Brilliant
The sky today, that is. Ian said he heard on the radio that today was the first properly sunny day in more than 40 days. So now I know a bit what Noah must have felt look.
It was good that it was sunny, because it was my friend Ruolan's graduation - she now has PhD in Education. She invited me to the party after the ceremony at St. Luke's campus, which is an off-shoot of the main campus within walking distance of here. It's built around a quad and has a lovely atmosphere. I arrived at 1 pm to find tables outside laden with wine and canapes, and hardly any graduates because the ceremony hadn't finished yet. Ruolan now has a job as a Research Fellow (even though she's not a fellow!) at the university here. which means she can continue to teach our Mandarin play group for a little longer.
After that, I dropped in at the flat of a young woman called Xing Xing, whom I had met a couple of weekends ago at the SWAN culture day. She lives close by with her English husband and 14-month-old son, and she also gives Chinese lessons to some families we know. She came round for green tea and to chat about Amelia having some extra Chinese lessons in the autumn. Play group is great, but Amelia will soon be five and is getting a little old for it. Xing Xing is a lovely person, and her son is a chubby-cheeked delight. I'd forgotten how much work they are at that age - he was crawling all over the place and into everything. Amelia was a bit scared of him I think.
Two weeks till we fly to Canada. By the way, Dale, I haven't asked you - but maybe we can meet up for a drink or something on your deck? Depending on your work schedule, of course.