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Looking Back to China

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The other day I came across this letter to my old friend and colleague, Mark Slade. I wrote this letter back in 2013, just as we were making the move from Qatar to China. Oh, those were the days! Dear Mark, It is always marvellous it was to receive any news from you, old fellow, but I think that you have been a bit busy recently and so you have not been able to write a proper and detailed account of your latest foreign adventures. Well, we have also been rather preoccupied with all of our problems recently, so it was great to read your comments on FB the other day. And at last I have your e-mail address! I was amused when I first thought that you might be going to the same school that I was at a few years ago, the British School of Al Rehab. Yes, it is true that Al Rehab is a long way from Tahrir Square and for most Egyptians life just goes on as normal. Perhaps that is a bit optimistic, as the truth of the matter is that all of the political troubles have had a very serious impact on
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Happy 29th

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After our exhausting exposure to the international media, Irena and I went for a pleasant lunch in Elena for our 29th wedding anniversary. We have had lunch in the outside seating area a couple of times, but the inside bit is actually much nicer.  As usual, I had some schkembe chorba (that is tripe soup, if you have trouble finding your way around a Bulgarian menu). Then we had some skara (Bulgarian barbecued things) and the real stars were the cheesy stuffed peppers.  After lunch, we went for a little wander around Elena and we visited a rather interesting and quaint three-hundred-year-old timber-framed house cum museum. In the garden there were some pear trees full of fruit, with more lying on the ground, so we took some pears back to Daveri.    
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You're a TV Star!

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Well, not really. After the article in The Daily Mail , I was contacted by a reporter for a Bulgarian TV company, who wanted to interview me at Daveri. I think that our interview with Novinite news channel went quite well, even though Tina rolled over and showed her tummy. What an embarrassing doggie! If you really have nothing better to do and you would like to watch the whole thing, click here .
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A Reply for Markoi

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Dear Markoi,                       Tuesday, 22nd October Who is this amazingly handsome and good-looking young fellow, whose photo you have sent to me? Obviously this seventeen-year-old aquatic Adonis is no relation of yours. At LWC, aka the London Water Closet, I do remember the one and only Mint, Mr Merriman, coming up to me and saying, “Your brother has the body of a young Greek god!” Andy, aka The Sheep, has had several crime novels published and he does not seem to have made any money out of them. I only read the first one,  Dead Drift , and it really was quite well written. In the book there was a “blurb” about Andy’s CV (or resume, as you Americans call it) and that was an even greater work of fiction. As for me, I do not have any photos of my son or daughter playing water polo, so I am sending you a few pictures of Tina, our very fat and naughty Jack Russell. My dear wife says that Tina is lazy, greedy, and disobedient. Well, I think that she was talking about Tina. You did not
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A Letter from Markoi

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Simon!  WONDERFUL to hear from you. What a terrific spread in the Mail! Bulgarian nation PR should put you on salary. Well done! You and your lovely wife are very photogenic. Well, she is, and you sort of fit in as vaguely acceptable.  Yes, LOTS of kid-related responsibilities do absorb most of my time. My oldest, Lucas, is now 17. He has his learner's drivers license. Scary. He is on the Brentwood waterpolo team, either as goalie or striker (center forward). He's 6'-2" with a wingspan of 6'-5" which seems a little unfair for his age group.  I'll send a short video clip of him playing and a photo or two of him. My youngest, Calum, is now 14 and 5'-9". He plays American Football, as kicker, and sometimes, as running back. He also plays soccer on two teams, one of which I coach (Santa Monica's Boys Under 16), the other a club  team, the Los Angeles Bulls. I'll send some pics of him, too.  My wife, Sewit ("Sir Wheat"), are blessed w
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No Comment

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Even though no one ever bothers to write any comments on my blog, my article for The Daily Mail attracted more than 700 hundred comments. As might be expected, most of these comments did not have much in the way of punctuation, correct spelling, common sense or anything else, but a few of them were quite witty and perceptive.  As usual my comments are in italics and I have added some photos that were taken by my old friend Peter, when he came to stay with us in the summer. Let's start with this rather sad comment. I loved where we live, but the town is increasingly being built on. We can’t get a doctor’s or dentist’s appointment and the roads are gridlocked. Everyone is miserable, but I think that other countries have their own similar issues. Here is a rather different perspective from Kent.  It’s all OK when you are fit and well, but if you become unwell, requiring family and social support, then that changes everything After twenty years, if you decide to return to the UK, y
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Ott

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More years ago than I care to remember, I was teaching at The British School of Bucharest. In my Year 5 class was a young lady called Ottilie, although this inevitably became shortened to "Ott". In one of their English lessons, we were trying to write some extra verses for Edward Lear's The Akond of Swat , so Ottlie's abbreviated name came in very handy! Here is a photo of the young lady in question, looking rather shocked and wondering, "Who is this weird man? Please don't tell me that he is my new teacher!" The other day I was so pleased to her from Sophie. Ottlie's Mum. (Does "Mum" really deserve a capital letter? Well, Sophie certainly deserves a capital M because she was a star and helped my class a lot when we were baking lots of bread and cakes.)
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