Friday August 16th 2024 "Can we EVER feel close to the Chinese?"

China - it's a mysterious place isn't it. And its people so inscrutable, but, on the world stage, hard to ignore at the same time. 

And what a tragedy it is that people here in rural West Worcestershire, mainly due to lack of time or lack of interest, or both, never get closer to China than the Yum-yumi Chinese restaurant and takeaway in the lovely village of Bell End just outside Worcester: yes, that takeaway (!), the takeaway we're always reading "feel-good" reports about on the local Onion News West Worcestershire website:

It's a heart-warming story, isn't it, even though it's hardly an example of close interaction between our two great peoples, the Chinese and the Brits, especially when you remember that most "takeaways" have in practice become just "deliveries" where the "nosh" just gets dropped off at your front-door without any chance for a bit of the kind of chat that begins, at least to break down some cultural barriers. 

A pity.

And I think of this worry this afternoon as I chair the monthly meeting on zoom of our local U3A History of English group - yes, I've been disgracefully "manoeuvred" by other members of the group into taking on this leadership role, since ex-leader Lynda mysteriously resigned 18 months ago, her official reason being  "to spend more time with her ukulele", but actual reason yet to emerge - what madness !!!

flashback to 2022: our local U3A 'History of English' group,

seen here in happier times, before former group-leader Lynda

(bottom right) resigned in mysterious circumstances

Lynda (centre in sunglasses and Hawaiian shirt) has had a 

new lease of life since resigning from our group: 

she's pictured here "with her little ukulele in her hand",

and having fun with a bunch of other "old codgers".

What a crazy world we live in !!!!

My mind is very much on China today, however, during our 'History of English' group's meeting, because new member Peter is giving us an overview of Mandarin Chinese, as an example of a language that's had zero impact on the historical development of English.

"Is your group  'scraping the bottom of the barrel' a bit with this, as a topic for an English language group, Colin?", I hear you cry. [Not me, I don't care! - Ed]

map illustrating the 5000 mile (8000km) distance 

between the UK and China

Well possibly, yes, it IS scraping the bottom of the barrel a bit, but we want to exploit Peter's special knowledge while he's still "with us" - he must be well into his eighties haha! 

Peter was my boss's boss back in the 1970's when we were both working "on Her Majesty's Secret-to-Top-Secret Service", so I had imagined that Peter, although for obvious reasons not being allowed to visit "Communist" China itself, might at least have spent time in Hong Kong, when it was still British.

flashback to the 1980's: Hong Kong, seen here in happier

times, when it was still British: Prime Minister Maggie Thatcher

touring the city with husband Denis on an open-top trolley-bus

And I admit I'm a bit disappointed when Peter reveals at this afternoon's zoom meeting that he's never been nearer to China than the tiny town of Pucklechurch, Somerset, just outside Bristol, where he learnt Chinese in the 1950's - he was serving with the RAF on his two-years national service, and Pucklechurch was where the RAF used to run its Chinese language courses.

Pucklechurch (Somerset) and Bell End (Worcestershire) - they're both a long way from Beijing aren't they, and not just in terms of the physical distance, to put it mildly (!). And surely, surely, we must surely find some way to "shorten" that cultural distance, at least, if not the physical distance that's a big factor also, if we're ever going to make friends with the Chinese.

I wonder....!

Your ideas wanted please - and on a postcard only if possible (!).

a typical postman working for Royal Mail: if asked, 

he says he'll be "more than happy" to bring me your ideas

- so get your thinking caps on, please !!!

And on top of my U3A meeting this morning, it's a busy old day for my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois and me, as we get ready to host our daughter Sarah and her 11-year-old twins Lily and Jessica for an overnight stay followed by a day of activities tomorrow (Saturday). 

Luckily the recent mini-heatwave is over, and we're being treated by the "weather god" (!) to spectacularly average temperatures at the moment. Even at the height of the afternoon "sun", it's only about 72F (22C), which is nice, and just right for 2 "old codgers" like us.

People living in Budapest, Hungary, are not as lucky as us, however, as another email from Tünde, my Hungarian penfriend makes clear.

Those clever people at Hungarian website telex.hu have been mourning the fact that temperatures of 40C (104F), or greater, are becoming more and more common in the Hungarian capital, recalling that it used to be that temperatures of "only" 30C (86F) were once talked of as "heatwaves". In people's flats the temperatures are often unbearable, and many people try to escape the city whenever they can.

The city authorities have tried to create a number of "cooling islands" here and there in the city, bits of greenery, shady spots, and that kind of thing, to encourage city residents to spend more time there, but the campaign has had only limited success, apparently. The website's reporters have been taking special thermometers to some of these islands, to test the temperature of surfaces, some of which are still "red-hot".

What madness!

In this picture, on a day when the general temperature was about 32C (90F), the reporters found that on this so-called "cooling island" even the temperature of the artificial grass was 63.5C (146 F). Yikes !!!!

And even the pigeon (Hungarian "galamb") to be seen (blurred to protect its identity) on the paving to the right of the grass, is nearly 20 degrees C cooler than the grass itself, at 45.8C (114F), although hardly comfortable, I would have thought.

Poor pigeon!!!!

19:00 Sarah arrives with the twins and we have a nice 'tea' of "sausages, 'spuds' and veg", followed by a pleasant game of "Dubbles".

our daughter Sarah arrives with her 11-year-old twins

Lily and Jessica: we have a sausage tea

followed by 2 rounds of new card game "Dubbles"

The family isn't long for the UK, so Lois and I are trying to make the most of our remaining time with them.

They moved back here in May 2023 after 7 years residence in Australia, with Sarah taking her old job back in Evesham, but the move hasn't been a success: the health of Sarah's husband Francis has been suffering from the change of climate, and Sarah has found her job here more stressful than her job was in Australia, so they've decided to move back down under in 2-3 weeks' time. Sarah, the family's breadwinner, has secured a job in the Perth area again, so they're all set.

flashback to 2015: Sarah (second from right) joins with her colleagues,

 as they meet to celebrate the accountancy firm's 80th birthday.

Shortly after this ceremony Sarah left her job to move to

Australia with husband Francis and their twin daughters

Sarah told her employees in Evesham about her new job in Australia only about 3-4 weeks ago. They've been nice to her about it, but her boss seems nervous about breaking the news to the directors of the company, so Sarah's in an awkward situation where some of her co-workers know she's leaving, and others, officially a least, don't know. What madness!

She's agreed to carry on doing work for her current management temporarily, even after moving to Perth. They'll be paying for it, naturally, and it's all part of the modern world isn't it, "working remotely". It seems odd to old codgers like Lois and me, but these so-called "digital nomads" these days can carry on working at their jobs even if they're 9000 miles away, on the other side of the world.

What a crazy world we live in !!!!

[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzz!!!!!