It was a typical, rain-drenched August afternoon 33 years ago which greeted the arrival of the aeroplane carrying Patrick Tierney and Thomas Favier at the old Kai Tak aerodrome.
As the aircraft finally taxied to a stop after a particularly difficult trip - a journey from London which resulted in several interruptions, including a delay at Rangoon because of the bad weather in Hong Kong - the passengers wearily ambled off the plane and into the terminal.
As Mr Tierney and Mr Favier, two fresh-faced, bright-eyed, 21-year-old Irishmen, took their first steps on Hong Kong soil, they, like their fellow passengers on the BOAC aircraft, were dumbfounded. The stormy and stifling weather, the tightly-packed buildings in nearby Kowloon City and the alien yapping of the locals assaulted their senses.
The fellow-expatriates who came off the plane comprised a mixed bunch. Some were civil servants sent to this Far East outpost; some came to look for probable fame and fortune. Mr Tierney and Mr Favier were neither; they came with a mission to serve and they were determined to stay for the rest of their lives.
More than three decades on, both men, now in their mid-50s, are still in Hong Kong. The humidity is no hindrance to their health any more; communication with locals has become easy with their acquiring of elementary Cantonese.
However, they do not work in plush executive rooms like some of their fellow expatriates who came off that flight might do. Robed in white, Mr Tierney and Mr Favier operate from schools, looking into the affairs of adolescent students instead of white-collared employees.