MY TAKE ON IT
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Born
Take it with you
Take it with you
Take it with you
Take it with you
Take it with you
Take it with you
Take it with you
Take it with you
Take it with you
Take it with you
Take it with you
Take it with you
Take it with you
Heart bypass
Take it with you
Stroke
Take it with you
Take it with you
Diabetes
Take it with you
Take it with you
Take it with you
Die
You can't anymore.
Copyright Runningonempty
What do you want people to say about you, when you are dead?
I used to be a regular on a huge website, and met some amazing people there, who walk the walk, not just talk the talk. I will only mention a few here, as I will only mention publically available information. There are others, you know who you are and what you've done, I won't break your privacy.
Well, there's Okedokegal. An incredibly intelligent person, she's living the concept of saving the earth, one vegetable plant at a time. She has made a real long term difference in the life of a disabled family member, while rebuilding her house from the ground up herself, building greenhouses and shadehouses herself, building alternative energy sources, and redeveloping her property generally for organic sustainable food production. All in one of the most difficult climates in the US.
There's Rina. It's no secret in pockets online, that Rina has , over the years, taken a whole extended struggling African family into her home compound, one that keeps expanding, with adoption and a new birth. She doesn't consider saying "sorry, we're full". To her, they are her family now, too.
Both of the above, I have no doubt, could have made themselves rich on the back of their high intelligences, if they were not growing things on their home turf, growing the future, making a difference. They don't get up and walk away.
Badger loves trees. This comes from his gentle core. He made trees his life's work, seeding, propagating, planting, pruning, saving, you name it, then taught them to others. Trees are the world's lungs, without them we won't breathe, they house wildlife and capture carbon, but they are being decimated around the world too fast. I've also noticed the great respect with which he treats women .
Sandy put in a career as a nurse. In the process she learned compassion for her fellow humans, and a passionate desire to make things better for them. So she pounds out a message online, over and over, even when the going gets tough and she'd rather give up. Back she is the next day, explaining why everyone needs health care, social security, a living wage, somewhere safe to live. How does she live that out? Sandy does volunteer work in the community and mixes thoroughly with the minorities she defends online, counting them among her friends, for real.
These are just the things that are publically known about some people like us, that were brave enough to make a start. (The bit that frightens many of us.) Then they just kept going. That sounds easy, but problems always crop up. These people did not give in and take the easy road. If they can do it, so can we.
Walking the walk.
Feel free to share the images, original photos are from Pexels, except for the product picture above, see link below.
30 comments:
Thank you to all the selfless volunteers, who give so generously of their time and expertise. They make the world a better place for some and the ripples will spread out and garner more than they will ever know. They leave a legacy that will not go unnoticed.
They are the unsung heroes and heroines in our world. I have so much respect for anyone that devotes their time and energy to making it a better place.
I'd love the see our news bulletins end every day with an uplifting story about selflessness, sacrifice and reaching out to those less fortunate, and the huge rewards it brings to the human spirit.
You could start an online petition on that, Fizz.
Well, I suppose I should break my silence, and man up and through in my normal pennyworth,, I fully agree with the comments above,, there are many beautiful people who selfishly spend there time and money on those less fortunate then themselves, these people are the true human beings.
I do not want to sound negative, but our world are full of "me me" people who believe that "it is not my problem" but it is, and when it go's pear-shaped, or it affects them, they will then have a different perspective on it,, plus government are not interested they make rules and laws that control people to fit into "box's" but the old and needy do not have a box to fit into as it is not in the policy of the government to care,,, that's your job!!!
