Back (sort of)

I am slowly recovering from my latest tour. I always like spending time in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen - and was pleased to be able to spend the weekend in Qingdao for the first time - but it was a bitch to have no free time, with every moment spent working, weekends included. The end result was worth it, but -

The high point was dinner with Martin, his wife Lynne and son Samuel, who should be more appropriately named 'WriggleFidget' - a perpetually curious, sociable young boy with a fascination for fans.

Books read (the only benefit of flying long-haul - well, that and listening to the Afro-Blues Quintet and early Funkadelic): 'Slaughterhouse Five' by the late, great, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. & 'Serve the People' by Yan Lianke.

Pining for: Rhodia pads (they're cheap, have brilliant paper for fountain pens...and could be my chosen alternative to Moleskine notebooks)