November 29th - Well, here we are then...

...back on English soil. It's only been a few days - this is the fourth - but it's been a bit non stop.

We went from packing up one house and passing on all our unwanted onto Jewel's family, to packing up my old childhood home in England in perperation for a move to a new family homw on Thursday. I'm feeling a career in removals coming on.

So it's all been a bit hectic and I think we're both feeling a bit out of sync at the moment.

It was all very interesting though. Quite a few things happened in the last few days in Shanghai that I will (hopefully) write about later. And any initial shock of going to China the first time ahs been at least matche dby returnign back to the UK.

I've spent the last 2 years surrounded by a wall of sounds that was the Chinese language being spoken at break-neck speed by the locals in Shanghai. Understanding virtually none of it made it seem like ambient background noise more than anything else. Back in Blighty, nthe ambient noise has become a chance for eavesdropping.

I'm not sure if it's representive of all of us English, or if it is just the effect of having been in China, but all I could hear from my fellow countrymen on the flight home was moaning. Complaining about seats, food, people - just about everything on the plane really. I'm not sure if I preferred the ambient noise of Shanghai more. I'm sure most of it was complaints aswell, but, like they say, ignorance is bliss.

Anyway, we're back, keeping busy and getting into it all again. Jewel started on the language course today, so hopefully that'll keep her busy for a while. I'm going to be getting on with the big move on Thirsday and the next week or so will be spent trying to get the house polished up in time for Christmas.

Busy, busy, busy...

November 22nd - Too Many Things, Not Enough Time...

Last couple of days have been good. The flight tickets have been paid for and, after a 12 hour flight, we are going to be arriving back in England at 5.30pm on Friday. And knowing the traffic around Heathrow at that time, we'll probably have another 12 hours sitting on the airport bus home (it shoudl usually take about 1 hour).

My dear parents were all excited when I told them that we had the tickets etc. I reassured my mother that it was fine for us to make our own way back and they needn't bother driving through the ruch hour traffic and road works to come and collect us from the airport. My mother then reassured me that it really wasn't a problem for them to come and get us. We bounced these reassurances off each other for a few minutes and I eventually relented and gratefully accepted their offer to collect us.

About 5 minutes later she called back and said she had been talking it over with my Old Man and asked, if it was not too much trouble, that we take the bus instead.

I managed to sell the other flight ticket today, so my pocket is not feeling as light as it might have been. We also seem to be making slow but sure progress on getting this house rented and thus getting our deposit back. Time is a bit of an issue, so it's 50-50 if it actually happens. Fingers crossed.

Whatever, at least I've got tomorrow to look forward to. It's 'go to the local fake goods market and buy all the stuff that would cost me at least 10 times as much at home' time. So an early start and a lot of shopping is on the cards tomorrow.

And with those addtions, we are going to be uncomfortably close to that 60kg check in baggage limit on Friday. Looks like I'll be wearing about 3 coats and 4 jumpers on the way home.

At least I won't get cold.

November 20th - Beaten By A Spoon And Typing With Ease

A strange thing happened to me today. I just popped into my local 24 hour convenience store to buy a bottle of water, Shanghai taps not delivering anything that I would welcome in my stomach. I am usually in there once a day, so I suppose I qualify as a regular customer.

As you go through the automatic doors, the big 4 litre bottle of water are just to your right. I walked in, turned right and bent down to chhose my bottle.

Standing at the counter, which is just to the left of the water, were the 2 shop assistants. One was behind the counter, the other in front of it. In these type of shops they tend to be 40 middle aged local Shanghainese women. Anyone who lives here will know that women like this are as tough as they come. Finding a friendly looking one is like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.

As I was standing up and turning around, bottle of water in hand, I heard an attack like scream and was confronted by one of the shop assistants who had jumped in front of me, was now standing in a fighting stance, brandishing a wepon in her hand. OK, it wasn't exactly a weapon, more like a....spoon.

I was a little taken a back. I put on a nervous laugh/smile and edged my way past her, muttering something about her being crazy under my breath. As I got to the counter to pay for the water, she hit me on the shoulder with her spoon, screamed her attack scream again and beamed a lauhin smile at me and her colleague behind the counter.

I looked at her, still nervously laughing, and asked her why she was 'beating' me. "I'm not beating you." she said "I like you".

"Really?" I asked. "Really!" she replied.

"I'm very happy you like me," I said. "Thank you for the water - I'm going home now - bye," I continued hastily, as I piced up the water and rushed out of the shop.

"BYE!" she shouted after me. "BYE!!! I like you!!!"

And I swear I have never seen her in that shop before. Too many orange Skittles for her that day, me thinks.

So that was that.

Now, the observant among you might have noticed that there is a fair bit of writing in this entry today. Well, there's good reason for it.

