We were visited today by my friend from China, Julian [bottom right], and his brother Chris [top left] en route from Hay to Croydon. A short visit, but nice of them to check us out. Julian flies back to Kunming next week.
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We had our loft boarded over today. A very efficient and personable handyman worked through the whole day to build us enough space to store the 15+ boxes which are en route to us from China.
At the suggestion of my brother Andy, we downloaded the "Too Good to Go" app yesterday. They arrange for supermarket/bakery food which is about to go out of date to be picked up at specific times at rock bottom prices. We booked three pick ups yesterday to give it a go! The first supermarket cancelled (in good time) but JD and I drove to the next two and found it very easy to pick up our heavily discounted goodies. We got about £23 of random food for £7.30. Not bad at all. The greengrocers is already booked for this afternoon!
We spent today in Winchester visiting my brother and 2 of his 3 kids. We had a lovely time - Lego, X-box, river walk, board games, pizzas etc. JD and Louie really clicked over Minecraft. JiaJia had lunch and some charity shopping with Ali, Andy's ex. And then Daisy serenaded us with her sweet singing and guitar playing. They are just 1½ hours drive from us, so hopefully it will be the first of many such meet-ups.
Jiajia, JD and I went to Bath last Saturday. We went by bus this time - a chance to see some local villages from the top deck, and a little cheaper than the train. But the journey took five times longer! On arrival, we climbed up to Alexandra Park viewpoint for a picnic overlooking the picturesque city. Although we're not on the breadline, as such, we are enjoying our almost daily hunts for reduced price food in the many supermarkets in Chippenham. We haven't got used to British prices as yet but, if you see something reduced by 50% or more, you can be pretty sure you are getting your money's worth! And it prompts you to try different foods that you may not ordinarily risk your money on. This was my best find so far. Tandoori bread, reduced from £2.99 to 19p! I bought four of them. Now that's a bargain!
JD had his first proper Transition Day at Sheldon School today. The new students were asked to wear their Primary School uniforms but we had already disposed of JD's pink polyester Primary School monstrosities in China, so he went in his new Sheldon School uniform instead. ![]() We parked in a nearby Lidl car park, to avoid the traffic, and walked the ten minutes to school from there. Jiajia and I returned for a food shop in Lidl afterwards. The day went well for JD. he met up with his "new friend" Liam again (who has been placed in his tutor group as requested) and met another boy in his class who speaks Chinese. They did ice-breaking activities, had a tour of the school and met their form teacher. There's a second Transition Day on Monday next week, and then we focus on real lessons starting in September. My brother Dave brought down the remaining boxes we sent to his house from China 6 months ago, including some of my sci-fi collection.
We had our first (and only, so far!) Chinese visitor the other day. Our good friend Li Wei was amidst a month's tour of the UK and Ireland when she realised how close we are to Bath (10 minutes on the train) where she was staying the night, and popped over to meet up with us for a meal. She was the last person to wish us farewell when we left China, travelling all the way from Hong Kong to Shenzhen airport just to catch us for a final half hour before we flew off. So it was perfect to see her at this end of the travels too, and for her to see our little house for herself.
![]() Had a lovely visit from Dave (brother), Sarah (sis-in-law) and Evie (dog) today. They are now just 1½ hours drive away. It was good to show them our little house and how it's slowly coming together. We were also able to watch the England football match together and share the stresses of the penalty shoot out at the end! We drove to Avebury today to see the largest prehistoric stone circle in the world, some 4,500 years old. Then we walked to Silbury Hill - the largest man-made pre-historic hill in Europe. Finally, after a pub lunch we headed home. Lovely trip out.
When we moved into our little house, we found a garden with weeds grown up to chest height. Having removed all of them, we are now thinking how best to use the space, making it tenant friendly for when we move to somewhere bigger next year.
We went on a guided walk of Jubilee Woodland and the Caen Locks today. The woodlands were planted for the Queen's Golden Jubilee with various native trees and plants, of which the guide knew a lot. He pointed out one distant hill was where an important battle in the English Civil War (1650s) took place and then a huge oak tree near us would have already been about 300 years old when that happened! The flight of 16 locks at Caen is the longest in Britain and we were able to watch canal boats coming up and down it. We also saw a big heron hop from lock to lock alongside one of the boats - looking for disturbed fish to eat! Lovely morning out.
![]() JD's transition to a British school continues slowly. We had a school uniform fitting event the other day and we are working our way through some English, Maths and Science transition materials the school provided us with. Then we had a message from the school today saying that the students didn't have to wear jumper or ties because of the hot weather. JD was impressed, "Wow! My old Chinese school insisted on full uniform whatever the weather!!"
Five years is much too long to not see your parents in person, so it was a long overdue, but really lovely, weekend today with my Mum and Dad. They showed so much interest in JD and had long chats with JiaJia. It was lovely to see them bond with my little family. And I felt very much at home, too. We won't leave it longer than a few months in future!
Now that the rain has stopped and the temperature has risen, we are enjoying our new home town, Chippenham, a lot more!
![]() Yesterday was a day of many frustrations, but today was a little better. We now have a TV, my updated driving license arrived (allowing me to apply to open a new bank account) and, most importantly, our boiler was fixed, allowing us to have hot showers at long last. We now have to find a way to get an official document which has Jiajia's name and our address on it. Everyone says they need one from someone else first to provide one!? We visited Laycock car Boot Sale this morning. JaiJia bought flowers and pots, JD bought a nerf gun and I indulged in some Gerry Anderson memorabilia. Then we all got allergies and went home!
When we walked to our nearest chippie earlier in the week, we were a bit surprised to find that they shut Sunday to Tuesday each week. But we were patient and returned on Wednesday, ordering waaaaay too much, but enjoying our first fish 'n chips in six years!
We took possession of our BMW X2 today. It's four years old but has a three year warranty. I have to drive it with care, after 15 years driving on the other side of the road! At least British drivers are polite, predictable and patient. And I have satnav which helps a lot.
![]() We took the train for a ten minute journey to Bath today primarily to pick up a biometric Residency Card for JiaJia. Whilst there, we browsed the charity shops and had a picnic lunch by the river. JiaJia later spotted a Chinese grocery on our walk back to the station, and indulged herself in various spices and sauces! We returned to find our plumber had visited and fixed our boiler (for now at least - apparently it's an intermittent fault) which means we can have a hot shower instead of a bath of kettle-heated water! |
AuthorPaul Hider lived & worked in China for over 20 years and kept this blog to share his rather odd life there. Past blog entries
July 2024
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