Endless holiday

Hello again! I’ve been suffering from a mild form of writer’s block of late, namely, laziness. I had thought about writing a post about Christmas in Hong Kong, but there really wasn’t all that much to report on.

As one can imagine, being a non-Christian country, Hong Kong’s Xmas is a fairly consumerist one (even more so than in western countries), and it feels cold, not because I am from Australia either (Southern hemisphere summer time Xmas’) but because it is almost devoid of the sense of family.

I spent mine with some new friends, but didn’t really feel a deep sense of connection. It came and it went and I got fatter. As it turns out the festive gorging does come with Hong Kong Christmases.

The real deal however, is around the corner. Chinese New Year falls on the 10th of February, 2013. Typically and somewhat ironically, this has always been the most exciting time of the year for myself. I say ironically because I grew up in Australia (Australia is a ‘western’ country and doesn’t generally place too much emphasis on this festival – Captain Obvious).

I don’t know how Chinese New Year will pan out for me here. Logically it should be a super-charged family fun time since the majority of my extended family live here in Hong Kong, however, I’m not particularly close to the maternal side of the family and my sister and her husband are holidaying in China.

Subsequently, I’ve been left with dog-sitting duties, which isn’t too bad butfor the fact that my sister and her husband, like many other designer dog owners in Hong Kong, are hygiene freaks. One of their requirements is that I clean the dog’s feet after each walk.

I DUNNO.

Does this sound normal to you? Because to me, dogs shouldn’t have to live in a Michael Jackson-esque bubble. in fact, requiring them to exist in this manner is almost animal cruelty. Granted they are designer pooches, but even poodles were bred for a reason (Water dogs bred to retrieve recently hunted ducks, they love to swim, and as with all domestic dogs, love to frolick outdoors).

So I am left with two choices insofar as walking these guys. Acquiesce to their owner’s crazy demands to treat them like an extension of the furniture; or, let them LIVE as their maker intended them to LIVE! I.e daily walks without feet washing!

But let’s be honest here, we know exactly what will happen. My sister will read this blog post, yell at me a little and then warn me not to walk the dogs without:

• Spraying insecticide on their feet (fair call, there is a tick problem here in HK);
• Bring poo bags (yep, fair);
• a bottle of water to spray their public pee puddles (strange, but OK in the name of public health); and
• To wash their feet thoroughly afterwards.

At which point, the task list will become too overbearing for my natural laziness, resulting in a whole lot of couch sitting and TV watching for both myself and the dogs over the Chinese New Year holiday period.