Snowing here

We have had a week of snow. With much delight amongst the workers and then they had to get in to the office. Like the southern UK Shanghai doesn’t get much snow. People here were arguing when they last had such a covering. It couldn’t be very often as the attempts at snow balling were amusing. Gone now though.

On the way to the office the day after the snow, a team of workmen were actively sweeping the snow to the side of a pedestrian road bridge and so making it easier for people to cross six lanes of traffic on the Bund. Trouble was the sides were railings and snow was cascading down on cars passing beneath.

More travel this week. Went to Singapore on Sunday / Monday and now en-route to Florida. Singapore was warm, and clean and efficient. Arrived late Sunday night after 5 hour flight. Flew back Monday night over night (4 hour flight!) Took 4 taxi rides whilst there. The drivers were very pleasant and the fares were relatively cheap. However they do a good impression of theme park rides. On this small sample  - they are all maniacs once they get on the road. Even my hair was raised at one point. (My colleague went white and very quiet – which if you know her was quite an achievement.) We had pulled out of the office en-route to dinner in China town. This involved a U turn across three lanes of rush hour traffic. Didn’t hesitate to do it, 30 mph, tyres screeching right in front of a single decker bus. My ears are still ringing from the horn on the bus: if it was a film I would have seen the air come out of the horn. The drive then proceeded to shout abuse and wave gestures at the bus as he sped off. Twenty yards further on he is chatting amicably with us smelly statues in the back.

Had another language difficulty when I arrived back in Shanghai. Arrived early and as travelling light was through immigration and customs very quick. Stood and waited for the driver. Got past the due time (to which I had been waiting 30 minutes) so I tried to text and phone the driver, in case he had overslept. Our Chinese/ English does not overlap yet and so I had no idea what he was trying to say. So I phoned the customer service / account manager. From the mumbled response it was clear she was fast asleep. (It was 6.30am). Problem resolved and I was soon on my way. Perils of working in a front end service business.

Have been learning more about Chinese New year which is rapidly approaching (Feb 2-8) and the excitement is building with the team in the office. I have been given to hong bao – envelopes in which to put money in for my staff. The amount of money cant have a 4 in it and ideally divisible by eight. I was advised it ought to be >CNY50. The red colours and fireworks are designed to scare off the spirit Nian, and on Feb 3 you are meant to put all the lights on and keep the windows open. (it needs to warm up a tad first.)

In China Daily there was an article about the demand for Rabbits for Chinese New Year, as it is the year of the Rabbit. The prices have risen dramatically as people are realising they are less demanding than having a dog as a pet, it doesn’t need walking and it can be left in a cage during the day. One shop owner now offers to look after the rabbit when you go a business trip. Even in China animal activists have expressed concern about whether the rabbits will be abandoned after a few months. Can’t wait for the year of dragon or tiger!

So back to my flight – now 37000 feet over central Montana. It makes one think on how much trust we put in a lot of people when travelling. From the taxi drivers in Singapore, who I was hoping could drive (now not so sure) and know where they were going, and had had the things serviced (not from the sound of them) to the whole flying system.

If you think about it, when you get to the airport we rely on so many people to do their jobs and do it well. Check in girls making sure your bag has the right label – and then the whole team to get it on the airplane. Most of that relies on some spotty software geek having programmed the automatic system properly.

Then security. Those bored people checking the monitor for that device. Into the lounge and something to eat. Which we assume is cooked safely; the same in preparation of the the food for on board. Onto the plane and into the hands of air traffic control, the pilot, and hoping the service and mechanic crews have done their bit and not left something off! Then in the air and relying on other pilots to not get in the way, all those systems to have been made well and still functioning. Amazing really how many people are involved and who we blindly just trust.

And we moan about the size of the overhead bin. I do wonder why they have the size checkers, and the one bag rule. The guy next to me had a suitcase as big as a house and three other bags. So not only couldn’t I get my caravan in the overhead bin, neither could three other people sitting near by. I was all for throwing him off the plane. The wonders of flying. Off to watch my 6^th movie of the flight.

I wonder if it will be snowing in Florida!

Postnote: Arrived in the US OK. Couple of further notes before I forget.

