… in Hong Kong Harbour last night (except that it wasn’t Hong Kong harbour at all but an artificial kind of canal system running between two rows of impressive houses like the boulevard that goes up to the railway station in Montlucon. Right down at the end of it, where I had my small bedsitter, was a British battleship that had suffered battle damage and had been brought in for repair. Around the corner came a Japanese heavy battle-cruiser which saw the British ship, steamed up towards it and from a range of about 100 metres gave it two turrets’ worth of high explosive armour-piercing shells that caused the British ship to sit on the bottom immediately.Even more exciting that this was watching the battle-cruiser screech to a stop about 10 feet before colliding with the British ship.
I decided to make myself scarce for a while. As an enemy of the Japanese, I’d be the first into the camp if they came ashore, and I couldn’t imagine the Japanese ship sitting here for very long in this narrow waterway, impossible to manoeuvre against a determined aerial attack.
So when I came back, not only where the Japanese and their ship still there, they had rounded up the crew of the British ship and marching them back to their ship, and beginning to comb the town using dogs.
This was where I realised what a fool I had been. I had remarked on coming back that it looked as if someone had tried my door, and now I knew – it had been set like that after I had left so that the Japanese would know that I had returned when I reset the door handle (which was exactly what I had done) and they would be here any second.
And so I fled for the hills. I encountered loads of British people who lived in grey concrete apartment blocks up there. All of them seemed to be resigned, cheerfully resigned to being captured by the Japanese and all that came with it, but if anyone thought that I was going to sit around calmly and wait to be taken prisoner they were completely mistaken. I was off.
There’s absolutely no doubt whatever that whatever happens and wherever I go when I’m deep in the arms of Morpheus is much more exciting than whatever happens to me in real life, is there?
And there must have been something going on, for this morning I noticed a trail of blood leading to and from the beichstuhl. It seems that during one of my nocturnal visits to ride the porcelain horse I must have cut my toe on something, yet I don’t remember a thing.
Anyway, last night’s voyages (both of them) were certainly more exciting than what happened today. I had breakfast and then I set to work on my next magnum opus. I told you yesterday that Amazon had discontinued its A-stores after all the time that I had spent in creating one before I went to Canada. Anyway, to cut a long story short … "hooray" – ed … I’ve started to build my own from scratch.
And, apart from a few interruptions here and there, that was all that I’ve done today. I’e not even been outside, except to take the stats tonight.
And Rosemary rang me again for another chat. Just as I was about to make my tea. We chatted for about an hour by which time the edge had gone off my appetite and I decided,to go to bed.
So where else is there to go tonight after Hong Kong yesterday?
