In preparation for Ching Ming, Good Friday and Easter Monday

For all the people who fell for my silly April Fool's joke yesterday, please allow me to reassure you that you were not the only ones subjected to my cruelly warped sense of humour. I sent out a message to my colleagues telling them that my boss and I had agreed that my skills would be better utilised in the firm's catering department. Henceforth I was to be known as the tea lady, serving perfect Earl Grey tea with lemon and biscuits from the Duchy of Cornwall (Prince Charles's estate). Chinese Sad Associate thought that I had quit without telling her and was furious, until she read the "Happy April Fool's Day" banner at the bottom of the email. Tee hee.

I know, I know. I'm lame. I need a holiday. Well guess what? M. is arriving this afternoon from NYC so I am going to be AWOL for the next week. Ching Ming is a holiday that is celebrated for reasons that I can't remember anymore. But the result is I have two long weekends in a row, so I am not complaining. M. and I are going to be swanning around Hong Kong in a state of bliss (hopefully).

While I'm busy doing nothing here's a piece of trivia I picked up from BBC News 24 this morning for you to think about:

"On this day in 1959 the Dalai Lama made his escape from Tibet by trekking through the Himalayas for 15 days to reach India."

I will have to remember this, every time I think I'm going through a difficult period of my life.