Favourite Posts, July-September 2007
Even though these three months saw somewhat light posting (lots of work travel, 3 weeks holiday back in the UK, and a brief renunciation of blogging altogether in September), I still find that I can quite easily cull a couple of dozen special favourites from this period. I hope you will enjoy revisiting a few of these.
1) Sometimes, just occasionally, the Chinese really bug the crap out of me - 8th September
I don't rant often, but this is one: I mean, you won't believe what this guy did with his bike!
2) The way I lived then.... - 5th September
Reminiscences about my early days in Beijing, and the strange joys of existing on a vanishingly small budget.
3) My favourite runs - 2nd September
Inaugurating my new 'List of the Month' feature with recollections of the most memorable routes I've jogged over the last 20 years.
4) The Foreskin Post - 31st August
Probably my most notorious post - a flagrant attempt to boost search-engine traffic with a gross little flight of fancy.
5) Chengdu deathrace blues - 30th August
I have a rather trying time of it in Szechuan, being ferried to the airport by the world's least competent chauffeur.
6) In Memoriam - my lost phones - 27th August
A review of my checkered history of mobile phone ownership since coming to China.
7) Rejuvenated! - 21st August
Frivolous reflections on youth and age, prompted by celebrations of the 5th Anniversary of my arrival in Beijing.
8) The Expat Ladder - 20th August
OK, this one has already been elevated to the sidebar, but I feel I should include it here as well: an important (and, hopefully, amusing) post on the pecking order amongst China's long-term expats.
9) Invented words - 19th August
One of my most heartfelt poems - a farewell to my last Great Love.
10) The acronyms strike again! - 19th August
A news story about the International Ramen Manufacturers' Association provokes my mirth.... and prompts some Internet research.
11) A last haiku - July 27th
Another better-than-average haiku.... on the experience of air travel.
12) We apologise for the 'Inconvenients' - 25th July
The recent proliferation of small, late-opening supermarkets in Beijing has strangely failed to bring any great enhancement in our quality of life. Here I enumerate their shortcomings.
13) Judgement - 23rd July
Do foreigners criticise China too much? My defence of being 'judgemental'.
14) Another Milestone - 22nd July
I commemorate the Post 500 landmark with an instant poem called 'Counting'.
15) The Prisoner of Hangzhou (Airport) - 20th July
On only my second business trip for my new employer, I suffer an unbelievably bad China air transport experience.
16) I wouldn't leave without posting a haiku - 13th July
One of my older haiku: closer in form and spirit to the true Japanese tradition than my usual fripperies, I think.
17) Blue metal sheets - 12th July
A favourite story about Beijing's ubiquitous construction sites.
18) Today in the studio.... - 10th July
The funniest thing I have had to read in any of my recording jobs this year...
19) A cracking game of tennis!! - 9th July
The enthralling Men's Singles Final at this year's Wimbledon prompts some reflections on my lifelong fascination with the game of tennis.
20) (Early) Haiku - 6th July
A recent nasty moment (nearly falling out of a 14th storey window) provides the image for this haiku - one of my better ones, I think - on the exhilaration and the danger of allowing yourself to fall in love.
21) More fun from Japan - 5th July
A brilliant little video on how to apologise in Japan.
22) IMLTHO - 4th July
In which I rant against my least favourite acronym and denounce false 'humility'.
23) Forbidden delights - 3rd July
24) The end of Froog... - 2nd July
On a weekend trip to Shanghai, I have a disquieting brush with death (while staying in this apartment).
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