COUNTDOWN

It's now only about 10 days until I leave for China. 1 of my Chinese colleagues has gone to London to meet with her research partner and the other professor leaves for London on Friday -- I won't see them now until I meet them at Nankai.
Prof Guan hosted a farewell meal at the Chung Ying restaurant in Birmingham (one of the oldest and, supposedly, best in the UK) which was very enjoyable -- particularly after we found that the school of Public Policy wasn't part of the event, just a coincidence!

I hope my colleagues have safe journeys home - I'm looking forward to seeing them again!

So, what happened to the weather?

Something strange has happened!
Traditionally, the August bank holiday weekend is grey and wet. So far it's been (almost) uninterrupted sunshine and decent temperatures! Still it's really nice to be able to sit in the garden!

Now I feel Guilty!

As soon as I said 'I Love Skype', most of the system crashed -- the logon software has a problem so most of the world can't use it! I know it's not my fault really, but you can't help but wonder...

I love SKYPE! --- I hate wireless networks!

I think Skype's wonderful! Today I've spoken to friends and colleagues on three continents and been able to see them too!

I've been a computerphile for a long time now, from the 'middle ages' of computers where you had to learn strange languages (CPM+ was ny favourite) to make it all happen. I thought I was pretty good at using modern PCs, but connecting a wireless ADSL router to my ISP has almost driven me insane -- it would really have helped if Tiscali had made it obvious where I could find the configuration info (to be fair, their tech support was pretty good). Anyway, it seems to be up and running and even my PDA can see it -- what fun!

Chinese Visitors to the Folk Club

Traditional English folk song clubs really have their roots in the folk revival of the 1960s and are a particularly idiosyncratic part of English life. They enjoyed a brief popularity and then returned to their obscurity.

I invited my Chinese collegues from Nankai University to come along to the folk club that I help to run, and I was delighted when they sang! The club members thought that they were fantastic! (So did I!)