1) why is it whenever and wherever I land at an airport I always seem to be at the gate furthest away from immigration or arrivals. I always end up walking past many many unused gates which could have sped up the process of getting out the airport. I could understand if there were many outlets to call in on the way past, but there rarely are.
2) arrived Detroit and made the queue for visitors (not the US Citizens and Resident Aliens - I guess the non resident aliens are visitors) at immigration. So the usual happened. Joined the back of the queue of about 100 people which wound its way snake like across the floor inside taped areas. So more people arrived and joined the back of the queue or three queues. The attendants decide to try and make the queue move faster so rearrange the tapes and queues, and of course I end up in the one where everyone in front has paperwork deficiency, or can speak no American. Then they re-organise again and the small pocket of people around me are then moved over the US citizen (and resident aliens) side. Finally there are six of us left in the hall.
3) having made the front of the queue I notice a notice stuck on the side of the immigration officers booth. It is headed - We are the face of the Nation. Which I am sure is great intent and the officers have (almost) always been polite and efficient. However the notice is stuck on about 30 separate booths, tightly spaced, grey to chest height with perspex panels to above head height. There are thick red lines with DO NOT CROSS UNTIL CALLED on the carpet, and the officers wear dark blue smart uniforms with gold attachments, epaulets, etc resembling Police officers. The officers ask many questions and challenge simple statements and visitors see people whose language is not English struggling, and often after applying for a visa that says they can enter the country. This imposing scene I am sure is not what the nation wants to project as its face to the millions of visitors who pass through. Fortunately in Detroit the sign is only in English.
4) the new electronic visa system (ESTA) works a treat and when I got to see the officer I was through in  a couple of minutes and a laugh and joke about my inability to speak Chinese. So no longer do I have to fill in the form that asks me if I have been convicted of espionage or committed moral turpitude.

The weather is sunny in Florida

250 green hats

Mid January and the temperature has dropped and hovers around freezing – few degrees above during the day and a few degrees below during the night. Not too unpleasant most of the time. Was real brass monkeys on Sunday on the golf course as a stiff breeze got up and the sun didn’t break through the cloud. When the sun breaks through it is very pleasant.

Went for a walk Thursday. Had a meeting in another part of the city. Checked the map and worked out it was about 20 minutes to 30 minute walk from the office. The look of astonishment amongst both my international and Chinese colleagues when I said I was going to walk. Claims of too far, you will never find it, its too cold, will you make it back. Well I walked both ways in the wintry sun, found M&S and a neat bakery en-route. Also found the Burberry and Rolex shops. Pavements , zebra and pedestrian crossings – all things you need in cities to get around. Shows that people here have designed things well for people like me.

En –route to the meeting I went round a corner and was confronted by a shoe shine man. I refused and tried to walk round him. However very quickly he moved across me and bent down. Pointing at my shoes saying dirty. On the left shoe was a white splodge – which he had just put there! Steam coming out of my ears I pushed past him, shouting no. Further on I was approached by someone else wanting to shine my shoes. When I got to the venue, I got a couple of tissues and fortunately found the splodge to be a cream – probably a shoe cream. Walking back another shoe shine approached me telling me my shoes were dirty. I just waved and carried on walking, noticing another shoe shine being shouted at by another westerner. So on Nanjing Lu (W) wear trainers. It was still worth the walk, especially through the park in the late afternoon winter sun.

Had an interesting experience on the flight over from Dubai to Shanghai. Normally I check my seat positions before I check in, to make sure I am not in a poor position.  I was sat in the aisle bulkhead seat, great in that nobody in front would drop their seat back in your lap, however it was overlapping with the door way from the galley. So sat there as the plane was boarding and people walked past, whacking my left shin with their bags, the occasional kick. I received a couple of apologies a few glares but mostly ignored. When they came to serve the drinks, I was asked what I wanted. So in my normal serious way – I said orange juice and a pair of shin pads. The guy sat next to me cracked up laughing when she came back with a glass of Champagne.

So we took off at 3am and so I began to settle down for some kip. Seat back , blanket on, ear plugs in, eyeshade down, feet hanging off the seat bottom through the curtain in the doorway. So every time someone went through the curtain they moved my feet. When they served food they ran the trolley into my feet. Eventually I gave up trying to sleep, and sat back up – a little annoyed. So the next stewardess to come through I asked for a complaint form. Fortunately it was the purser. Who when I explained, apologised and found me a seat where I could sleep. She also said she had never seen it before and she had flown this plane many times. I guess they hadn’t had a tall irritable Englishman trying to get to sleep in that seat before. Have changed my seat position for the way back!

