Preparing to Leave China

Well, less than three weeks left before we return to England. I can’t say I’m excited to leave! China, I know I’ve said it before; we have had a wonderful time. Paul and May have really pulled out all the stops for us, we are both so pleased to have such a wonderful son and daughter in law who are so eager to open their house to us and allow us to have some quality time with them our youngest grandson and their extended family and friends.

I find the food so diverse and there is something for everyone’s tastes. The weather has on the whole been very acceptable to my English needs sitting mainly at about 20c throughout December and January with lots of sunny days which is better than I can expect of full summer back home and the mosquitoes have been at their lowest with just the occasional bite.

The Chinese people are on the whole a very nice people with a warm smile and welcoming attitude and the European people in this part of China are some of the nicest people you could ever wish to meet. In the few short months that I’ve been here I’ve made a lot of friends and met a lot of youngsters ( anyone younger than me) mainly school teachers or engineers and a good few people around my age retired like me, making a second home in this lovely part of China.

I’m tempted myself to be fair, six months here six months in England, I’d like to come back about October and have another winter here but the ball and chain will ultimately make that decision. I feel I’ve made my mark, everybody in Kai Yin recognizes that fat Englishman with his golf buggy all lit up waving and shouting knee how to anybody that looks his way.

At W-oggies I started with the chips which were long and very thin, the type we get in bags at home, I think they call them French fries, I complained in a nice manner to James the owner who, it turns out, is a very pleasant man and happily listens to ideas from his customers if he thinks it will help to make the “foreigners” happy, so from fatter chips I moved on to bacon egg and chips and then to a full English breakfast with two eggs, two bacon, two sausage, chips, Heinz beans, mushrooms and a slice of tomato. Not quite an English Morrison’s full breakfast but good enough! My next effort is going to be a handsome beef burger and chips and I have other Ideas that he might like if the breakfast and burgers sell well. As I understand it he has new Menu’s due out sometime in the New Year period, hopefully with pictures of the all day breakfast in it. If I come back this coming October I’ll have W-oggies like a culinary home from home,

I have also been checking my hair, it’s still mainly brown and I don’t like it at all even though several people have told me it makes me look younger but I don’t want to look younger, I want my silver or white hair back. It’s been about 6 weeks since I was set upon by a “band of yobs’ and they unsympathetically, forced me to have brown hair for no other reason than I would look like some stupid character called Peter bloody Griffin from the Family Guy. They then paraded me around town telling everyone I was the real live Peter. Bloody Yobs! Anyway I have about an inch of silver hair back again but I don’t think it will all grow out by the time I return so it seems I have a choice. Have all the brown cut off and go home with a silver crew cut or have my hair trimmed and go home with more brown than silver ...... unless you have any suggestions?

As the Chinese New Year approaches I notice that a good number of Europeans are escaping to different parts of the world. Some of the teachers will have a month off work and it’s a good time to fly home to see family or in Kimberly Kraft’s case go and have some fun in the Australian heat with Liability Tom, I do hope you guys are having a good time and Tom I really wish you luck in finding a position here in China that will allow you to move back soon.

We are also missing L.D. our guitarist who is now somewhere in Texas America, I think, and hopefully learning a few more Buddy Holly songs. Julian of Friends bar fame is stuck in Canada somewhere dredging the lake looking for the forth boat that he sunk recently. Bobby Baby has left China now for his home town in Mississippi America and we have no date, at present, of his return but I know we all hope it will be soon, with his American style of good humor, he lights up any table and will be missed by us all. Hurry back Bob the drinking and cycling lads need you. Fast Alex has left to go home to Germany and is currently soaking up the snow and minus temperatures and I’d put money on it that he’s contemplating his next mad venture with a smile on his face, never NEVER trust fast Alex particularly if he’s smiling. Several other guys are off to Hong Kong to see the New Year in, I’m told an it’s unbeatable holiday in Hong Kong, and I’ll be leaving soon as well.

I’m going to miss ordering a meal and getting something completely different, I’m going to miss Sam’s sirloin BBQ’d steaks the only real steaks I’ve tasted in my short stay China, I’m going to miss seeing three or four and occasionally 5 people on a motorbike, I’m going to miss seeing pushbikes and motorbikes coming at me on a dual carriageway, I’m going to miss this lovely weather compared to England, I’m going to miss the massive selection of restaurants to choose from, I’m going to miss our housekeeper Fay she’s such a hard worker doing all the washing and cleaning and cooking. With the English employment laws and minimum wage rule, I know I can’t afford a Fay back home in England, I’m going to miss the warmth the Chinese people have shown to me, and I’ll miss W-oggies and the community of foreigners that gather there most evenings.

Len of ZSRenn fame a rough cut Australian who is currently running around trying hard to stay out of his wife’s way and my good friend Romanian John who I can spend hours with over a pint putting the world to rights and of course Fenton who is currently nursing a broken foot after thinking it was a good idea to jump down several steps, John Partee who has legged it to Singapore, thanks for the Chinese lesson John maybe we can take it up again in October. Michael Chu a good friend and cycling buddy of Paul and Bobby baby, Paul & Grace Bonadies with their lovely daughter Gabby, are flying off to the Philippines Friday and not due back till march, Noah and Tracy and their lovely daughter Norah who’s just one year old and already won’t come near me but I think she’s just playing hard to get.

Owen where the hell did you go to and are you coming back I really enjoyed our chats on a good way to commit suicide, If you find one that works for you please write and tell me, Paul Cardigan a true Englishman I still can’t find you on my “find a Friend” app and I hope you enjoy your holiday in Hong Kong, Sean and Carmen it’s gone very quiet since you got married your wedding Video was the best I’ve seen, you nearly had me in tears, Danny & Steven we miss you most of all every home should have a Danny or a Steven, then there is Jake 2 another outspoken American and his shadow James an English boy, both are barrel of fun and lovers of good food and also on my list is Miffy a really Stunningly gorgeous looking Chinese girl who makes me wish I was 40 years younger. I’ve heard she doesn’t want to get married she just wants to break a few hearts, Bernd from Germany who came to Bangkok with us, and there are more I haven’t mentioned like Big Dan, Amanda, Chris, Denis, Emily, Charmin, the four Jimmy’s at W-oggies and of course Bam Bam!

We are meeting new people almost every day and loosing old friends almost as rapidly, for me my part of China is a lovely happy place with something or somebody new to see every day, and yes I will be very sorry to leave.

Cheers Glynn