I've moved!

I am blogging at the moment from my new home. I have moved, after a very nice 12 months in my first flat in Hong Kong. It's a little unreal that I've been here that long - 12 months have zipped by -- when I review the blog posts and other assorted writing I had done over the past year, I am again reminded about how crazy I am and how lucky I am that no one has yet seen fit to put me away.

So while the unsuspecting new neighborhood welcomes me with open arms, it's been a mad few weeks of unwinding my old lease, packing boxes (plenty of practice in that one thanks to living in 5 apartments and 1 boat in 9 years of New York City life), opening new utilities accounts, negotiating setup times.

It is common knowledge that any single girl in a new home that wants to get things done with the collective powers of utility companies and furniture/appliance stores, has to show a bit of skin, bat eyelashes several times and also smile very sweetly. So I won't bother telling you how I got the Broadband salesperson to set up an earlier installation time, or the appliance store salesman to deliver the fridge earlier with 24 free cans of coke.

Pros of new flat:
+1 Cheaper.
+2 Closer to work, to Airport Express, to Central, to my friends.
+3 In the middle of "old" Hong Kong - where I can find old tea ladies next to art galleries next to incense-filled funeral parlors and world-famous char-siew shops.
+4 No more nauseating French country-style furniture from old landlord.

-1 Closer to work means longer work hours.
-2 Closer to Airport Express because I travel almost 70% of my time now for work.
-3 No longer by the sea.

Continued on Fengshui, Ikea and a Very Touching Moment... ...