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Firstly, apologies to all those of you waiting for photos from our recent trip to China. Captioning and uploading them is taking a lot longer than I had anticipated. I am also hoping to write up some/all of our trip. But, this is still somewhere near the bottom of my ToDo list. Alicia and I have had a number of things to attend to since our return. Hopefully things will settle down soon and I can get round to telling you all about our trip.

In the meantime, my sister is holding a fund-raising exhibition at the Art Academy in London. She is going to South Africa to teach art for several months and is raising funds to support her trip. The opening night is this Friday, 2nd February, but the exhibition will be open throughout the following week.

By the time most of you read this I will be well on my way to China. I have often spoken about visiting China but never followed through on any of my promised trips. But as of Christmas day I will be there for three weeks. Somewhat of an unusual trip, it combines a long overdue holiday with my first opportunity to meet Alicia’s parents and family. For Alicia it is a long overdue trip home and a possible trial run for her permanent return to China.

For me, it hasn’t quite sunk in. I don’t think it will until we land in China and I realise just how out of my depth I am. With only the ability to say “Ni Hao (你好)”, and even that in a overly British accent, I can’t say I have mastered the Chinese language.

For Alicia it has been another story. Rather than look forward to going home, the events of the last week have destroyed all excitement with the news that she won’t be getting a work permit. What happens next is anybody’s guess, but we are both hoping that something will present itself soon. I’ve just said goodnight to her and come downstairs to sleep by the fire and I can’t even begin to understand what is going on inside her head. How she manages to smile after the way she has been treated is somewhat of a mystery, but she does. I only hope that in between introducing me to her family, translating everything into English/Chinese, worrying about her future and trying to enjoy her visit home, she finds time to appreciate just how much she has achieved while she has been here.

We will enjoy our trip. We will both be back in the UK in the middle of January and it would be good to catch up with everyone and bore them to death with stories from China.

And so, till then, 再见.

I have uploaded a couple of months worth of photos. Recently I’ve fallen behind with publishing photos, but I though I should bring my gallery up to date before I head off to China for Christmas.

Events of the last couple of months include, unoficial fireworks on Primrose Hill, some strange moments of madness (left) and a nostalgic trip to Regent’s Park.

I’m looking for a couple of new gadgets. I’m one of those people who spends a long time putting off the purchase of a new gadget by spending days, even weeks, reading reviews and comparisons. Long after I’ve decided which model/version I am going to buy I still spend a good deal of time convincing myself that I have made the right decision.

Phone
I’ve had my current Nokia 6100 for around 5 years now. It makes calls, sends text messages and the battery still lasts a week. However, the earpiece volume has dropped so low that it is barely usable unless you are in a quiet room. At the same time I’m looking to change my contract. My gut feeling is that Orange is too expensive. I make most of my calls to Vodafone, followed in second place by Orange. It would make sense to move to Vodafone, but I can’t help admitting that the latest 3 X-Series adverts have caught my eye. I’m open to suggestions on both phones, networks and contracts, but I’m all to aware that there is no right answer.

Camera
I’ve been using an Exilim S3 for around 4 years. I’ve been very happy with it. It is small, fast, and generally responsive. However, recently the images have started to gain a slight reddish tint, especially in the blue of the sky. I’ve been very happy with the Exilim, apart from two things. It lacks an optical zoom (included in many of the later models). But something that Casio doesn’t seem to have solved is the poor low light performance. Here it seems the Canon Ixus range performs quite well. And so, I have narrowed my choice down to either a Casio or a Canon, but as to which I am still 50:50. Again, I am open to advice.

When asked what I want, I often struggle to answer. For some reason it is much easier to point out things you don’t want than it is to put your finger on what you do. I wonder why that is…