Licensing Blog

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2010 finally arrives, and the new Guide is here!(Posted: 04-02-2010)

The New Year started successfully with my advance guard batch of the 2010 Guide being ready in time to ship them out for the Hong Kong show. Unfortunately the snow later in the week put paid to hopes of despatching the rest as planned as they were snowed into the printer’s warehouse. Apologies to those of you who got your copy later than expected, but one thing we can’t control is the weather (although perhaps we could manage the gritting of the roads a bit better!).

The long journey to Hong Kong didn’t start well. The snow meant that we had to dig a 30 yard route for the car to reach the comparative safety of the road, and the first half of the 60 miles to Heathrow was slightly harrowing. In order to avoid driving at 5am on the morning of the flight I went the evening before and stayed in a very cheap bed and breakfast in Southall. Even by my low standards it was a real dive – but at the least the bed and the bathroom were clean! Television viewing was bizarrely restricted to ITV3. I slipped and slid across the icy pavements to find the nearest pub – another dump! Once the feeling of being in danger had passed I had a reasonable evening. I still can’t get over the fact that every type of beer was £2 a pint – even if you had crisps or peanuts it was still £2. I think the fact that money went into a pocket and not a till had something to do with it.

The choice of a lunchtime flight with Qantas was a good one, as the evening flights were badly delayed or cancelled because of de-icing problems, and I was safely delivered to my hotel in Wanchai by 10am on the Saturday before the show. The weather was more hospitable than when the show was previously held in July – ie it wasn’t baking hot with 90% humidity - although the locals seemed to be staring at me as though I were slightly mad as I passed them in jeans and t-shirt and they were all wrapped up in scarves and coats.

Amazingly, by 6pm I’d made my second visit to the tailors and had a first fitting for a new suit. The speed with which the service is available is really incredible. This was followed by a large steak, a few beers and a much needed sleep.

On Sunday I undertook the roller coaster ride which is going on the top deck of the bus to Stanley market on the south of the island. Another successful trip to load up with shirts from the renowned rugby store. During the afternoon, set-up at the show was as smooth as ever. A mistake I made later was to have a bath, and I paid the price for trying to squeeze into a midget-sized tub with a sore back the next morning.

The first day of the show was followed by a cocktail evening combined with the Asian Licensing Awards. My good friend from Lunartics, Mr Harris, gamely arrived in Hong Kong at 4.30pm and was at the reception by 6.30pm. I feel it would be mean to put the photos on public display that I took of him later that evening fast asleep in the hotel bar, but they are available on request.

The obligatory trip to the Peak via the tram was made the next night, followed by a visit to a rather chilly restaurant. We were soon warmed up by the Oyster Shots with Vodka that attracted our attention on the menu – they tasted a whole lot better than we expected, and we felt it only polite to go back in for seconds!

I would like to thank Mr Harris for his company over the course of the trip, the highlight of which was to see the look on his face when I insisted on taking the heavily packed underground train to Kowloon – he’s obviously not a regular user of public transport! By the end of the evening I had even successfully taught him the basics of haggling in the market.

It was nice on arrival home to see that the snow had more or less disappeared. All I need to do now is keep the weight off that I lost last year so that the new suit continues to fit…………..