A Good Day
Ling and I are smiling cos today was a rather good day. In the wee hours of the morning, as I was struggling through another episode of that interminable television series, 24, an email dropped into my inbox. It was a woman by the name of Karen Kemp asking me to write her a book. Karen was asking on behalf of AA Publishing, a major guidebook publisher back home in the UK. Next year they are to add China to their Spiral series and I, apparently, am the man to do the job. This was a rather major development.
The excitement meant I had a restless night. Accordingly, I was easily roused next morning when Ling climbed out of bed and headed off to the bathroom. I knew what she was up to. I kept my eyes closed and pretended to be asleep. I couldn't face the tension. Ling returned five minutes later having taken two separate pregnancy tests. Both were showing the answer we had been waiting for so long. Not five hours had elapsed and already the most important news of my life had been usurped in the pecking order of priorities.
In an understated English manner, I celebrated by playing a wind-and-rain lashed round of golf. I won on the last hole. Today, like I said, was a good day.
God does really have a gift for making you wait an eternity for the slenderest sign of hope, and then inundating you with good fortune to such an extent that you end up feeling guilty.
What a bastard.
