Summer of Change - day one
The new Haircut
It's a problem. I really should learn Chinese for "Not too short, take it off the collar, no I don't have any particular style, but it shouldn't look like it was cut with a basin, look, just do the best you can and don't make me look like a Taiwanese pop star". Babelfish tells me its, "这是问题。我应该真正地学会中文为"不太短, 采取它衣领, 没有我没有任何特殊样式, 但是它不应该看如它用水池被削减了, 神色, 竭尽全力您能和不做我看起来象一位台湾流行音乐明星" but I don't quite trust it.
Anyway, THAT was a flight! Late takeoff, and a missed connection, meant that by the time I got through my door I had been travelling 23 hours. Jet lagged good, I then woke at five on day one of the Summer of Change. To work. You may omit the next paragraph!
{So it was online to office in Beijing, catching up; call with trainer about course in Holland; calls to Landlord, gas, mail divert, turn off bank statements, electric, telecoms, insurance, council tax, etc. to cancel supplies.call on Neighbours;Haircut; buy tripod at Argos to go with my new Birding Scope;Go to Thomas Cook, buy ferry tickets (Do you know, if you have a Thomas Cook Visa card, they give you cash back and you can use this against travel bookings made through Thomas Cook - and any currency you buy there? As a result, my cross channel overnight sailing from Harwich to Hook of Holland - for the big adventure in July - was almost free to me);back to work for a few hours;Go to Pub, nice to see them all;Food;Bed by eight (jet lagged still, woke at five again) }
The big date is 10th June. That is the date on which my house here is emptied, my stuff sent to Spain, and I am officially homeless in UK. I'm not quite as panicked now as I have been, I guess being half a world away in China made it seem scarier. BUt there are still a few "bumpy patches" to get through, the 2 days after the house is closed, and before I fly out to Spain to meet my stuff arriving, and the few days I spend in UK before I start the second training course of the summer. The main thing is to be ruthless with time and possessions; On this visit (now) I am here for 4 more days - by the time I go to Holland this time I have to have the house rationalised.The big planning for me is the luggage for my first trip to Spain in early JUne, the luggage for my trip to Holland in late June, the luggage for the course in the Lake district and the week in Cambridge, the luggage for my trip to Spain by road in July, and not getting them (a) mixed up and (b) ending up with a car totally full to drive out to Spain!
Right. I am off to throw away some olod suits! I have a new one for the summer - a splendid English styled Linen Suit - and was so pleased with it when I collected it in China that I am replacing all my old suits with a few new, made to measure ones. At sixty of our weakened English pounds for a tailor-made suit, wouldn't you?
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Have you seen Chinese School (BBC4/BBC World) - worth a look if it's repeated over your direction. 5-part fly-on-the-wall documentary shot over a year in 3 schools. 14-hour school day with no PS3 - no wonder they are beating the pants off us!
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