Here is an example, and I quote this as it is what made me respond to the lovely comments above,, Now I think most of you know that my relationship is on the rocks,, that I am dealing with, but it's emotionally hard,, But last week I was in town, now I thought it was Friday, but I got that wrong too,, it was actually Saturday,, god knows where that day disappeared to,, I should have guessed as it was far busier, anyway I was on the way back to the car, walking through the car park, probably about 30 people around, when as I looked up I saw a group of Chinese tourists, about 12 in number being led by a guide, then as they passed me I looked at them and smiled and Said "nehoul" ( not sure if I spelt that right, spellchecker is no help ) basically I said good morning in Chinese, I got a beautiful response with all these lady's smiling and repeating the greeting and at that moment a car reversed out of a space, hit my trolley of shopping and pushed it into the path of these lady's, which in turn fell over at the feet of one women who tried to avoid stepping on my food but found the cucumber and slid on it, lost her balance and fell over, normally you would think this funny, but she hit her head on the tow bar of another car and had a big gash in her head, now the Chinese women were horrified but had moved back as the car reversed, the women driver got out of the car, looked around and at the women on the floor,
By this time the Chinese lady's had picked up my food, except the cucumber and had put in the boot ( sorry, trunk for you Americans out there ) of my car so I got her in the car and shot off to the hospital, which was only a short distance, we duly checked in and waited our turn, the injured women told me I could go and she will be alright as she knew her way back to the hotel, no way said I, mainly for a selfish reason,, as I thought she was beautiful, and I have a passion for Chinese women anyway,, so I'm taking full advantage,, anyway 4 hours later we leave the hospital, so I invited her to go for a tea, to help calm her, and she agreed (yahoooooo ) we spent the entire day together, talking and walking around the town and park,, oppsss what about that frozen food in the boot, yer joking, you don't think I am worried about that do you, I'm have a great time with a lovely gentle women, when we got to the hotel we got a warm welcome as the rest of the women had returned, and I was treated like a hero, but I would have done the same thing for anybody.
The good thing is we exchanged tel and e-mail address as well as a Chinese version of Skype, so we are in regular contact, and for the first time in 3 years, I feel wanted.
Just watch this space.
opps there is a bit missing at the end of the paragraph, it said,, that the women got out of her car moved the trolley, muttered something and drove off in addition no other person came to her aid, just looked and stared and walked on,,,, ABSOLUTLEY APPALING I AM ASHAMED for my countryman.
Now go to the second paragraph
Wow!! I have questions. How is her head? What was the frozen food?
Welcome back Badger!
Badger your experience with the Chinese woman is worth at least one blog post in itself!
Do you like to write at all?
I'd love Badger to write a post! Any of my readers are welcome.
O.K. O.K. I get it,, one quick letter then everybody wants a book, he he he,
My relationship with the Chinese lady has developed since I wrote the above,, all but a via a form of skype,, it's the Chinese version, called QQ, it gives me a portal where we can write and video call to each other,, China is 7 hours ahead of me here in Ireland so I have to time my call's right, so I normally talk to her at my lunchtime, so that would be at 8.00pm for her, she has reported that her head is feeling better, but it is still swollen, so when she go's out she wears a hat or scarf,, she is a typical traditional Chinese lady and has what they call finial piety, which means respect for themselves and others,, well at least that my version,, it is more complex then that though.
Well the development is taken a turn,, from helping someone in need,, to someone who wants the relationship to run it's course, she has said some lovely words regarding the help I gave her and how she cannot stop think how kink I was and that she would like to take it further ?????? !!!!!!
So it turns out that she has taken a shine to me,, and I must admit seeing that I am halfway through a divorce,, I kinda want to too,, she is a very attractive lady, and seems to be sincere in her needs and having talked and expressed our likes and dislikes, it would seem we want the same things from life,, now I have to be careful as my emotions are on the floor and it would be too easy to make yet another mistake.
I have told her that I am dealing with a divorce and it could be difficult, but she has said she will Waite for me, but not forever.
She will not allow me to see her until my divorce is finalised, as her friends and relatives will condemn her, this is their culture, and I respect this. Some of you will know I have a place in my heart for China, and it's women I think are stunning, so we will continue to write in secret and find out more about each other.
We have arranged for me to visit her in China in the Autumn, probably sometime in October, I will get a 3 month visa and stay as long as she wants me there or the visa runs out, we should know by then if we be good together,, and sitting here is hard, as writing about it make's me want to go NOW.
Running on Empty,,,,,
Frozen food was some pork chops, peas, beans and fish fingers, so guess what I had for dinner that night, fish fingers was a loss as they were flattened, so it's peas and beans for the next few day's,, I don't care about the food,, the reward of spending time with this delightful lady was well worth it.
Now I have had a really bad time emotionally with my wife and I cannot get her to respond to requests regarding her behaviour, 3 years of hell has bought me to a situation where I have no choice but divorce her, I am 69 that means my future lifespan is limited, so it's time for me to be selfish, so I am going to chase any happiness I can get, and if it means going to China to meet a lady who can give me the happiness I want, then I'M off.
