First entire day of rain in Beijing memory yesterday. Lots of minor flooding in places, but at least it purges the mugginess from the air.
Had a group of Go friends round the apartment on Saturday (permission was sought from Zhouzhou a month in advance!), we generally rotate amongst us for who’s turn it is to host (which normally just means paying the bill at the restaurant). Very enjoyable afternoon, interesting on the timing note was that I told folks to arrive any time after 12:00, and the first to come was at 14:30. Didn’t need to make my shower so hasty, but was certainly not upset at the chance to get some reading done! Arthur was quite taken with one of my pals, Gophen, who was equally enamoured with Arthur, giving us a stand in baby-sitter for most of the afternoon. Did an Indian spread with homemade naans, went down well. Go continued after dinner and everything ended pleasantly before 21:30, perhaps over-did the green tea post dinner as sleep was very turbulent. But this might also have been due to the fact my routine had been thrown out of whack at the end of the week by a friend who needed my help last minute to translate a ppt keeping me up until 23:30 (in absolute terms that’s nothing, but bare in mind I’m normally in bed by 20:30! also I’m a complete sleep wuss) and was up again at 05:00. Partly my own fault as when I glanced at the ppt I told me friend I thought it was a hour job, but hadn’t properly examined the difficultly of the text.. Lesson learnt anyway.
Out for breakfast with Zhouzhou and Arthur on Saturday morning. Arthur now brimming with energy and running in all directions including towards main-roads, as Zhouzhou informed me after an incident that ended fortunately.. Nana and Yeye have been sending photos to our Wechat group of their reconnaissance missions to scope out local parks and playing spaces, and are counting the days until we arrive.
Last trek over to the west side of town tomorrow to tidy up my office and pick up some bits and pieces before getting home to sort my suitcase for the month in Changsha ahead. I WILL read all of the books I bring with me.
