It may still be January but winter is officially over here on Lamma! 
We've rolled the radiator back into storage, kicked off the extra quilt from the beds and there's kids on the beach again after a months hiatus. 

Hong Kong may only ever get 6 weeks of cold (well it sometimes gets below 10 degrees at night) but it feels like forever.  The flats here are not built for winter. Tiled floors, no double glazing, few carpets, no built-in heating.  It feels as though we're in the tropics! 

While thinking about this blog I've read, or looked at many others, and come up with a quick rule of thumb -

If a blog description contains the word 'musings' it usually means the author has no idea what he's going to put up there, so it's likely to be directionless.

Which of course prompted me to think about what I want to accomplish with this site ( and also to re-read my comments when I set this up, and check that I hadn't used the 'm' word....

So, to counter any accusations of directionlessness that I might feel compelled to level at myself, here, without further ado or procrastination is a 'mission statement' for this site:
    Target audience : family, friends, and acquaintances (keep it realistic...)
   
    Content : Photos, m***ngs, etc
   
    Goals:
       - to keep open some sort of communications with the various branches of my family
       - to practice my touch typing skills (well there has to be something measurable here...)
       - to encourage some of you to get in touch with me
       - to allow myself to write even fewer paper letters than I already do (hard, but I'm going to work on it)
       - To give myself a presence on the web to allow people to find me through search engines and the like
       - To become familiar with the software that  we use to create sites like this
       - To play with site design ideas if I ever get time

And that should be more than enough for a tiny site like this.....

I shall make a note to revisit this post in a year or so and see to what extent these have been achieved.

This blog is officialy alive! Giles visited and made a comment.  Fame! Exposure! Limelight!  Well almost.  But its a start. ...   more »

Saturday was Kira's birthday party. 'Nuff said - almost.  Fewer kids than previous years, (18 rather than 30) but they make more noise than the small ones.  At least they're almost self organising - throw a Twister game at them and they can amuse themselves for a while.  The four boys who were allowed through the screening process managed to segregate themselves with a pile of cars and Lego somewhere for some parts of the afternoon - Looks as though the gender separation thing is setting in ready for the next few years.
 
The other news is that (for the next few days at least) I'm clean shaven.  Deb and Kira have both seen my chin for the first time and I feel discombobulated when I catch my reflection from time to time. 
Other peoples reactions are amusing though - some people don't notice at all, One said "There's something different - you've had a haircut"  despite the fact that my hair is longer than its been in several years.  And the lady at the ferry pier asked me if I want sugar in my coffee because she didn't recognise me.
 
'Twas all in a good cause though.  The Island bar rounded up some hairy faces and had them depilated as part of a fund-raiser for the tsunami relief fund.  Various people were sporting half beards, mohicans, Charlie Chaplain moustaches. There was even a Bobby Charlton (shave half the head and comb the remaining strands over the bald spot) so I feel I got off lightly.

OK so my plan to post everyday is going to take a little work.  Probably the best way is to ...   more »