On second thoughts, the weekends are not long enough, which means I try and do too much. I end feeling totally unprepared for the week ahead. Subsequently, blog posts are delayed and have no coherence.

The weekend was beautifully hot, which was perfect for receiving two friends from my ex-life in Tianjin. So, instead of entertaining them, I reflected upon my time in Tianjin.

Life is a lot different now, but I still try to squeeze in too many activities in my free time. I used to teach English, learn Chinese, work on the website and try to get to church on time. Now, I’m run around Greenwich park, play badminton, update this website, overuse my Oyster Card and write long rambling emails. I occasionally go to work and I’m always late for church.

Do I miss anything about my life in China?:

• The strong exchange rate – used to be 14 to 1 but that’s now gone
• Friends – mostly gone. But most of them turn up in London to see me.
• Teaching English – Audit is my true calling. That last sentence seemed strangely unsettling…
• Learning Chinese – I do miss learning Chinese a lot. It’s the statisfying pen strokes of a Chinese character. Or it’s the repressed childhood guilt of not knowing enough Chinese. Either way.
• Chinese food – I can cook this myself. I just have to live with the horrible taste

What I miss can never be re-lived, which seems like a sign that I should move on and live a life of audit.

On a completely unrelated topic, a big white ship came to my office near Canary Wharf carrying cheap Christian literature and pirates.

Logos Hope

I told you it was unrelated.

Posted by Wordmobi

Every mile killed and it never seemed to get any easier, but after 80 days, I defeated the amiable Graham in the running challenge.

These were the tactics that I used to beat Graham:

• Brutal consistency – wherever I was, whatever the time, and no matter how much audit work I had done, I ran. However, I did discover that I develop a rain allergy while I ran. Brutal consistency became a quiet cowardice.
• Nike New Balance Trainers – I like the big “N”.
• Graham’s two knee injuries – perhaps the most successful tactic. I claim full credit.
• Counting - the mad rush to catch the bus/train/DLR/audit work papers was counted as a mile run. This made up 99% of the distance covered.

The highlight
Running through Bath on a cool spring evening after a hard day of audit. Admiring how the historic houses looked so much better than my purple apartment. Eating the room service that awaited at the hotel.

The lows
Running up the hill in Greenwich park. I stopped 4 times on my first attempt. 4 minutes of hell that only ended when I reached the canine waste bin. My fastest time was when it rained really hard. Apparently, Lord Sebastian Coe used to use the same hill for training. It was no consolation.

But the running challenge was a pyrrhic victory as the graphs were produced using Graham’s superior Excel skills. I tried to recreate the graphs myself and gave up after two hours. I missed a planned session because of it. This morning, I came up with the genius idea of using Graham’s perfectly good graph and just apply the cosmetic changes myself, which was to change the cell colours from white to transparent.

And what of the £50 prize money? I decided it was unfair to accept this after (causing) Graham’s knee injuries.

The train driver apologies for the delay but you feel people’s anger at the impending strike by the RMT Union. In one hour, the whole London Underground network will be paralysed.

The train is jam packed. Nothing unusual but I’m the lucky one this time, at least I’m on a train. I even have the luxury of getting off a stop early at Bank Station. I just wanted to escape the sweat. I get off and find that everything is getting shut down. People are desperate to get home but the gates are shut. The air is hot with distress and anger.

The misery is not being able to get home. I’m grateful for that today.