NEW TERM TOMORROW ...

Just spent a week in (sunny) Bordeaux. Lots of good food and even more good wine.

Tomorrow marks the start of the new academic year -- always a joy with those keen new students setting out to change their lives.

Bordeaux photos to follow ...

Thai Edge

Went to the Thai Edge Restaurant in Birmingham's Brindley Place yesterday...

Food wasn't great: restaurant was very noisy: service was on the slow end of 'ordinary'.

The main problem with the food was that it was hotter than advertised. A green chicken curry had 3 chillies (the hottest description) and was OK. Some beef (2 chillies) was too hot to eat [and we have some experience of this sort of food].

We won't bother again.

More Vancouver

I'm way behind in my postings, partly because of a new computer that's stolen several days of my life by being faulty! (Then there's printers -- but that's another story).

Anyway, one of the little trips we did was to Capilano Suspension Bridge. It's really quite dramatic (and not very scary) ...

If you're a good customer, you can stamp your entry ticket at all the places where you can spend money (OK, some of them are just places where you can look at the scenery) and then you get a certificate!

We shared our trip with a lot of older US citizens who'd been on a cruise (I've never met more selfish people) - they loved these certificates!

Vancouver

Is awesome!

Visas

Travel to China from the UK requires a visa (unless it's to Hong Kong). I spent some time getting the correct information together (it wasn't always available, but everyone pulled together and it all arrived). In England there are 2 places to get a China Visa: London and Manchester. In terms of time, they're pretty-much equidistant from Birmingham. However, peak-hours travel to London is £140 (+ tube travel) and you're only allowed on certain trains. To Manchester (by the most expensive route with no restrictions) it's £61 (and the visa office is a 5-minute walk from the station). Guess where I went?
Because I had to wait for the office to process the paperwork, I had the opportunity to visit the Museum of Science and industry. It isn't as good as Birmingham's was (before they ruined it) but it's sited in the oldest surviving railway station in the world and is a great place to visit. Particularly liked 'Underground Manchester' which is, largely, about sewers - still wondering how they got the smell ...

China

Somewhat to my surprise, I've got a scholarship to spend 3 weeks on a cultural/language exchange in Wuhan, PR China. Delightfully (!) I get to fly Aeroflot via Moscow [some of you may remember my last rip via Moscow -- I really hope that this isn't a repeat).

Temperatures in Wuhan may be 45C, which will be interesting.

All have to do now is get a visa!

UpDate

Got a LOT of the digging done -- moved many barrows of hardcore and soil (lucky the garden's big enough to hide it away). Still some work tod do before we start paving -- maybe next weekend...

Dinner was GOOD - the asparagus is truly excellent at the moment (with a little melted butter and salt from the Camargue) - the duck (with garlic mash, peas and rhubarb & wine sauce) was pretty damn good, a little Cheshire cheese and then an orange & lemon soufflé--- YUM!

Bank Holiday Weekend

Off to a traditional start - rained all day yesterday!

Plans for today include continuing to demolish the steps from the patio to the lawn (they cover a huge area of, potentially, useful patio). This is a biggish task that will involve moving a few tons of earth and concrete.

Oh, my aching back (and that's just thinking about it!).

Dinner plans: well, there's lots of home-grown asparagus (for US readers, English asparagus has more flavour than any from the New World, because of its slow growth) so I'll probably serve that with a poached egg yolk. Then there's some duck in the fridge, so I'll roast that with peas and a red wine sauce + (maybe) some rhubarb, then Ali's going to do a soufflé!

PIXEL

We got Pixel from a cat rescue centre 19 years ago (we got her sister Killie [Killashandra Re, really] at the same time, but she died a few years ago).

Apparently, Pix spent the first 7 months of her life locked in a shed. When she came to us she had clearly been abused and didn't like people too much.BUT she had a wonderful purr - that was the reason we took her really.

She was a very loving cat, except she wouldn't let you pick her up (well you could, but you had to have a good reason). She was always gentle (apart from beating-up a dalmatian many years ago).

Anyway, Pix had to be put to sleep last friday: she'd stopped eating and really wasn't happy. I don't think I subscribe to the idea of animal souls (nor human either), but she was a wonderful pet and we're going to miss her.

The Great Leveller

If I should die before the rest of you
Break not a flower nor inscribe a stone
Nor, when I'm gone, speak in a Sunday voice,
But be the usual selves that I have known.
Weep if you must
Parting is hell.
But life goes on.
So sing as well.