Packing in a hurry to get the last bus to Hangzhou after 5 hours in a freezing cold dance studio, and V asked, "Do you want me to pack the rest of the flat for you?" Just because I asked him for a hot-water bottle. I don't care. I am so glad that I brought it since I came back from work with blocks on ice on the ends of my legs today ( Read more... )

Today I was so stressed and knackered that I brought a tub of Hagen-Daaz out of the fridge to defrost a bit (enough to eat) and completely forgot about it until I came back from teaching four and a half hours later ( Read more... )

By approximately the 20th of December I had finally persuaded V that Christmas had not yet passed. He sat up in bed one morning with an, "Argh, OMG!" (or words to that effect) "Christmas is coming, oh noes!" This, of course, immediately reminded me of the delightful story in Tove Jansson'sMoominland Midwinter - or at least, in one of the Moomin ( Read more... )

LJ has disappeared from normal internet view once more. It was good to have it on tap without a proxy, but good times can only last so long. Tonight it took me an hour and a half via proxy to read my friend's page and get ready to post, by which time, of course, I'd forgotten what I was going to write about ( Read more... )

Different hours of the day pass at different rates. The evening hours between 5pm and 8pm seem to pass more quickly than most ... practically in the blink of an eye ( Read more... )

I had such fun being a sponsor for the Giving Tree charity project. Getting to go Christmas shopping for an 11 year old girl was one of the most enjoyable - as well as pink and sparkly - charity things I've had the chance to be involved in1 Well, apart from spending three years working for Amity, which was in an entirely different league ( Read more... )

I've loved every Barbara Kingsolver novel I've ever read1, and her Poisonwood Bible is one of the most stunning and amazing works I've been privileged enough to open. Pigs in Heaven isn't prize-winningly good, but it is still good enough that I bought it at 4pm on Saturday (from a friend's leaving sale), started reading around 10pm when I got back ( Read more... )

Weird ( Read more... )

Things I know I've ranted about online before (though I have no idea whether it was here or one of the long-lost older blogs) but really need to rant about again ( Read more... )

We have a cleaning lady. Well, we have an "ayi" which is the Chinese word used for any female house-hold help (as well as the word used for "mother's younger sister" and "general honorific for a woman of your mother's generation"). At first the middle-class guilt gave me some twinges - I was even caught cleaning the flat the night before the ayi ( Read more... )