For those of you who are maintenance fanatics you will have been waiting for the next exciting installment. When we moved in there was a crack in the toilet seat such that it gave you a friendly little nip every time you sat down, not such great fun in what is otherwise an enjoyable activity. In October we asked the estate agent to have it fixed and after some huffing they sent someone round to take a look. They of course concluded that our slightly square-ish seat was non standard and there was nothing he could do as such designs were no longer available. Being easy going we suggested a more normal round seat would fit fine, if look a bit odd but probably better than the regular nip.
Some back and forth later the round seat concept was accepted in principle but had to be check in practice so back came the engineer. This time the problem was the spacing of the bolts to attach the seat to the toilet - after some metaphorical sucking of gums it was declared that there was nothing else for it but to replace the entire toilet.
The entire process might have been acceptable had it been completed in a week but it took a little over four months and I have missed out detailing the many communications back and forth for fear of exciting you further.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
A birthday treat....
A birthday treat....
With my 21st birthday rapidly closing Eleanor said she had organised an outing as a surprise but that I should expect to be cold and should brush up on my night time photography. With these hints I wondered what was on the way and I don't think I would have guess an ice sculpture show. Walking to the pick up point we commented on the fact that the walkways over the ring road have one set of stairs and what look like a ramp on the far side but it is in fact just another set of stairs at a shallower angle to disappoint anyone who thought they could get a pram over the road safely. We caught up with some friends also going on the trip who were walking at 3 year old pace which was a good indication we weren't running late at least.
The bus ride was a little under two hours and was the first time we had left Beijing since we arrived and we were surprised how quickly you get into the mountains and noted it for some summer trips. Despite some initial grumbles from Alex he slept most of the way and we even survived our first on the move nappy change. We arrived in Longqing to be greeted by lights. Lots and lots of lights. They clearly know their specialism and do not miss a trick to let you know around the entrance.
We were a bit behind the rest of the bus by the time we had mobilized the little fella - it was icy cold so much wrapping up was needed - and we got to the entrance a little after the main group which caused some problems for our tour guides with the tickets. A bit of haggling over and we strolled into the entrance square with lots of snow sculptures and lanterns. Really this outing was to let me play with my new camera and tripod and there was an element of learning on the go!
One nice touch of having a long shutter time is the fact the people walking past barely register, very helpful in China where it is almost impossible to get the space for a shot all to yourself!
Further on was the hall of ice sculptures, in the first half these were mainly small carvings with animals on top and in the second mini-castle like structures lit up enough neon to make a Las Vegas casino proud. All were surrounded by the normal boisterous Chinese crowd who seemed to be enjoying the show.
The last part of the walk went through some caves which held a hundred flowers. This was a slightly bizarre exhibit with lots of plastic flowers and vines making the walkway look like something from a jungle, not at all like the dry plains around Beijing.
All that remained was to wonder down and head back to the coach feeling slightly chilled. On the way home we would have called Alex 'chatty', I suspect the other people on the bus might have used slightly stronger language but eventually he drifted off!
With my 21st birthday rapidly closing Eleanor said she had organised an outing as a surprise but that I should expect to be cold and should brush up on my night time photography. With these hints I wondered what was on the way and I don't think I would have guess an ice sculpture show. Walking to the pick up point we commented on the fact that the walkways over the ring road have one set of stairs and what look like a ramp on the far side but it is in fact just another set of stairs at a shallower angle to disappoint anyone who thought they could get a pram over the road safely. We caught up with some friends also going on the trip who were walking at 3 year old pace which was a good indication we weren't running late at least.
The bus ride was a little under two hours and was the first time we had left Beijing since we arrived and we were surprised how quickly you get into the mountains and noted it for some summer trips. Despite some initial grumbles from Alex he slept most of the way and we even survived our first on the move nappy change. We arrived in Longqing to be greeted by lights. Lots and lots of lights. They clearly know their specialism and do not miss a trick to let you know around the entrance.
We were a bit behind the rest of the bus by the time we had mobilized the little fella - it was icy cold so much wrapping up was needed - and we got to the entrance a little after the main group which caused some problems for our tour guides with the tickets. A bit of haggling over and we strolled into the entrance square with lots of snow sculptures and lanterns. Really this outing was to let me play with my new camera and tripod and there was an element of learning on the go!
Further on was the hall of ice sculptures, in the first half these were mainly small carvings with animals on top and in the second mini-castle like structures lit up enough neon to make a Las Vegas casino proud. All were surrounded by the normal boisterous Chinese crowd who seemed to be enjoying the show.
Further along we came to the dam, in front of which water has been frozen to resemble a water fall. Of course I'm assuming that there was not in fact just a leak in the dam but that also remains a possibility. To get to the top of the dam we had the pleasure of the longest escalator in the world. As exciting as this sounds it is in fact quite dull. To replicate the experience find a shopping mall and ride the escalator up and down eight times and you get the idea. Now try it with a hungry screaming child and chill the air temp to about -5 degrees. However, while you will end up at some dull shop or perhaps McDonald's we were treated to splendid views down the valley.
The last part of the walk went through some caves which held a hundred flowers. This was a slightly bizarre exhibit with lots of plastic flowers and vines making the walkway look like something from a jungle, not at all like the dry plains around Beijing.
All that remained was to wonder down and head back to the coach feeling slightly chilled. On the way home we would have called Alex 'chatty', I suspect the other people on the bus might have used slightly stronger language but eventually he drifted off!
Off the scale pollution
It would be hard to let it go by without a mention given that it made the news in England but a couple of weeks ago we had some extreme pollution, even for Beijing. After much campaigning the scale of pollution adopted by the government has been changed to be in line with that published by the US embassy, which in the past was always higher than the government measure. Regardless over one weekend it went off both scales - levels are defined up to 500 and the rating peaked at almost 800. Looking out the window the buildings a few hundred metres away were not visible and going outside the air did not taste good. In response we were house bound and concentrated our air purifiers in the living room and hunkered down hoping for some wind to blow the pollution away. Not so much fun but perhaps the government will step up its measure to tackle this huge problem, at least we can only keep our fingers crossed.
As an indicator of how bad it was, here's a couple of pictures. One with smog levels at about 500, the other at about 60. No prizes for guessing which is which....
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