MIDDLEBURGH

MIDDLEBURGH:MAN, DOG AND WALRUS

Last Saturday, after a family conclave, we emulated the Duke of York and marched up to the Top of a nearby Hill.(144m ie just less than 2.5x height of the Monument in London.)

Family conclaves are a weekly ritual where Rebecca and I practice our negotiating skills with our 4.5 year old son Jamie.... it's challenging and we still have a lot to learn....

To put it in content this hill which lies midway between the South Horizons and Lei Tung Estates looks down on our block so it's equivalent to hauling arse up forty
floors. There are 2 ways down: The way we came or down the other side to Lei Tung via a path which would make a goat feel at home.

At the bottom we come out into The Public Housing estate like refugees crossing the border into a neighbouring country. There is a playground which jamie investigates with enthusiasm whilst we rest up

Then this dog comes and appears to adopt me much to the amusement of the locals and Rebecca.We developed three theories to explain what was going on

1. the first was that the dog recognised me as a kindred spirit, empathizing with my hang dog and knackered "aura". He therefore chose to sit with me as a gesture of
   solidarity and support
   
2. secondly the dog recognised me as a foreigner (maybe even as a Brit) and considered that even if I wasn't a dog lover, I was unlikely to be the Bowen Road Poisoner and I was less likely than the locals to eat him (actually wrong on 2 out of 3 !!)
   
3. alternatively and in my opinion much more likely he was simply waiting for me to put my bag down ... so he could pee on it.
   

Yesterday, there was no renegotiation of the concession extracted last week that we would take Rebecca to Ocean Park to see the Penguins.... and the Walrus. (although we did later concede playtime in the childrens area).

At the beginning of March Jamie and I had gone on our own one Saturday to Ocean Park and "discovered" the Polar Adventure zone This area had only opened in July 2012 and we hadn't visited it. Whilst most visitor were queuing up for the cable car to start we took the first "Ocean Express" up the Hiil and were one of the first into the Penguin exhibit (South Pole Spectular) We were totally blown away but not as blown away as we were to be with the seals and Walrus (North Pole Encounter). In was never in question that we would return with Rebecca to choose her birthday present nor that she would ride the "arctic blast" with jamie (he is to small for the "Hair raiser") and most importantly after we told her about the Walrus we had to settle an argument about whether it was bigger than our sofa.

Posted at 4/21/2013 09:36:00 pm by David Middleburgh   Permalink

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