People in this city are wearing their masks a lot more than the city we live. As well, they are still taking temperatures going into shopping centres, which they have stopped doing we are.
Coffee without the kids is so nice
They are annoying but I miss them so much. Though I think mostly it’s worry. Our children are mostly looked after by wife and I. This is the first time the grandparents have had them for an extended period of time. If you can consider 3 days an extended period of time. Sometimes I think about that.
Fish and chips
Scott’s is a fish and chip shop in the UK that hosts Chinese tourists after the Chinese president visited. Today we visited the restaurant that was opened in Chengdu, China as a result of that.
We had fish and chips… It was ok but it’s just not the same. The chips from ‘chippies’ in the UK are not usually crispy like these were. The fish was ok but I like a bubblier batter.
(Link)[https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/18054524.east-meets-west-scotts-fish-chips-opens-restaurant-china/]
Patience is low today. Which I inevitably obsess over as. Then up being annoyed about being inpatient. Yup.
Adventures.
Our youngest likes to see the light rail trains.
We always point them out when we see them. Yet, we don’t ever take them even though the station is only 5 minutes walk from our flat. It’s easier to drive or take a Didi (Chinese Uber). So this afternoon we took the kid on it. Lyra found a restaurant near* a stop that’s 6 stops away. So we donned our masks since it’s one of the few places that you still have to wear them and we went.
It was nice. It felt like an adventure.
We walked (and walked). We saw things. We explored a new area a little. It made us realise we didn’t do this much. We drive and and we go to the same places a lot. We said, we should do this again soon. Admittedly we also said it would be easier when the kids are bigger too!
Then we found the place, a Korean bbq restaurant, that was busier then we expected but was worth the wait. We’d bought some baozi (steamed buns) for the kids on the way to keep the kids occupied a little. I had a couple of beers, Lyra and I shared some plum wine too. The place was busy in a good way. I started to feel a little drunk, in the best kind of way.
Here’s to next time.
*It wasn’t near.
鸳鸯（Yuānyāng）
It’s the Chinese name for the Mandarin duck and where the first character refers to the male and the second to the female. There are believed to be lifelong partners. So in Chinese, it’s used as a sign affection and fidelity.
However, it’s also used to describe things being put together - e.g. today I had a yuanyang drink, which is a mix of coffee and tea. I really liked it.
As well it’s what you ask for when you order hot pot and you want spicy and non-spicy broth.
An Unlived Life
I will not live in fearvia swissmiss
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance;
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.
— Dawna Markova
I’m aware how much I gloss over most of what I read online, taking the time when there’s some more scrolling to do. With that in mind, I’m copying some of the poems down into a notebook to help me take more time over them.
3 Links
I keep meaning to post things I like but I normally end up sending various links to different people.
Via Metafilter - The Hu - A Mongolian folk metal band. We’ve been liking their stuff since I started playing it yesterday. Especially Wolf Totem - This stop motion short about a trans kid coming out featuring Godzilla. via
Also - This John Hamm voiced meeting of a father and his daughter’s boyfriend that flips it a little. I’m not going to lie that this isn’t something I’ve thought about. via this inbox zine
Death by 10m Shuttle Sprint
Place 2 cones 10m apart. With a running clock, sprint 10m in the 1st minute, sprint 20m (10mx2) in the 2nd minute, sprint 30m (10mx3) in the 3rd minute, etc, etc. Continue in this fashion until you fail to achieve the required number of meters in the appropriate minute.
Fun. It’s easy until it isn’t and then it gets hard fast. Finished 14x10m but only managed 12 of 15 in the next round. Encouraged to walk in the down time by all the mosquitos.
Fitness always takes a backseat during term time when family and work take up all my time. So it’s nice at the moment to have time at the moment.
Obviously, I love my children. I worry about them constantly. Sometimes I try not to think about them too much, when I do it can overwhelm me.
With that said.
Sometimes I think the best thing I can do for our relationship is to be apart rom them. Just for a while.
Foofighters.
Yesterday was 25 years since Foo Fighters released their debut album. I was a little young for Nirvana but still remember being introduced to Foo Fighters by a classmate, whose name I think I remember because he did. Still enjoying it. Though, I think the memories are a big part of that.
Lyra and I talked about cutting down our screen time and leading by example and if that isn’t the hardest thing.
Lyra and I spent some time with a book before meeting a friend for lunch while the grandparents watched the kids. So nice.
Reading this about Hey but I don’t feel I use my email enough to warrant paying and switching from Gmail. HEY Email: How It Has Disrupted My Email Workflow – The Sweet Setup
Holidays.
We travel a fair bit. Partly, I think because of our location - which makes Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam relatively short flights away but mostly because of our global family. We travel a lot to see family. The joke is that we couldn’t be further apart. We’re in China, Mum and Dad are in Mauritius, sister is on the West Coast of America and my brother is in the UK. Mum and dad buy round-the-world tickets to visit us all.
When we had just had our eldest we travelled a fair bit with her because 2:1 is a decent ratio for childcare but we’re finding that with a second child that ratio ain’t so grand. It’s a holiday, but not as you know it.
We’ve just got back from 6 days in Sanya on the island of Hainan on the south coast of China. I realise we are lucky to have gotten away in the current situation.
It was very up and down. The pools were lovely, obviously hotel breakfast is great but the much smaller space of a hotel room made things more difficult sometimes and stressful.
I am glad we did it though. I am back and feeling a little calmer about things generally. Now to start put my computer down a little more, spend a little more time with the kids and wife, exercise a little more and read a little more.
Does your job and your life ever overlap? For me as someone who teaches small children and have two of my own. I find going swimming or to soft play or places with lots of small children stressful. It’s just too much like my day job, but it’s really not.
