Page 73 - moondani kyema
P. 73
ndani kyema, My Story - Ray Moore 73
He explained to me the workings of an airport and much about their role in defending
it. He asked me if I had ever been to the Peak on Hong Kong Island and as I hadn’t,
he offered to take me next Saturday in his groovy little open topped sports car.
He came to pick me up and when he discovered that I had a couple of brothers, he
offered to take them too, much to my disgust. He was my friend and this was my
special outing. But they came anyway and we crossed the bay on a vehicular ferry
and then drove up to the Peak on Hong Kong Island. It was a wonderful experience
and my only regret was that we had not had a ride on the famous cable car. Fifty
years later when I revisited Hong Kong I insisted on riding up to the Peak on the
cable car, much to the annoyance of my Chinese friend Vincent who was showing us
around and said it was not worth it. He was right. It wasn’t worth it. Any worthwhile
view of the famous harbour was largely blocked by trees and shrubs, but at least I
had achieved a long held ambition.
Our friend the major shouted us ice creams and popsicles and generally spoilt us, but
I still held a small resentment that my younger siblings had muscled in on my fun.
As a family (i.e. Grants and Moores) we had a day trip with Miss Loughheed and the
Wendyl Phillips family to one of the islands where we had “lunch at Cranes”
according to Don Grant’s diary, and then a swim at the beach before coming home.
On another occasion Don took us to Repulse Bay for an outing Repulse Bay is on
the south side of Hongkong and very close to the site of the Japanese Concentration
Camp at Stanley.
A couple of items in Don’s diary
intrigue me, probably because I
cannot remember anything about
them. The first was a note that he
had taken me to the doctor for a skin
infection for which I was given a
penicillin jab. The other was the fact
that we had Marie Crapuchettes and
Wanda Hazelton with us for a couple
of days. How could I forget this? I
was somewhat infatuated with
Wanda at Kuling. She was an
American stunner! That’s her on the
right.
HONGKONG TO AUSTRALIA
Eventually, exactly a month from our arrival in Hongkong, on 28th September, we
boarded the “Carthage” bound for England. We were going as far as Ceylon and then
boarding another ship which was travelling from England to Australia.
Even though we travelled second class or was it steerage, (Don Grant says “we
enjoyed the freedom of the Tourist deck”) we made the most of our teenage naivety
and had full run of the ship. The smell of paint and oil, the feel of the deck quoits
He explained to me the workings of an airport and much about their role in defending
it. He asked me if I had ever been to the Peak on Hong Kong Island and as I hadn’t,
he offered to take me next Saturday in his groovy little open topped sports car.
He came to pick me up and when he discovered that I had a couple of brothers, he
offered to take them too, much to my disgust. He was my friend and this was my
special outing. But they came anyway and we crossed the bay on a vehicular ferry
and then drove up to the Peak on Hong Kong Island. It was a wonderful experience
and my only regret was that we had not had a ride on the famous cable car. Fifty
years later when I revisited Hong Kong I insisted on riding up to the Peak on the
cable car, much to the annoyance of my Chinese friend Vincent who was showing us
around and said it was not worth it. He was right. It wasn’t worth it. Any worthwhile
view of the famous harbour was largely blocked by trees and shrubs, but at least I
had achieved a long held ambition.
Our friend the major shouted us ice creams and popsicles and generally spoilt us, but
I still held a small resentment that my younger siblings had muscled in on my fun.
As a family (i.e. Grants and Moores) we had a day trip with Miss Loughheed and the
Wendyl Phillips family to one of the islands where we had “lunch at Cranes”
according to Don Grant’s diary, and then a swim at the beach before coming home.
On another occasion Don took us to Repulse Bay for an outing Repulse Bay is on
the south side of Hongkong and very close to the site of the Japanese Concentration
Camp at Stanley.
A couple of items in Don’s diary
intrigue me, probably because I
cannot remember anything about
them. The first was a note that he
had taken me to the doctor for a skin
infection for which I was given a
penicillin jab. The other was the fact
that we had Marie Crapuchettes and
Wanda Hazelton with us for a couple
of days. How could I forget this? I
was somewhat infatuated with
Wanda at Kuling. She was an
American stunner! That’s her on the
right.
HONGKONG TO AUSTRALIA
Eventually, exactly a month from our arrival in Hongkong, on 28th September, we
boarded the “Carthage” bound for England. We were going as far as Ceylon and then
boarding another ship which was travelling from England to Australia.
Even though we travelled second class or was it steerage, (Don Grant says “we
enjoyed the freedom of the Tourist deck”) we made the most of our teenage naivety
and had full run of the ship. The smell of paint and oil, the feel of the deck quoits