Remember back a few months ago I blogged about doom and gloom and the fact that the '9' 'o' and the 'p' keys were not workign on my computer? OK, so nobody really remembers that except me, but it did get me in The Independent gets boring when I keep repeating that, doesn't it?) and I was also the bridesmaid at Molly Sugdeons wedding, you know.

Well today I (FINALLY) got a new keyboard for this archaic machine of mine. It wasn't easy...but that's a whole other story.

November 18th - Left out of pocket

Most of my day today has been spent packing, cleaning and tidying the house. I've just now realised why I rented this place in the first place...it's actually quite a nice apartment. So, the big question is, why the hell won't anybody rent it????

As we are doing a 10 day turn around and leaving the contract on this place about 8 months early, it looks like we are going to lose our deposit, which is 2 months rent - or about £500. Unless, that is, we find someone to take over our contract. At the moment we still haven't found that special someone, but never say never.

A few months ago I snapped up the bargain of a British Airways return flight to London from Shanghai Business Class for a mere £540. Bearing in mind that they usually retail for about £2,000 I thought I was getting a pretty good deal. Now I've decided to sell it, again for about £540 as that will probably cover the cost of both mine and Jewels tickets.

A £2,000 ticket on sale for £540. So why the hell won't anybody buy it???

No deposit and and have to buy another flight ticket - I have an empty feeling in my pocket right now...

Still, 8 days and I'll be back in Blighty. Woo hoo!!!

Mental note to myself: Don't forget that Jewel is leaving her country/family for an extended period for the first time and might not be quite as excited as you are. Try to be sensitive.

Slightly of the subject, but please feel free to tell me how atrocious my spelling is. Someone pointed that out to me today and, having read through the Blog archive, I am feeling a little embarrassed right now.

November 17th - At Last...

...the whole visa thing is finished. We went along this morning and got the darn thing. Didn't get the fanfare and brass band celebrations that I think were warranted, but at least we got the visa.

Since then we've spent the rest of the day realising just how much we've got to get done in the next 10 days - including a 2/3 day trip back to see Jewel's parents - as we are trying to get tickets to leave on Friday 26th. Classes begin on Monday 28th for Jewel.

Sporadic bloggin is likely to be the order of the day for the next 14 days then. Bear with me on this one.

November 16th - Back Down To Earth

Yesterday's excitement has decided to go away for a whileas this evening has brought on a sudden realisation of a few things. Mostly they relate to money - or lack of it, to be exact - and having to do so many things in such a short time.

We will be going into the visa ofice tomorrow morning to get the definite answer to the seemingly endless visa question. If it's good, we'll be trying to sort out flight tickets - that's a whole story in itself - whislt trying to find new renters for this house so we can get our deposit back, whilst sorting out what to carry home and what to send home in boxes. If it's bad news, we'll be sitting at home feeling thoroughly sorry for ourselves.

And on top of it all is the fact that I am going home broke and jobless. It hit me today. I really am broke and the flood of job offers I have been expecting as a result of this website has not materialised. So job offers and annonymous million pound donations are very welcome now, thank you.

In an attempt to distract myself I've put up all of the photos that I took during the little get away we had last week.

There are now 3 new sections in the China photos section: Yang Zhou, Zhen Jiang and Chinese Writing.

Below are 3 photos, one from each section, to give you a bit of a taster of what's in them. Click on the image to go through to its respective page.

Yanghzhou and the taxi bike ride to hell:

Zhen Jiang and it's baby statue:

Chinese Writing and bamboo graffiti - Chinese equivalent of 'Dave woz 'ere':

It's a big day tomorrow...

November 15th - Back Home And Closer To Going Home

It's all been a bit quiet on here for the last few days as I decided the long weekend away was better spent wandering around new parts of China than sitting in front of the computer.

We had a really great time up in Yangzhou, although it was dull and wintery all the time. It was great to get lost in the old streets, eat the local food and forget about Shanghai and visa worries for a few days. A well needed escape.

The beauty of getting out and about in China, outside of the 'golden holiday' times is that, even at the weekend, you get to see everywhere you want and can breathe at the same time. Less people means more fun. Well it did this time at least.

I've got a few hundred photos and will go through and get some of the best ones up here as soon as I can.

As I say, the holiday was just what the doctor ordered and ended as well as it could have when, on the last day, someone from the visa office called to say the they 'intended' to give Jewel her visa, but needed us to complete a form to cancel the appeal against the last refusal. So we are going into the embassy at 2pm today to fill out the form and fingers crossed a couple of days later everything will be ok.

Trying not to get too excited right now, but it looks as promising as it has done for a while now.

November 10th - Caring And Sharing

The train is leaving at 2.30 this afternoon and we should be arriving in Yangzhou at about 7 tonight. And so the 3 or 4 day escape from Shanghai begins.

I've got the entusiasm for it all, but the energy levels are somewhat lower. The cold I picked up a couple of days ago is lingering about and generally slowing me down.

