Back to Earth

Well I have arrived home at last to recuperate for a month or so. The delay was caused by the fact that due to the punctured lung, this was the earliest I was allowed to fly home without medical escort bearing oxygen! I was gutted to be told by the doctors that I would need at least 3 months to recover, but I must admit that I am still feeling decidedly fragile. I had VIP treatment for the whole journey with wheelchair laid on at the airports at either end, and an upgrade to Club class on my British Airways flight. Thanks to all the cabin crew on flight BA038 for spoiling me rotten! Daughter Gwenny, who has just finished her finals, was waiting at Heathrow to drive me back to the depths of Wales. Here I was greeted by a house wrapped in scaffolding due to our depressing ongoing domestic saga of dry rot. Back to the daily grind!

However, it has been a relief to escape the tedium of watching interminable Z movies in my hotel room, punctuated by brief daily hobbles to the French patisserie on the other side of the Lido Park. My one excitement before leaving Beijing was dinner out at the wonderful Beijing restaurant Salt with Ed, Kath and David as a thank you for all their help - as it was just across the road, I did not have far to totter.

I have also had recent difficulty editing my blog as access currently appears to be blocked from China. It has been suggested that this may be because of the imminent anniversary of the democracy protests. Whatever the reason, hopefully this will be resolved by the time I return or I will have to work out an indirect way to update the blog when I am in China.