Domestic Logistics and Strategic Encounters

Last day of the May Day holiday today — five days off, Thursday through Tuesday — and, self-evidently, I’ve finally got around to sitting down and setting up a website.

Absolutely glorious weather this past week, teetering on a bit too hot for me, though mercifully there’s been enough of a breeze at night to allow for air-conditionless sleep.

Zhouzhou’s mum headed back to Changsha on Saturday. The Beijing pollen had been getting to her for a few weeks, and in a fit of exasperation she booked a ticket home. The plan is probably for her to return before Arthur’s birthday at the end of the month. Zhouzhou is now teaching undergraduate film classes on Thursdays, so the value of having a spare pair of hands in the house has, correspondingly, increased.

A fairly busy May ahead: formal A-Level exams at school, then off to Dalian for the weekend of the 15th–17th for the annual invitational Go competition. After that, a trip to Shanghai at the end of the month for CIE trainer training — I’ve passed the first round of applications to be a Physics trainer for the China/Mongolia/Japan region.

Sunday was spent with Go pals in Beijing — managed to squeeze in three matches from our annual “ZB Cup”. There are now eight of us; we each put £100 into a pot and play three matches against one another over the course of the year. We’re now into our seventh year.

Arthur and I went for haircuts yesterday. Behaviour was acceptable, contingent on a frappuccino being dangled in front of him as inducement.

I’ll update again at the beginning of June, once I’ve finished commuting around the country.