Do you have a separate blog R.O.E. or do you mean writing here ????
Dan
Good morning mate,, or at least it is here,, My education as in school was a poor experience, I left with no qulis at all, I have had to fight hard for what I have, and I am proud of what I have achieved, Considering I came bottom of class in everything, I think I have done well, my English was bad, I could hardly put 3 words together when I left school.
My dad got me a job with a builder as an apprentice carpenter, and I was put with a total artist as far as wood was concerned, he was both deaf and dumb, and it took me 6 months to learn how to communicate with him, he was a hard taskmaster but a lovely man, he taught me more about myself and calculations, English and many other life skill then the whole time at school,.
Later in Life after a bad injury to my back, another friend helped me get a job in teaching, or I should say forced, as I was reluctant to apply through lack of confidence, so unbeknown to me , he applied for the job for me,, he knew the training centre very well through his work,, the first I knew of it was an invitation to an interview, after that I found out there were 37 applicants, so I was happy in the knowledge that I would not get it, huh, no chance,, could I start on the following week, my god I was terrified, and it was 2 weeks after my start that I had my first students, that my friend was the best thing that happened to me,, it gave me confidence, and esteem, I then quickly ended up in uni to get my degree in teaching, and then a Phd,
The moral of this story, and something I strongly believe in is, NEVER GIVE UP, if I can pull myself up the ranks, then anyone can.
To answer your question is yes I do enjoy writing, now, my grammar is not wonderful, but I find I can express myself better writing a letter that trying to explain to people, as I find many people have not got the skill of listening, they hear, but they don't listen what is actually said, and then you get misinterpretation, that's life I guess,, best wishes.
Yes, Badger, just email me a blog post about a subject of your choosing and I will discuss it with you that way. You can suggest pictures and music too, on the theme of the post. I correct spelling and grammar, put in paragraphs, etc at a basic level, so don't worry about that.
I would suggest the Chinese serialised story, that you posted earlier this year to the private group. I would run it as a series too. You could put some pics from the trip.
However you can write about just about anything as long as it's in the rules of the site.
The Chinese story looks like it's already becoming serialised in these comments :)
Glad to hear it's developing nicely.
No, a completely different Chinese story from previously.
O.K it's a monsoon out there today,, supposed to be summer, its bucketing down so no work in the garden,, so sorry but as a request has been put forward I will surcome.
China, what an amazing place,, I was captivated when I was at school, probably the only subject that inspired me, like another contributor here, my life at school sucked,, to use a modern term,,, but it was no good for me, that can be another story later.
One of the things I was required to do was a project involving a manufacturing process, we had 3 weeks in which to complete it, it started slow,, like my brain, just could not think of a subject that I had knowledge of,, the teacher was not best pleased that at the end of the allotted time I got zero marks, had no work, but he did show his appreciation, he gave me 500 lines as a gift, and a ruler across the knuckles five times,, this of course spurred me into activity, Mum wanted to know how I got the injury, and why I had 500 lines, ( those that don't know what 500 line's are,, you have to write out a sentence related to your crime 500 times ) when she found out she called dad from the garden and showed him, he went ballistic, ( not his fault,, another story ) he marched me to the teachers house, and confronted him, but got no satisfactory answer, but he did get a sneer,, I blinked and missed the action, the teacher was laying on the floor spark out, boy did I get some satisfaction from that.
I was a little nervous seeing him for my next lesson, but he was really nice and encouraged me to try my project again, I think it was a ploy to occupy me while the rest of the class progressed onto other work that baffled me,, so I went to the library and found this book on China, and was mesmerised, and spent hours trying to read it,, no not in Chinese,, in English,, my reading ability and maths was shocking for a boy of 14,, but this book had my attention and I produced a project based on China tea, it was mainly a large sheet of cardboard with a pictorial display of the tea growing process, with a scribble which I told them was writing, that interest gave me a impetus to start to discover other educational needs.
So life go's on and progress was made, a family was grown and dispersed, a few hiccups along the way and we arrive at 2010, I have nearly completed my house construction, and moved in, no plaster, no heating, no refinement, just a building site,, but it was mine, along come the winter of 2009-2010 Christmas, on my own cooking Christmas dinner on a makeshift cooker, in the kitchen???? well a bucket for washing up, and a gifted cooker was O.K. I managed,, but it was bl£$y cold, it was minus 18 degrees outside, and minus 8 indoors,, just shows you what good levels of insulation doe's for you.