As a caring, sharing kind of boyfriend I've decided to pass it on to Jewel aswell, so she is also a bit under the weather at the moment, although at least now she is unable to say that I never give her anything.

I think time away is well needed right now. The whole visa thing has dragged on for far too long and now that we are just waiting for an answer, it is getting a bit stressful. Also, with nothing else to distract us from it - i.e. no jobs to go to - it is hard to think about anything else.

Saying that, I did have a to make a tough decision yesterday. I could have lemon, strawberry, green tea, bamboo salt, medicated herbs, honey and chrysanthumum or just plain old mint. Whoever thought choosing toothpaste would be so taxing?

Why do they make life so complicated?

Anyway, I'll be away for a few days. No idea if I can post anything here during that time. But I am sure a few pictures here after I get back will make it worth the wait ;)

November 9th - Sucking the life out of you

That seems to be what the staff at the visa office are there to do.

No matter how much time, effort and thought goes into your application, those lovely folk in the office will always make you feel completely inadequate and underprepared when you hand over the form. I am in no doubt that they are not human and are actually creatures who, mosquito like, suck the joy and confidence out of you in order to sustain their own life.

At least it's all done and we can forget about it for the next week. If I manage to shake this cold - or could I have caught the avian bird flu from that vegetarian chicken burger I ate the other day? - then we'll hopefully head off for a bit of a holiday over the next couple of days. Well deserved after the stressful last month of doing sod-all.

And this is what I'll be missing. This is tha place I call 'home' right now:

If we do go away, I hope wherever we end up has no buildings anywhere near as tall as these.

November 6th - Killing Time

The next application will be put in just as soon as DHL arrive with the all important documents from England. Using DHL is great as you can use their online tracking system to see exactly where your package is.

Last time we used them the tracking looked something like this: London - Shanghai. That simple.

Seems things aren't going quite as smoothly this time though, as the tracking looks like this: London - East Midlands - London - Hong Kong - arrived wrong destination, forwarded to correct location.

But fingers crossed it should be here sometime today or tomorrow.

I've had - and will have - a lot of time on my hands with all this waiting and I've found that getting out and taking a few photographs has been one of the best and cheapest ways of killing time. So I'm probably going to put up a few snaps I've taken over the last few days. If nothing else, it's a good fall back if I can think of nothing to write.

Here's the first of a few I've got lined up. Taken at an art exhibition in Shanghai. Welcome in....

November 5th - It's A Sad Day When...

..you see a pregnant woman begging in the street.

As with any major cities, this one has it's fair share of beggars. There are a few 'teams' of them going about and a lot of scammers, but there are also a huge number of 'genuine' beggars.

There is one 'style' of begging here which I've not seen so much in the UK. It involves the person having a poster size notice in front of them, explaining their situation. Many times the person is a student, who has no more money for studying. Some of them get quite animated, too, with crying and screaming being quite normal.

This preganant lady wasn't a student. She was a teacher.

Her sign said that when she found out she was pregnant, her husband keft her. She was still working as a teacher. She looked clean, healthy and well clothed.

So, is this a sign of how things are today? Society can't support a pregnant woman and she's left to beg on her knees?

Or is just a pillow up her jumper and the next step in the begin scams? Hard to tell.

Either way, something must be wrong if this is happening.

Change of tact, but today is a special day in the UK. Guy Fawkes night is upon us again. The day when we celebrate foiling a terrorist plot by buring the effigy of the instigator.

How civilized us Brits are.

November 4th - Happy 70th Birthday, Dad

Seems hard for me to believe, but the old man really is 70 today. He's still as busy as a madman and working his socks off, just not being paid for it anymore!

Like a lot of people, I sometimes have moments of total fear where I can see myself turning into my parents. As a child, that's just about the worst thing that can happen. It means that you actually might be - God forbid - growing up.

But in all honesty, if I turn out to be half as good a man as my father is, I'll be doing alright.

So happy birthday Dad. I could never thank you enough for all that you've done for me over the years.

November 3rd - An Extended Break

Trouble with the new boss has meant that Jewel finished her 'new' job on Monday. And that means both of us are enjoying the world of unemployment. Together. In the same house. 24 hours a day.

That's a lot of time together. Scary or wonderful?

Well, until now it's been perfect. Just like a long weekend. Except that this weekend is looking likely to last much longer.

We've decided that, with another visa application being put in next week and the decision coming back the following week, it seems a bit silly starting new jobs now. If the visa is good, we'll be off to Blighty the following week. If it's bad news again, we'll start our respective 'careers' again.

So it's feet up, slippers on and we should have just about enough time to get through the entire series of Friends on DVD...again.

Life...it can be so tiring at times.

November 1st - Talking To God

In bad times, a lot of folk talk to God and ask him for guidance. These kids seem to say what we should all be thinking:

Stolen from mental drippings, who had already stolen them from ebaumsworld.com