Jiaojiehe 2011 Epilogue

For convenience I have now grouped lifestyle illustrated features by topic:

This is a continuation of our "Jiaojiehe, The Final Curtain 2011" page intended for friends and other curious people to see something of the village and our house as we leave it for pastures new.

After the weekend with Yuehong's friends, she had to go back to Beijing to sort out some final business and I was left on my own. It was a beautiful morning so I climbed the nearest small hill which we had, I am ashamed to say, not been up for around five years! This is one of our man made ponds, it is on the right side in the middle of the panorama below:

As I said in the other page, this place is best viewed from a distance. Only those few of you who have been here will be able to pick our former residence, it's the one to the right of the more grand edifice above the platform over the fish farm pond. From this angle the red and blue steel roofs and the concrete are barely visible.

Some years ago, Yuehong came back from the garden centre with a pile of roses and a rather old and tired looking bushy creature which was unrecognisable as a honeysuckle. As a result it got planted in a totally unsuitable position, but it survived the necessary movement and now, at last, it is showing its true colours - the flowers are just starting now we are leaving, they turn from cream to yellow within a day of opening. Fortunately we have inherited a couple of these gorgeous creatures in Mitcheldean.

Those of you who have had a cat will know the mixture of feigned indifference and emotional blackmail exerted on people who desert their felines. Only in this case, despite appearances she is totally her own creature. we can't get within a metre of her unless we have a piece of choice filler steak in our hand and even then it will be grabbed and consumed at a safe distance.

She has greatly benefited from our emptying the contents of fridge and freezer over the last few days, so much so that she declined the usual breakfast bacon on offer:

Finally, our former #1 house as I would like to remember it in the future, taken from the wall with the peach tree cunningly concealing the increasingly small gaps in the lawn: