Ordinary Gweilo

In the UK, if you are celebrating something (a birthday, a wedding, leaving the company, David Beckham scoring a penalty, Tony Blair being found to have done nothing wrong after all), it is traditional to buy cakes.

In Hong Kong, we have snacks. French toast, chicken wings, hot dogs, all sorts of junk. Plus drinks. My preference is for green apple tea, but for some mysterious reason it is often not available. When I request it, people look at me as if I am a bit strange, and kindly suggest that perhaps I would like lemon tea instead. Er, no, not really.

Is this an unreasonable request? I don’t think so.

Then I paid one of my rare visits to Delifrance (motto: not really very French at all) , and it turns out they have a new set which includes the option of Green Apple Tea. So the next opportunity I had (it’s rare treat for those of who work out in the sticks) I rushed along and ordered this set. Needless to say, Green Apple Tea was “off”. How predictable. It’s a conspiracy, I tell you.