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My brother Dave is a regular runner and enters a lot of 10k road races. He invited me to join him on a Hereford run last weekend. 5k is my usual distance but I thought I'd give it a go! We were amongst 750 runners, running through the streets of Hereford and along by the river. It was a hot day but, spurred on by the crowds, we made to the end in 1 hour 15 minutes. We've now planned to join in for another, bigger one in Cardiff later this year.
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Then tomorrow, JD and I are off to London to see "Abba Voyager". 
 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' !
Who'd have thought, back in these days, that my brother Dave [centre left] would be teaching me about Gestalt Theory, whilst Andy [centre right] would have just returned from six weeks being being Santa's elf. Strange world, strange family!  JD, JiaJia and I went for a walk yesterday. We investigated a WWII pillbox before competing on a 18-hole crazy golf course.
 We met up with Ratch, my good friend from College days, in London today to visit the British Museum. So much to see, and quite busy, but we saw the main sights by the end and left exhausted for a spot of shopping and some pancakes for dinner.
Despite seeing the Rosetta Stone, Elgin Marbles, Easter island statue, Sutton Hoo helmet, Lewis chessman, etc, I think my strongest memory will be handling the flint knife [bottom right] which the "hands on guide" assured us was crafted around 400,000 years ago. I mean, wow!!
We went to my neice Esme's wedding yesterday, in the beautiful (if cloudy!) Herefordshire countryside. She was marrying Sajjan, a terrific Indian guy whose parents had been flown over for the event. It was a really relaxed, fun-filled event with lots happening, but plenty of time to chill and chat.
It was lovely to catch up with family, meet old friends I've not seen since my teenage years and make new connections (we were sitting opposite Sajjan's Indian pastor and his lovely family). And we enjoyed a delicious afternoon tea together in the converted barn.   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! 
A lovely day yesterday as we drove to my Uncle and Aunt's for the day. We haven't seen them on over a decade. We chatted, visited Stourhead (using our newly bought National Trust membership cards for the first time) and ended with a meal at a tasty Indian restaurant. And despite some early morning rain, we enjoyed blue skies throughout our visit.
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.
 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!
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! 
Nice family meet-up online today. Good to see everyone (plus a few others not pictured here) squeezed between Christmas and New Year! Wonder when we'll all be together in person next?   Really lovely to catch up with all the family on a Christmas/New Year Zoom today. We were even joined by my nephew Josh from the ambulance where he is a trainee paramedic! Online meeting technology has come such a long way over the COVID period.
  Many congrats to my brother Dave who was finally awarded his MBA yesterday (after a long COVID delay). A well deserved reward for a lot of hard work. And we were actually able to watch the ceremony over here in China via a live stream!
With Jiajia at work and JD at school, it was a low-key Christmas Day for me at home today. So we've arranged for Santa to visit tonight and we'll celebrate our Christmas tomorrow.  My UK family did manage a lovely little get-together on Zoom today though, which included catching up on all our news, a fun quiz and some heartfelt words of mutual appreciation - something which can all too often go unsaid. Happy Christmas, everyone!
Married for 60 years and still happily together. I'm so proud to call this couple my parents  Happy Diamond Wedding Anniversary, Mum and Dad!
The global lockdown does have a few positives. We've been meeting together as a family on Zoom every week for a month or more now. It's proven a good way to keep in touch and support each other. 'Today's meet-up coincided with Andy's 51st Birthday!
 When we are in the UK this Summer my brother Andy visited with his kids, Louie and Daisy. They gave JD a wonderful home-made quiz book all about him, Britain and his British family. We've been completing parts of it together each night this week. Great fun. Thanks chaps!
My youngest brother Andy and his children, Louie and Daisy, visited today. We started with a Wetherspoons breakfast together - fast becoming something of a Hider tradition!  With intermittent rain outside we spent the morning playing Monopoly and then, during a dry hour in the afternoon, managed to visit "Lark in the Park" - a Christian community event with many children's clubs.
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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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