 | After a lot of badgering and promises to look after it long term, JD has finally been allowed to buy a hamster for his early Birthday present. I insisted JD do research, budgeting and shopping around before purchase but last weekend we welcomed "Oliver" into the house, bought form a local family-run pet store down the road. Back in China, JD lost interest in our hamsters after a few months, but we are hoping for more now he is older! |
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 With a recovered hamstring, I'm back on the Park Runs every Saturday (plus another solo one mid-week). Nearly 300 runners yesterday!
 Last year, my good friends Krista and Stuart promised me a trip to see Everton play for my 60th Birthday. So this weekend Stuart drive us to the Molineux Stadium to see Wolves play my favourite team. A 1-1 draw was a fair result after a less than scintillating, but thoroughly enjoyable, match. We are now 8 matches unbeaten! 
Chippenham's oldest building - Neelde Hall- was open the other day for a free art exhibition. Up a small flight of stairs at the back there is this odd recreation of 19th century life in Chippenham. When you press buttons the mannequins introduce themselves one by one and then have a little argument about local taxes. What a fun find! 
Some culinary delights from our trip to a Chinese supermarket in Bristol the other day!
We had a lovely time last week when our long-time friends Vix and David visited for the day. As well as playing "The Mind", "The Game" and "Formula One" there was plenty of time for visiting charity shops, reminiscing, sharing meals and catching up after a (much too long) seven year gap. 
I managed to make contact with one of the UK's foremost typewriter collectors recently and today he kindly let us visit his amazing home/museum in Swindon as a treat for JD's upcoming birthday. JD was obviously really excited and chatted knowledgeably with Nick, who seemed to enjoy sharing his passion with interested folk.
JD is on school holidays this week. So today we headed for the local badminton courts. JD plays after school every Monday, so has improved quite a bit since his time learning the game in China. I lasted 30 seconds before pinging my hamstring again (it went on last Saturday's Park Run, too). I had to watch JD and JiaJia play instead.  JD continues to read up about typewriters and keep his eyes open for new bargains! Yesterday he bought his 11th!  I will find this TARDIS next month and travel back to yesterday to take this photo for today's blog post.   My brother Andy visited this week. It was great to catch up with him after his recent life changes (quitting his job, selling his house, being Santa's head elf...). He stayed overnight and, with more time to chat, JiaJia and JD really got to know him better than before, which was lovely to see. He is currently awaiting news of a new job opportunity. Good luck bro' !
When I was at school, we were making aprons and spice racks. Now JD comes home from Design Technology class with a perspex "China 2025" plaque, designed on computer, built over 6 weeks, cut by laser and illuminated by by soldered LED lights. Whatever next?  JD got a Gold Award at school yesterday - passing 200 "e-praise" points. He's only the second child in his class to reach that total. Well done JD! 
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 AuthorPaul Hider started this blog to share his rather odd life living in China for over 20 years. Since returning to the UK in 2024, the blog now records his more "normal" lifestyle! Past blog entries
December 2024
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