Got home last night to find LJ looking extremely frustrated and sitting on the steps in the hallway... unable to get into the front door. For a start we have 3 doors, one external downstairs to get into the building, and then (and this seems to be a standard chinese thing) one metal gate door and then a front door.. heres a pic, not our door but an example of:


Anyway, on our front door we have 2locks (all sounds a bit excessive doesnt it?!). The top lock is one of those complicated Yale type monster affairs so we just disengage that one and use the other, however the eve prev I had got extremely wasted (I know, shocking right?!) and was therefore pooping my pants that the entire scenario could possibly be my fault eg, knocking it off the catch or something stupid like that and had visions of having to payout for a new lock, whilst also further risking damaging LJs already flimsy view of me as a responsible adult. Actually, phew, it was the other one, wasnt too expensive to fix, and enlightening to discover its shockingly easy to break into with a piece of plastic, hence I suppose, the metal gate!! Finding a local locksmith that spoke English and wasnt going to rip us off was somewhat of a mission however!

Other piece of news I have to share is the suspicion that the lady on the top floor is either a complete weirdo, or allergic to gweilos, or both... for the following reason:
We have a no smoking policy in place, which makes sense since its a small apartment, plus smoking is terrible for your health so if I want to have a cigarette, or make a phone call for example then I head up to the roof (which is lovely btw) and Ive noticed every time I head up there the old wee lady who lives at the top comes out to have a wee spy on me to see what Im up to... not that weird, nosy neighbours and all that. I even thought, maybe she wants to be neighbourly and is coming to say hi etc... well that is until her dog appears, runs over wagging its tail saying hello, and she FREAKS out!
The first time she came over, muttering in Chinese, and snatched the dog away from me... literally as I was patting it on the head, and now she does everything in her power to not even let the dog within a 10 foot radius of me lol, very strange!
I might start taking hidden dog treats in my pocket up with me just to see what might happen lol

Nearly the weekend and sooooo cannot wait, its been a busy week!

Miss you
Tx

Ps: Found this blog, seems as if I am one of many keeping those back in motherland updated on all things asian!
http://rjp-scs-hongkong.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html