Home again home again jiggety jig

Safely back from Guangzhou, where the weather was astonishing - 27C the day I arrived, a couple of colder days and hovering around 22+ the rest of the time. It was great for us and for all the people who get their one decent holiday at this Spring Festival, but it certainly felt like global warming. It's such as enormous roaring city (at least 9 million people), and I did find it quite tiring, though the chaps did their very best to look after me. We went to a lot of lovely peaceful parks - and the food was great (more on Something Else to Eat soon). Now I'm flat out dealing with my memoir's edited manuscript, I need to get through at least  a chapter a day, and each one takes me 4-5 hours. A week should do it...meanwhile, some cheerful Chinese photos for you: a quiet corner of old Guangzhou that looked and felt like Paris; umbrellas made of recycled drink bottles; and the boy with the fish on his head who signifies wealth for the New Year..

China time

On Waitangi Day I fly off to China to visit my son, who teaches English there, while an American friend looks after the house. So unless I can master the intricacies of posting from afar, there'll be a gap until I get back. Here's one of the wondrous Terracotta Warriors from last year, with a marvellous hair-do:

We're not going to travel around this year, we'll just stay in Guangzhou in his new apartment and he can show me his neighbourhood. It's such an enormous city, every time I go he has something he's recently discovered to show me. He's an artist and art history buff, and this is his year, the Year of the Snake. John F. Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn were snakes too. It's said to be "an opportune year for change, growth, and transformation on many levels. You'll start a new fortunate 12-year life cycle. The energy of this Snake year matches your steady, wise, and unhurried pace."