All the Hider cousins got together for the first time today, in a pre-Wedding meet up (Esme - centre - gets married tomorrow). The oldest, Harry (right), had never met the youngest, JD, before. So it was quite a rare event!
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JD's school closed down on Monday and Tuesday this week, due to a "catastrophic power failure"! Despite this, JD continues to rack up the e-praise points online, passing 38 in total today. And a nice spread of subjects too...  An old photo passed my way the other day. Taken on one of a number of canal boat holidays we had as kids, it shows my brothers, my parents, my grandparents and half of my aunt. It goes without saying that I was the captain of the barge!  Yesterday I bought this smashed up Dinky "car" in a charity shop in Marlborough, recognising that it was a Spectrum Patrol Car from the 1960s "Captain Scarlet" TV series, rather the worst for wear.  I already have one in my collection [below], in rather better condition, but today I found a website which can supply missing parts for a wide variety of vintage vehicles. So I may pop it away in a box or I may try my first ever restoration! We'll see!   I was diagnosed as borderline diabetic six weeks ago. However, the doctor said it is usually reversible if patients can lose about 10% of their body weight.
Spurred on by that, I've been dieting and exercising, and have so far managed to lose about 1kg a week. If I can keep that progress up, I will have reached the 10% reduction in a further month. Despite being resident in the UK now, my decades-long love of Chinglish means I still get sent examples now and again from my Chinese friends. For example...  One of the questions I'm often asked now I'm back in the UK is, "Do you have a job?". I'd love to say I'm retired or even semi-retired, but there is a certain pressure to be busy and bring in some cash (despite the wife often earning in a day what I earn in a month, from phone business to do with her Chinese fashion shop!). Anyhow, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with the last decade of my working life...  I needn't have worried. Once we settled in and the initial flurry of paperwork calmed (change of addresses, tax, biometric immigration card, school registration, child support, bank accounts, insurance, TV licence, "loyalty" cards for six supermarkets, etc), work found me!
A friend of a friend introduced me to a lady in Bath who was looking for online tutors for Chinese students and, before I knew it I had four weekly classes. She is now talking about doubling that workload. Also, my brother Dave [training above] runs a very busy and successful leadership training consultancy (Mind-gap) and, as the work has continued to grow, he has found he needs more help. So I have also been involved in proofreading, research and course development, with more opportunities to come. He has also encouraged me to join one of Mind-Gap's "Leadership and Management" courses. So I've also committed to six months of study to gain a qualification in "Coaching", equal to two years of a degree. Alongside moving house in December, I don't think I'll be twiddling my thumbs anytime soon! This was the Chippenham Half Marathon yesterday which starts down the end of our road. I was there to cheer them on. Maybe this time next year I'll be taking part? Maybe not...!  I was one of 250 people running 5 kilometres around Monkton Park this morning. I came 133rd...  ...but I got a PB, finishing in under 30 minutes for the first time.
I had a very pleasant tip to Oxford the other day to meet up with a couple of my closest friends from Westminster College, where I trained to be a teacher some 40 years ago. It says something about my priorities at that time that the girls were part of the catering staff, not fellow students!  Ratch [centre] emailed me daily throughout my whole time in China. Rosemary [right] was my bridge partner at College and still plays regularly. We had a great reminisce and caught up on our current semi-retired lives either side of a tasty lunch and a game of "Qwirkle Cubes" (...don't ask!).
 JD was thrilled to see pig's ear and chicken feet in our local supermarket the other day - until he realised it was dog food!
It's early days for JD at his school but, after he won 10 "e-praise points" in his first 3 days there, we spotted on the school website today that he is currently top of his whole year group, so far at least.  Great start JD - keep it up!
 JD, Jiajia and I have been trying our luck at buying little things at car boot sales in order to sell them for a small profit on ebay. The trick is in spotting something in good condition which has the potential for resale, despite whether you personally like it or not. So far I'm winning the informal competition, having already sold 5 of the 9 things I bought over the last two weekends. It's more for fun than money, but I reckon I've made over £20!
 Big congrats to JD who got through his first proper day at a UK school, earning 6 merit points in the process. He was a little nervy beforehand, but came back full of smiles and anecdotes, helped along by his new friend Liam.
Highlights for JD included finding out that he will learn German (not French), which he really wanted to do. Also Spanish. And choosing his own lunch - paid for by fingerprint! Early days, but a promising start.  ....and our garden work is pretty much complete.
Now it's just a case of arranging the flowerpots. |
 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
May 2025
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