Delayed flight but an opportune moment for a blog...

Am writing from Hong Kong at the moment, where I met up with Flic and spent a few days enjoying a decent bed. Despite realising I have inflicted a severe bout of exhaustion on myself over the last few months HK was fun, and my iPod is very grateful for his new headphones. Right now am literally in transit on my way to Singapore to meet with Michael and Aron (and Flic), and the head back to Qingdao for a clean up of both my flat and my loose ends, be they Mandarin or social - and knowing me one last push towards mounting up that endless count of characters and colloquialisms.

However in the control freak world of Dan not everything can always run smoothly. United Airways have managed somehow to delay my flight by four hours because 'both of their aeroplanes have problems'. They knew about this at midday and yet seemed unable to prepare for it. Instead a sign went up saying 'delay: 00:20'. Oh well I thought, that's not too bad, twenty mins is nothing. Nope, check-in time and I discover the 8 o'clock flight has been delayed until 00:20. With no compensation or upgrade on the offing, a crummy meal voucher for $75HK was meant to soften the blow. An offer of a fully paid for overnight stay in HK was made, but you had to head back to check-in at 22:45 to see if the honour had been bestowed upon you.

That said not all has been lost - I did manage to wing my way into the first class lounge for free (I just overheard the guy next to me say he paid $50US to get in!)where I am now enjoying unlimited net access, self-measured shots, a variety of mixers, spaghetti, and my first plum in seven months, and rocky road cake cubes. The sofas to my left are also rather comfy and the table looks just the right size to get in some sneaky Chinese newspaper study (don't say it!). The only thing missing, and yes I did check for it, was a phone to make unlimited international phone calls.

So I get to SG at 4am and then have to find my way to Michael's and wake them up. Poor things. I'm half looking forward to writing the complaint letter, but then at the same time the thought of sitting down and drafting an irate response to this situation is already occurs to me to be tiring and a complete waste of time. So if any of you have any precedents do let me know - I can just change the flight details, names and dates.

Hokey Dokey, am getting bored of staring at the screen and my cake supply needs re-stocking.

Happy Chinese New Year to all...

D. x