Had two language lessons this week. Had some fun with the young Chinese tutor. Though she is beginning to realise I am a naughty student. Learnt many things. No green hats here in China. Something to do with the fact that the phrase for green hats is the same as the phrase for a man who has an affair with a married woman. Means to bring separation and so is seen as bad. White wine is not white wine, it is a rice spirit – you may have heard of maotai, one of the biggest brands. The phrase for 250 also means stupid – so I have been trying to think of times when the two would be mixed up and cause offence. An Australian cricket bowler having conceded 250 runs from his bowling spell, probably is stupid, so no issue there. An English cricket batsman scoring 250 – probably stupid to think that could happen. Maybe only in Australia.

Big stereotype this week. Met with a consultant, who is Indian, and it took about a minute after the introduction before we got onto cricket. Small world for such a wonderful game.

Big low light of the week – excited by the prospect of seeing Scunny live on Chinese TV to be deflated by a fearful first half performance and a second half walloping at the hands of Everton. Good news was I didn’t tell too many of my colleagues that it was on so I can sulk in the corner. They are live on Sky TV next week again – home to Burnley, but if it is on will be too late for me.

Big news of the week in our small world was the speculation of a takeover bid from J&J for S&N. it took a couple of days for the news to filter through here, and it was clear it was speculation. Lunch time conversation revolved around why the speculators are allowed to do this and cause such huge distraction inside a company. Most of my colleagues could not understand what value it added to anything. Lesson there about controlling the press and economic recovery…

Almost made a faux pas in the office today. The HR department send round a list every month of people’s birthdays. They do a bit of research and show which famous people were born on this date in history. So walking past one of the desks I recalled that it was the girls birthday on Monday coming. So I wished her happy birthday – as I am in Singapore Monday. Apparently you are supposed to give a gift when you say happy birthday. Well quick as a flash I pulled out of my pocket a small packet of sweets I had just been given by someone else. She was delighted. It was then explained to me that they were pulling my leg (they said having a joke). Somehow I think they have grasped my sense of humour. Looks like I may need to move on.

So having got the VPN to work so I can post this on the Google site, off to bed. Singapore this week  for a day. Warmer there, but damp.

Till next time….

I'm back

Like a bad penny - arrived back in China on Thursday to be greeted at the airport by the driver with a big smile. He was surprised i had no coat on. The temperature was a balmy 6C, no wind, blue skies. Who needs a coat! Definitely didn't need one in the car as the driver sat there in his and the heater on full blast.

The wonders of central heating.

I had two letters when I arrived. Both of them looked like bills, both looked as if they had been paid too! However being totally in Chinese I was going to struggle. HR seemed happy with them though.

First day back in the office and everyone seemed in good spirits. I was a little perturbed that they thought I had been on holiday for 3 weeks - even the people who I had spoken to a few times thought I had. Perceptions are hard to change - expats disappearing for long periods, do no work, live it up. Hard to show you are different.

Still the cadburys chocolate selection bought me back into favour again.

Having just left the UK and experienced and disliked the commercial Christmas chaos, I arrive back to a country that is preparing for Chinese New Year. The supermarket has aisles of decorations, special cakes, and other "spring festival" paraphernalia. The office is getting excited and like December in the UK, trying to get people to focus on key things being done by then is hard work.

Just shows how us humans are all alike.

Good weekend ahead - golf planned for Saturday and Sunday, and Saturday night live on Chinese TV, 11pm Scunthorpe vs Everton. You never know the Iron may play better on Chinese TV than when I watched them in the UK. They couldn't play much worse than last Saturday.

Back to regular updates

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2011.

I hope everyone enjoyed their versions of the festive period and are looking forward to another momentous year.

Started well - Anderson takes another wicket in Sydney, and I catch a flight back to China this week. This will save the punishment of watching Scunny lose again. Bizarrely have been to two games in the last three days. The first the ambulance broke down on the way to the game so kick off was delayed for an hour. The second the floodlights went out three times during the second half.

Only happens watching the Iron

More next week.