I’ve had one tough morning. Had to cancel a dim sum engagement party after my kids knocked over a lamp with a mercury-fille light bulb. What a disaster when you have a living room full of toys and books–and wall to wall carpeting.
After I rushed the kids away from the living room, I attacked the mess like a surgeon. I covered my nose and mouth and attended to the shards with a pair of tongs. Later I placed duct tape over the carpet to try to remove micro shards.
While I was researching carpet cleaners (who have all refused to clean ours), I came across a photo on Facebook that showed a new book I hadn’t heard of: Escape from Hong Kong: Admiral Chan Chak’s Christmas Day Dash, 1941 (Hong Kong University Press, 2011) by Tim Luard.
This is such an exciting story that I quickly bought it from a third-party Amazon store for US$35. After the ordeal of the morning, I needed something to look forward to–and this fit the bill.
I first learned of the one-legged admiral (yes, even during the Christmas battle in 1941, Chan only had one leg) in Philip Snow’s epic The Fall of Hong Kong (Yale University Press, 2004). Although the whole book was enjoyable, my favorite part was the one on Chan.
I must go back to my duct tape now, but in a month or so this book should arrive from the UK. I hope the mercury will be out of our systems by then.
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