The Secret's of Mel's Beijing Plan (Updated)

I just got word from Richard about how brilliant Mel's plans were for making sure the knitters got back on board! Here is how Richard explained it to me:

"Mel and I were on high NORO (a type of Japanese yarn for those not familiar with the full wittiness of Richard's parole) alert and she immediately stayed at one of the gangplanks and told all the uniformed staff that the ship must wait for the missing busload of ladies. I returned to our balcony which had a dull view of the dock as it was getting dark. With our walkie--talkies blaring we looked very serious but I could not make out who was approaching the ship.

I took a high ISO photos of the area and under high mag saw Wendy's beret and Natalie's full hair...

 Then I saw Amy's leather jacket and ....

(huff, quick shallow breathing, sweaty palms) in seconds we knew you all made it back. Hooray!

We also had plan B: I was to suffer a seizure near the gangplank which would stop the ship from leaving port. "

Amy, another member of our group adds, "

Richard['s] photos are priceless!!! Reminded me of those last moments -- stuffing a bunch of bills in our bus driver's hand, jumping off the bus, sprinting across the pier to the end of the gangplank, and jabbering in Mandarin to the Chinese guard that the group was following right behind me and to not let the ship leave until I counted off all 16 members of the group onto the ship. What a memorable night!

There are those who might accuse me of exaggerating, but see, it just ain't so!!!