Skiing on the last day of the year

None of us had ever skii-ed before but the mountains are only an hour away. Tim, Tris and Theo threw themselves into it while the girls concentrated on getting their technique right.

Skating on Houhai Lake

Today, we went skating on the lake using chairs on skis and sleigh bikes. It felt like we'd stepped into a painting of winter on a Dickensian Thames though the closest we got to a top hat was a woman wearing pink mickey-mouse ears. It was great, guys swimming where the ice was broken, everyone laughing and a large sheep pulling a sleigh.

Fortress Theo

There is something about forts that appeals to small lads, well the two that we've had and Tim as well.

Stepping out

Ok, so we came up on a chair lift and went down on a toboggan but in the middle there were still a lot of steps ... particularly when you're three.

Christmas on the wall

Most people feel they should have a walk after eating a lot at Christmas; we had our walk on the Great Wall. This photo was taken by a helpful Chinese lady with an unexplained interest in telegraph wires ...

26 Dec - Boxes Day

The shipment containing all of our stuff left England in July, arrived in China in September and finally cleared customs and reached us on Boxing Day. The men who delivered it expected us to have a forklift but Santa hadn't been so benevolent yet after some discussion, crowbars and a lot of odd gestures, we got it unloaded. At last, Lou has boots that fit her!

Christmas dinner

Christmas morning was clear, bright and cold enough for snow but we had to make do with the homemade paper snowmen as the snow didn't fall. We did have a good Christmas lunch though.

We like presents!

Sometimes, the Orient gets to you

Christmas Eve at the Forbidden City

I used to spend Christmas Eve in a mad-dash around the city trying to buy presents for everyone before the shops shut. This Christmas the main issue was where to find a pot big enough for Christmas lunch but, as usual, the girls were ahead of us.

Philosophy & chocolate

Marcus Aurelius wrote that 'Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life.' Theo's systematic investigation of the kit-kat brought it's own rewards.

Michelle, Bug & Ethan are coming to town

Our friends Michelle, Bug & Ethan arrived on Friday to spend Christmas with us. Here we are at the high pavilion in Ritan Park; trying to stay warm.

Tris wins the hamper!

Tris sang the opening solo of 'Once in Royal David's City' at the Harrow Christmas Fair but just before he started he got a bit of a shock - with the purchase of a single ticket for 10 kwai, he won the Christmas hamper (worth 1500 kwai). He is still choosing when to drink the champagne.

Harrow Primary - in need of haute couture

Verity performed as a child in her school's Christmas play. She's here with her teacher Miss Surgenor. Harrow does a good line in frocks Verity would rather not be seen in.

Utilities and the joy of gas cards

We are now living in a house near the airport which is closer to the children's schools and the houses of their friends. The house is supplied with electricity, gas for the heating, gas for the cooker and telephone. You might think that the companies providing these services would you to set-up a direct debit and would then take the money from your account as quickly as possible - we thought that; we were wrong. Each service gives you a card, to pay for a service, you have to go to the bank (not just any bank, the right one, regardless of how close it is to your house), you pay for units of credit to go on your card and then you take the card back home and insert it into one of several sorts of meter which are often located outside your house in a building down the street. This would be OK if you could put a lot of credit on each card, but you can't; you also can only pay certain bills on certain days of the month. Each company gets a person to ring you and tell you when you need to pay but the whole process is cumbersome and it often means that you run out of heating in the evening when the banks are shut and the temperature is -9. Gas cards are boring to look at so we included a picture of the boiler, just in case any of you are plumbers and understand how to work it - no-one here has a clue!

Buying things

When you arrive in a country, the first thing you want is to contact people and the second thing is to buy things: We naively thought that, as most things were manufactured in China, and since the average wage is low, that prices would be low too; in fact, for everything other than fresh food and poor quality clothes the prices are higher - in the case of electronics, much higher. Beijing is full of immaculate malls with international brand names and acres of marble but very few Chinese can buy the items and those who can are so wealthy that they don't care about the prices. The middle class may be growing but big brands seem to be able to make more from selling a few items at a ridiculous premium than from selling many items to the rising middle classes.

When you do want to buy something, you face another problem - in most stores, an assistant will write you a receipt which you then have to take to the cash desk, the cash person will then take your money, count it several times and then issue you with a receipt which you must then take back to the assistant. We now understand that you can bargain with the first assistant. That doesn't sound difficult but the whole process can take hours while different assistants get involved; your credit card payment is refused and you have to be walked to a bank by yet another assistant. In Carrefour, you have to go through this process then provide all of the receipts for all of the items to the security guard on the door (even if he has just watched you pay for them).

Cats & cyberspace

Here is a photo of Mr. Macy - who owns our friends Ann & Peter in the north west of England. Peter helped me finally create this site four months after we arrived - without his help, you wouldn't be reading this - thanks Peter!

Places the Chinese economic miracle has yet to reach

This was one of several donkey mills that we passed while on the Silver Pagodas ramble. Less than 40KM from Beijing, it's a different world - one in which old footballs can acquire surprising uses!

We made it!

We went on the Harrow School ramble on 7th December which involved 12KM of walking up and down hills around the Silver Pagodas near Yin Shan. Theo did very well but Tim's and Lou's shoulders were a bit tired by the end of the day. If you'd like to see the pagodas themselves, have a look at our Christmas ecard posting.

Christmas ecard 2008

Theo's Christmas Fair

Theo's school had a Christmas Fair on 6th December with food, singing and lots of activities. Theo is holding the gingerbread that he'd just decorated and will be auditioning for the part of Oliver Twist unless we get his hair cut soon!