Along comes summer of 2010 and I feel like a holiday the house has been plastered and a lot of other things have been completed, and I needed a break, I had my computer up and running and was searching for a holiday destination, while I had forgotten about china, it did not occur to me to look that far away until I saw an advert for a dating site for Chinese women, so I am a man, I was curious, so in I go and looked,, umm tasty I thought, but it was obvious that it was a bit of a scam, but not deterred, I chose another site, and thought I would leave a profile, 14 years living alone, I thought I could combine a holiday and a date at the same time, I met a delightful lady, and we seemed to have much in common, so no commitment, off I went to China.
Having never been in a plane, and not afraid, but very excited, I arrived at Heathrow airport, big buzz as many people very excited, stressed and many just confused, I was in plenty of time so I went and had lunch,, later when the gate opened I made my way to the plane, the butterfly's in my stomach was mounting, I was fit to burst,, up the steps and into the aircraft to be greeted by lovely smiling faces, I find my seat and look around, very nice and a bit plush,, screen on the chair in front of me, a window seat and not a soul beside me,heaven,, then came the safety announcements, and a short time later we start moving, taxing towards the runway, we take our turn and arrive at the start, now I love fast cars and there accretion,, and of course I did not know what to expect, then off we went down the runway, j e s u s, c h r i s t WOW what a thrill, I just love that feeling of Power,, off the ground and up into the air,, I had tears of joy, and recounting this, I have them again.
Well after the excitement of taking off we are up in the clouds and then above them, it was sereal, so beautiful and somehow, heavenly, now I start to fiddle with the gadget in front of me, oh my god, I can watch many films, play music and go on the internet,, I think I will leave that one,, so it was music and films all the way, interrupted by lunch,afternoon tea, Dinner, and a snack late in the evening,, then some sleep,, next morning, it was breakfast, every meal was lovely and was enough to sustain you, the crew were incredible, and made sure that your every need was catered for, 18 hours,, how on earth doe's a plane carry enough fuel and all those passengers and baggage, all that way and stay in the air,, absolutely incredible.
By this time I am getting a bit restless, I'm a bit fed up of sitting down, then we get the announcement that we are approaching Hong Kong and as we come down for landing the levels of excitement starts to build again, looking out the window I can see all the skyscrapers and buildings packed close together, we circle around the city and begin our final decent, until touchdown,, we are on tera firma.
We are guided from the plane into the entrance, I am looking around in excitement with the knowledge that this young lady was waiting for me, or at least I hope she was, then it struck me,,, what if she wasn't, never gave it a thought, still I can sort that if it happens. Entering the building, still looking around I noticed a number of people standing with placards of passenger names, I did not take any notice as I knew where I was supposed to go to get my internal flight into the Centre of China, so I was looking for the channel to allow me to proceed to my next flight, then my subconscious came into play and I was aware that I needed to look behind me, there it was my name on a placard being held by a pretty Chinese lady, I told her that I was the person she was looking for and she said we must hurry as my connecting flight is soon, so we ran through the crowds, rushed through a huge crowd of people waiting to go through security, my passport was quickly checked and through we went, out of breath, the poor girl was scarlet in colour, she told me to wait and went to her desk, a few minutes later she came back and apologised, as my plane had been delayed, and would be an hour late,, well at least I was in the right place and did not have to wait in the que at security.
While I was waiting I strolled around the airport, a beautiful modern building, ultra clean and extremely efficient, keeping an eye on the arrivals board until at last in it came, so through the boarding gate and onto the smaller plane, greeted by smiling faces again, and off we go for a 2 hour flight to Wuhan, in the centre of China, no sooner in the air and I get a second breakfast, wow, This time there are no clouds and of course we are at a lower altitude, so I can see the landscape and villages and towns we pass over, we land, then I had a start, what about my luggage on the other plane, my god I did not collect it,, so off to the information desk to tell them my problem,, I could see it was amusing to them, and they explained it would have been transferred and I should go to the collection point and pick it up, I travelled lite, with only one bag as I knew I had limited weight allowance and I might want to bring back some items.
