically preserved the room the way I had left it all those years ago. Enough to bring a tear to anyones eye right?
Except that it wasn't. Although things looked the same, they felt different. It looked like my room, it had all of the stuff that used to be mine. But it didn't feel like my room anymore.
In the past, everytime I have gone into that house, I have felt like I had come home (after all, this was the place where I spent a good portion of my life, including my Secondary school and University years). However, as I wandered around the house, and my old room in particular, everything looked familiar and yet not familiar.
I eventually realised that at some point during the last 5 years, I have come to consider HK my home (instead of Glasgow). I'm not sure the exact reason. Perhaps its the fact that I'm now married (5 years and counting!) to a HK girl. Perhaps its the fact that I have now bought my own flat in HK. Or perhaps its the fact that I now have a baby boy to look after in HK.
Either way, the title for this post says it all - I am now back home in HK.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
Been having that feeling for a few years now, especially since I was away from an earlier age. Plus my room actually has been changed a bit. All adds up that same feeling - lots of familiarity, but almost from another age or person - the emotional link is no longer as strong.
However, some things still get me when I think about them - e.g. the size of the trees in front and out back (vs. my memory of them as little tiddlers)
Yeah - I know what you mean. In particular, the tree in the front garden is absolutely humongous now!
Also, I suspect the emotional link for you was never as strong as it was for me. The reason I say this is because, as you mentioned, you moved away at an earlier age. However, more importantly, you also arrived at a later age.
For me, the time in that house correlated to my last couple of years in Primary school as well as all of my Secondary school (and University). For me, this is where my memory mainly stretches back to. Although I do have some memories of our old flat in Carrington Street (I can't believe I still remember the name of the street), all I have of that period are flashes.
Ah, but do you remember West End Park St? :)
hahaha - you got me there. I can remember being told that we used to have a flat before Carrington Street - but I honestly have no recollection of it at all.
Post a Comment