Happy New Year!
First up, Happy New Year everyone, as we kick off 2013. To those who follow the lunar calendar, we will shortly be saying farewell to the Year of the Dragon and welcoming the Year of the Snake.
Having been born in 1948 which was a Year of the Mouse (Oh all right, Rat) I am naturally a little wary of what comes next as I seem to remember snakes diet includes mice. But I must say 2012 in particular the final month was pretty good. On 21 December I turned 64 AND the world didn’t end. A double celebration there then.
And 28 December was the 40th anniversary of my arrival in Hong Kong. As you may have noticed, joyful crowds of grateful citizens held back their partying until New Year’s Eve.
Taking the year as a whole, I finally managed to turn back a tide that had been running strongly for almost four decades. On that cold day in December 1972 when I first set foot in our fair city I weighed only 61 kg. Clearly that was too little and mainly attributable to a tough year and a half on the road as I tackled the so-called Hippy Trail. Once I was eating regularly, I quickly filled out to a more normal 70 odd kilos.
Marriage and children pushed me up into the 80s but my final Government posting which involved long spells sitting in aircraft and lots of entertainment saw me burst into the 90 kg mark and beyond. Finally by the end of 2011 I reached the shameful figure of 102. Obese is such an ugly word, but it did (and does) apply.
But in 2012 I finally managed to change direction, lose 6 kg and get down to a still far too heavy 96. And in the new year I have every intention of losing another 6kg. Wish me luck!
And on that weighty note, I close this diary entry.
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