So I join the queue at the security and wait my turn,, now only 3/4 of an hour late I am thinking if she would still be here waiting, my mind is working overtime, when I arrive at the booth to show my passport,, the man in the booth looked at me, I smiled at him to try to encourage him to let me through,, his gaze went to my passport and then his computer screen, he picked up his phone and within half a Minuit I had a soldier guiding me to a chair near some offices, he gestured me to sit, and stood by me as a guard, his manned was very professional and calm, and I felt no threat, I noticed how smart he was in his uniform, I waited for 15 minuets, and an official came out and gave me my passport and was very polite and apologised for the delay and that I could proceed on my journey, I was so impressed by the method of this process, so polite and professional.
I recounted my experience at school with the project and wanted to see a tea garden while I was here, also I had been told of some negative things about the food and the animal care here, but I was going to keep an open mind and judge what I experience.
So passport safely stowed away, baggage in hand, or at least being pulled behind me off I go to the arrivals lounge.
Sorry next instalment soon, gotta eat
Well when I arrived in the arrivals hall it was a sea of Chinese faces, but no sooner had I come through the barrier then out she popped from the crowd, with her was another women, turs out to an interpreter from the dating agency, she offered her services to get us acquainted, so a nice little handshake and we were off to the waiting taxi, we arrive at the hotel where I was to stay for the next month, they negotiated a nice price for my stay and we went to my room to have a chat and settle in, her English was quite good, but a few phrases were lost, so she bought a handy little gadget that you can type in your sentence and it translated it into her language and visa versa, really handy and helped a lot as well as causing a few laughs.
In the afternoon we got a taxi to a local lake and punted across to an Island, where there was several activities happening, one was karaoke, she sang really well and sat on a bench and I was going to sit next to her but found out that I would have to pay more money to do that ???? we returned to the town and went for a walk and got some food,, now this was interesting as none of the food I had in China resembled anything we have as "Chinese food" here in Europe, very different and much better, better flavours, and more spicy. When you enter the restaurant you are greeted by lovely young girls who show you to your table, they give you a menu which has photos of the meals that they have, so it was easy to work out what to have, the waitress brings a pot of hot water and your cutlery and dishes all shrink wrapped in clear plastic, the Idea being, very hygienic,, so you rinse all the bowls in the water and discard the dirty water, now you are ready to eat, the rest of the water is used for tea, most places have a burner at the table to keep everything hot.
It felt all very civilised to me, the cleanliness was very high, families were out every night with the children and sat at round tables, this is so everyone is facing each other, unlike us who sit on long tables where we find it difficult to communicate.
During my Time there I saw no cruelty, yes there were chickens in cages and fish in fish tanks, you chose which you wanted and off it went to the kitchen, fresh, and delicious Some people take exception to this, but it is no different than anywhere else ,, the chicken is dispatched out of sight, and we eat it.
One restaurant we went too had a conveyer belt running along the counter top with dishes of uncooked food, meat, and vegetables, you learned what you wanted and cooked it yourself on a small burner shared between two people as you sat at the counter Was novel and great fun and when it came to paying, they counted how many dishes and charged for each one ,,, easy. I must say I was really liking this women, she was very beautiful and worked as a acupuncturist, she had permission From her boss to have time off to accompany me for the whole month, except 2 days she had to work.
