The long-haul flight and the dangers—albeit infrequent—of flying have been on my mind this week. These things hold no fear for me, and I have always refused to alter my behaviour as a result of terrorism or events such as the terrible ending of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. (If we change our behaviour, these people have won.) However, as all European flights take a route over the former Soviet Union, I also realise how lucky most of us actually are, and my mind will be on that as I board the plane. Air miles, upgrades, and lounges seem trivial compared with arriving safely at your destination.
POSTMARK: Hong Kong
Assuming a safe arrival, I will be blogging daily, I hope, from the conference at the invitation of Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL) magazine, and this blog will be called POSTMARK: Hong Kong. I have checked previous Research Congress blogs by Ken Dion, reporting from Brisbane and Prague, which give me a lot to live up to, but I like a challenge. On the night of my arrival, I have dinner with fellow editors at Hutong, hosted by Wiley. One of those editors will be Brendan McCormack, one of the 2014 inductees into the International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame.
As mentioned, this is my first of two visits to Hong Kong this month. After the conference, I have a day and a half at home before I board a plane again, this time for Australia and accompanied by my wife and youngest daughter, Rebecca, 15. We will be stopping in Hong Kong both ways.
I like to take the remaining few of my children who have not visited Hong Kong out through immigration—even though we can transfer without doing so—and let them experience the intense heat and humidity briefly and to get a Hong Kong stamp on their passport. Since I can use the diplomatic channel, this takes me approximately 10 minutes, and then we are back on the right side of immigration. It is possible that my children don’t find this as much fun as I do, and I am quite sure that the ever-sensible Mrs. Watson will not be joining us on this diversion. On the return journey, Rebecca and I have two days in Hong Kong, and I have booked all sorts of exciting things to do.
If you read my recent “Hanging smart” post in RNL, you may be wondering how my plantar fasciitis is. Well, my two runs earlier this month in Genova were not such a good idea, and the race I took part in when I got home was a very bad idea. I’m unable to run at the moment, or climb, and have to find other, less satisfactory, ways to keep fit.
New fellowship
Finally, in its collective wisdom, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh saw fit to make me a fellow, so now I can carry the coveted postnominal FRCP Edin designation. At first, I thought it was a mistake, as I am not a medical doctor but, again in their collective and infinite wisdom, they have created a class of nonphysician fellow. I have often visited their esteemed headquarters in Edinburgh and even had the privilege—once—of giving a lecture. Next time I enter those hallowed portals, my head will be held just that little bit higher.
For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Comments are moderated. Those that promote products or services will not be posted.
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