1992-10-15::
I went to bed twice last night; first at 10pm to get up at 1 am this morning to go and see my sister-in-law, before she was off on her travels. I got back to bed at 2:30am and got up again at 8am. When I opened the curtains on the window I could see that some of the garden was covered in hailstones which had fallen during the night. Today it is very cold, even though the sun is shining, as the wind is blowing from the North Pole. I bet it is not so cold in Longzhou!
It is too cold and wet to do any work in the garden, so I will spend the rest of the day writing letters and studying some of my French books, as there is much to learn. It is always the verbs which are difficult to remember, so to learn them I say them out aloud many, many times, and write them out many, many times, until I think I have learned them properly. I hope you are doing the same thing with your English. As soon as I think I have learned enough French to be able to write a letter, then I will writie one out in French for you to give to grandma. Do you think she can read French? How is she keeping these days ? Has she recovered from her illness, after the dreadful floods? I do hope so for she will need to look after her health to prepare for the winter.
Teenagers Growing Taller Than Their Parents.
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I liked the photo of your young niece that you sent to me, although I am surprised to see that she has grown up so quickly. I suppose this is what babies always do ! They are not babies for very long, and soon it will be time for your niece to start school. It will be your job to take her and fetch her back home everyday, and then help her with her homework! Whenever I go to visit Lynn and family, the first thing Sam does (he is 18 months old) is to go and fetch a book out of his toy box, and then come to sit on my knee for me to read it to him or tell him stories bout the pictures. Sometimes he even meets me at the door, then holds my hand and takes me to the chair to sit down while he goes to fetch a book. He is very persistent! On Monday, 12th October, I went to see Nigel and family because it was the day on which their son was supposed to be born, but he was born nine weeks early. He is so beautiful and his weight is increasing quite quickly now, and has even started to smile... well it looks like a smile! I like nursing him in the same way that I nursed Nigel, many years ago, but Nigel is much too big now for me to hold HIM on my knee. Nigel is much taller and bigger than me, like all the young people these days. When I walk through the streets of town, most of the young people, about 16 to 20 years of age, are taller than me, for they seem to be growing much taller and much faster now.
Unemployment Levels Rise As Coal Mines Close.
Perhaps that is why I like to be in China so much, where there are a lot of people who are shorter than me! I wonder how long it will be before they also grow taller and taller, then everybody will have to start building bigger homes to live in with higher ceilings, or else many heads will be hurt by being bumped against low ceilings or low doorways. When I checked the calender this morning, January 11th, which is a Monday, seems to be a good day for me to arrive in Beijing. If you think you will be going to Beijing sometime in January, to apply for your visa, then we shall meet there and perhaps I shall be able to go with you to the embassy. I have not firmly decided yet because it depends on when I can get a cheap flight with the tour companies. I keep looking in the papers for one but there have been none advertised yet, and perhaps there will be none this year, because of all the money problems in the UK at the present time.
There is a lot of news in the newspapers this morning about the closure of about 30 coal mines in the UK, which will happen during the next month or two, and this means that about another 100,000 people will lose their jobs; they are very angry with the government. It is very difficult for the young people who have children in their families, for it is almost impossible to get new work these days. It means that the older people, of about 45 to 50 years old, will probably never have a job again during their lifetime. The shops and factories always prefer to have younger people working for them. It is all vey sad. Perhaps that is one reason that we should all make the best use of each day as it comes; we never know what the future holds for us!
Take care of yourself and be happy!
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