We went everywhere in a taxi, and visited many places, far to many to write about here, but I will share some, like the foot massages, wow that hurt, but at the same time calming, and when it finished it was like walking On air, a whole hour for both feet
Then there was the day she took me to the other side of the Yangzi river, under the tunnel, in chaotic traffic, boy, was that something else ,, it appears there are no rules, drivers weaving in and out, pulling out into the Path of oncoming traffic and hooting their horns at each other, and while all all this was going on the thousands of totots and cycles and scooters were on both sides see towards you ,, total madness, but we never saw a single accident, on the other Side of the river we stopped on a road, and entered a building only to be greeted by two of the most beautiful young women I had ever seen, they mixed us and directed us to the counter where my lady talked in her native language while I Appreciate confection the room, it was vey plush with mood lighting and classy, I had no Idea what this place was, but my brain was telling me it might be a, well you know what I am thinking, This room it had 2 lovely armchairs, a table in between, a tv on the wall and Again very plush ,, not a word was spoken by my friend, just a look of satisfaction on her face, so after 10 minuets in walks a young girl with tea and a huge plate of watermelon and promptly puts them on the table, bows to Me and walks out, I was told to help myself to watermelon as she poured me some tea, well we relaxed, or at least she did as I was a bit nervous of what was about to happen, then when I finished the tea, in Comes some more, plus a women of about 25 ish she was carrying a bowl of warm, eh, water with as I found out later were herbs and spices, she put it down and very gracefully knelt on the floor and proceed to take my shoes Off, myself is a snake, but was told to relax and let the girl do what she needed too, so off come my shoes and socks, the bowl of liquid was put under my feet and oh so very gently my feet Were placed in the bowl, the girl went out of the room and in successed, I was told to sit on the edge of the seat and she started to massage My head, now it dawns on me what this place is ,, what a dumbo ,, you would have thought I would have caught on before now ,,, so I relax and the girl went from my head to my ears, my forehead, Eyebrows, back of my neck and shoulders, so that's another another time gone, off she go's and its time for more tea and melon, after which I get a back massage then thighs, calves, and there is nothing left unworked ,, NO DON ' T GO THERE !!! 4 hours of complete bliss, having never had a massage before it was a wonderful experience,
I had 3 others while I was in china,, anyway, off to the counter to pay, oh Christ what is this going to cost me, and of course my girl had the same treatment, so I started to think at home a half hour session would cost around 60-70 Euro just for a back massage, well I was waiting for the bombshell and the lady showed me the figures on the calculator and I was stunned, so I said "have you made a mistake" the girl was offended, so my lady friend spoke to me, and then to her and explained I thought it was too cheap, not too dear, the girl laughed and everything was good,, how much, well for both of us, it worked out for everything at 17 Euros each,, wow what a bargain.
Now I have just noticed that although I read the text before uploading and all was correct, it would appear some words have gone missing, I am sorry but I am sure you can work it out.
Well life could not get any better, this was all that I hoped it would be.
Daytimes was bliss, waking up early to the noise of traders getting their shop's open and stallholders getting their wares ready plus the stalls for breakfast, mainly noodles, next to the hotel men were pulling computers apart for recycling, and next to that a dentist where you could see from the street patients being worked on, this was the same for the foot massage, everybody could see what was going on.
China is very different to our culture and as soon as you can accept that this is the norm here, everything fits, it is fascinating.
In the evening we would walk the nightime street markets, little stalls selling mainly stuff for women, bags, scarves, makeup, jewellery, etc as well as services like decorated nails, hairdressing,, it is just a hive of activity, then of course there are stalls selling all types of food, and the aroma was lovely.
I felt good, at 5'6" I was taller then most and because it was so crowded we were in close contact, and I never smelt any body odour, only sweet and subtle scents, these people were clean and beautifully dressed.
On Sundays, all the young people took their parents shopping or for a stroll through the park where people were exercising, playing instruments, playing a variety of games and of course relaxing, the atmosphere was fantastic, everything is built around the family.
Other then fashion shop's, most others like phone and hi-fi shops were grouped in districts, so all the t.v. shops would be together in one street and likewise the hi-fi shop's would be together in another street, and boy,, you can select from 40-70 different sellers, makes for easier shopping if you are after a particular thing.
The Chinese working class have a simple life, their homes are basic, but clean in the most part, they are happy and are very friendly, if they earn a reasonable amount, they eat dinner with the family at a restaurant, everything is geared to eating out and enjoying the company of family and friends.
We went out with her friends, to a huge building in a even huger car park, on the building was a single door, no windows, just a huge box,
Having entered through this door we are in a small room with doors for 3 sets of escalators, in we get to the fifth floor, the doors open and you are in another world, this is bigger than an aircraft hanger, it is huge, and full of pod's, small soundproof rooms about 15'x 10' complete with armchairs, table, a huge t.v. on the wall and a very high spec, karaoke system, in 36 languages, trouble is, there was only 132 of theses pod's, and it was packed with people, in we go and one of her friend went off to get some goodies and came back with whisky and a variety of drinks, followed by another guy with water melon and other picky food, here we spent the whole evening trying to sing, they were good,, then it was my turn, and I am not, but I give it a go, they selected the song to the film "titanic" in English" they were so polite, we danced and just had fun, the language was not a barrier as we all knew how to express ourselves, just bloody marvellous.
On the way home I wanted to pay towards the evening, and knowing how cheap China is, I would have paid for everybody, but they refused, I was their guest, and they were happy I enjoyed myself, I was told later that if I insisted to pay, her friends would lose face and be insulted,, well its cheers to them.
Moe later, its off on a holiday within a holiday next
So, two weeks have passed and she asks if I would like to go to Beijing to see the usual tourist things like the summer palace, "yes" said I, so we went to a travel agent and booked a sleeper to Beijing,, on a bullet train,, it left on time to the second, and it arrived 10 hours later, dead on time, in-between, we slept in 3 high bunk sections with no doors, comfortable but basic,, lots of snoring but I did get some sleep,, this was my first experience of the "squatting" toilet, a porcelain hole in the floor, very awkward for a man especially if you have never used one before.
We arrive at 7.am and are whisked to our hotel, and immediately off on our first visit, the summer palace, the next day, the forbidden palace, 3rd day Tiananmen square and chairman Mao's tomb, 4th day the great wall,, wow it just blows the mind how beautiful the buildings and the carving are, there is so much to see.
At Tiananmen square, we arrived at 6.00 am,, we had to line up between two white lines, wide enough for 3 people that weaved all around the square, by 9.00 the square was full, and these lines were strictly kept in order by soldiers,, you were not allowed to leave the queue, or step outside of the lines or a soldier would come and push you back in, 3hours of waiting, was very cold, but by 9.00 we started to move,, thank god we were the first coach load to line up, as we entered the building where the tomb was we had to go through security, I was one of only 3 Europeans, and the security pulled us from the queue and frisked us,, again there was no threat, just firmness, very polite, and professional, and a handshake, then they put us back in the queue where we came from, even though it was 100 yards away.
We entered the room of the tomb, it was very bright, warm and somba, in the middle of this room the sixe of an aircraft hanger and very tall, was a glass box the size of a house and must have been, 15' high, all the glass and in fact the whole room was impeccably clean, in the centre within the glass box was Mao, laying in his coffin,, I suspect it was a dummy, but it might have been him,, we filed past in an orderly fashion and everybody was able to see, at the top and the bottom of the coffin stood six soldiers at each end, immaculately dressed in their uniform, soldiers guard this tomb day and night, leaving the building you emerge into the open and back in the square, we had time to walk around and look at the memorials to the massacre in the square of a few years ago,, just so sad.
Well our five day trip came to an end and it was back on the train and back to my hotel in Wuhan,,
Having arrived back to Wuhan I had another 5 days to go before I had to leave China, so some more visits, taxi rides, eating lots of food and fruit it came to the time I had to think what I am going to say to this lovely women who had stolen my heart, we spent so much time together and had a lot of fun and enjoyed each others company, I believe she wanted more, but being a traditional Chinese women was waiting for me to broach the subject of a stronger relationship, I had spent a whole month with this women, EXCEPT NIGHTS as she had a mother to cook and look after, she said she wanted me in her life and I wanted her, she also said "as long as she is with the one she loves she did not care where she lived",,, and suggested that she would come to Ireland,,, well this is where I felt so bad, a real cad, and to this day I feel guilty as hell, but I could see that this lovely women had a mum to look after as there was no one else to do that,, she had many lovely friends who adored her,, and she loved her city,,, how could I take her away from all this ? and if she came to Ireland how would she cope with the remoteness, the silence, not seeing anybody from one end of the week to the next,, I just could not subject her to this lifestyle, it would not be fair,, it would be like locking her in a prison,, the time came for me to leave and I could see her face and eyes were asking for a solution,, but I did not offer one, instead I made a feeble excuse, with no promises,,,, and left.
Now, I have a second opportunity to go to china and this new women is getting serious,, and I feel flattered,, but my previous experience is making me wary,, I do not want to give this women a false impression or lead her to think I want more, which I do, but I do not know her well enough to give her the answers she is looking for, so we communicate via e-mail and a form of skype with a video link, so we can see each other,, I have agreed to go to China as soon as my divorce is finalised, not before as I am still loyal to my oaths when I got married and of course in China if she was to have an affair before I was divorced then her friends and family would disown her,, so we will wait, and talk, and say nice things to each other,, then when I go to china we will see if we are compatible, and who knows,, the way I feel now,, I might just stay.
God bless,, and if you have read my story all the way through,,, then thank you, I hope you enjoyed it.
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