JP's Corner of The Blogosphere

I have just been perusing the BBC News Page, and there is a headline which reads “Outrage leads to bikini wax ban being ditched.” Obviously I am intrigued, but the link is apparently broken, and I am none the wiser. Do you think that someone at the BBC is having a laugh, or is there really bikini wax related outrage somewhere in the world at this point in time?

As everybody knows, if you are going to grow something, it is a good idea to plant some seeds. There didn’t seem to be that many seeds in the packet, and extracting them from the sides of the plastic bag they came in was easier said than done.  No wonder the packet says that this is a ‘More Care’ plant. The seeds were also very small (with woodchip on the wall), but I’m fairly optimistic that at least two were planted.  The final step in the beginning of the project was placing the pot in a clear plastic bag and putting it in the fridge.  The photographic evidence hopefully shows that I managed this. According to the instructions, the pot should remain here for approximately four weeks, but it could be six to eight weeks before seedlings appear.  Presumably the wait will be a bit longer if I didn’t actually plant anything, but we live in hope. Do come back again soon for more shots of the compost filled pot in the fridge.  

  As you might have gathered from the previous post, the first step to growing your own Insect Watertrap is to place a tablet of compost in to a cup of water and wait for it to swell up.  The lack of drama was disappointing, but after a short while there was some evidence of swelling – as you can see in the first photograph. With hindsight I possibly should have had a bit more patience and waited a bit longer, but me being me I moved on to the next instruction: “when [the tablet] is fully saturated, crumble it into the pot until full.” This was more challenging than you might have reasonably thought, as demonstrated by the second photograph.  The tablet did not crumble easily at first.  It appeared to have an outer layer much like a teabag, the remains of which can be seen on the table between the cup and the pot.  If you look closely, you will see that I had to hurriedly place the pot on a saucer, and there was a great deal of what one m...

Peering in from the edge of the Blogosphere, there is much to be excited about as I finally embark on my Great Insect WaterTrap Project.  The first post has a new acronym and a video. Unfortunately, if you view the video, you might be inclined to say that it’s all downhill from here.  The instructions on the back of the packet begin with “ Put the tablet of compressed compost in a cup filled one-third with water.  The tablet will swell up…” As the video shows, I did I was told (although my one-third might have been a bit approximate).  Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed by the lack of drama and swelling of the tablet.  If you found the video to be a bit of a let down you will know what I mean.  

In true JP style, I’m at least a week late wading in to the fray, but I can’t resist passing comment on the recent saga about Fred Goodwin and his pension. Don’t get me wrong, I do think that £700,000 is a lot of money and can well understand the resentment felt by many; especially at a time when it contrasts markedly with the financial situation many find themselves in.  However, I am not going to put my flag in the camp which is there asking for him to give it up. I have several reasons for this, and I am going to start with considering how the pension fund is built up.  Most company pension schemes – and I would imagine this includes RBS – work on the principle that an agreed amount is paid in to a fund whilst the employee is contracted to work for the company.  When the employee retires or leaves the company, the pension fund will have accumulated a value accordingly.  The amount paid in to the pension fund is not performance related.  If an employee...

A while back now, (on a very cold January day, I recall) I went to a zoo.  In fact, in recent years I’ve been to several zoos, but in the shop at this particular zoo (somewhere near Cambridge) I found a package marked “Grow Your Own Insect Watertrap”.  Attracted by the prospect of a new horticultural challenge, and the cool ‘EATS INSECTS’ label, I made a purchase.   As it turns out, I needn’t have gone all the way to the cold zoo somewhere near Cambridge because the address on the back of the packet tells me that the supplying company is just 2 miles from my house.  You live and learn.   Anyway, for various reasons I’ve not yet got around to embarking on the project.  I think possibly I was subconsciously scared by the fact that on the scale of things this Insect Watertrap has ‘More Care’ label, but my excuses include a lack of time, and “not being the right time of year”.   But now it is the right time of year, and I am going to postpon...

As I mentioned in a previous post, I very much enjoyed going to church in Shanghai .   Predictably, I didn’t allow enough time to cross the city and was a bit late.  When I got there I was initially turned away because the room was packed out.  I explained that I was unable to attend either of the afternoon services and managed to wangle my way in – where I had to squeeze up against the back wall because the room was so full.  Almost every bit of floor space and wall space was occupied.  The service I went to, at the hotel in Hong Qiao, has only been running for a few months and yet is already so popular that plans are afoot to start a second morning service to cater for demand.  This growth – despite some of the restrictions which seem to be in place – is certainly something to be thankful for.

I was in Shanghai for Chinese New Year, and noticed that in the more Westernised areas the “Happy New Year” decorations often included references to Christmas.  Indeed, on at least one occasion my lunch was accompanied by a rendition of “Silent Night” and other such carols.   I would imagine that this is because there is little concept of what Christmas actually is.  Perhaps we take it for granted in the UK that most people have at least a basic understanding of the significance behind some of the celebrations.  In China, however,  I get the impression that “Christmas” is just viewed as part of our New Year celebrations.    There are evidently many, many people who have never heard the good news of Jesus Christ, and who know nothing about the hope which faith in him brings.  One presumes that Observations One and Two are to some extent responsible for this.

I found an English speaking church in Shanghai, and I very much enjoyed it (more on that later).    However, I’m not sure that the local regulations, which dictate that the  “international English Service is open to foreign passport holders only” reflect the idea of religious freedom that the Chinese authorities might claim exists.

Before I went to Shanghai, I was quite intrigued to know what life would be like behind the Great fireWall of China.  Were there really restrictions on Freedom of Speech?  Would I be able to blog? Would I be able to get the BBC News Page?  The limited amount of research I did suggested that although things had at one time been quite restrictive things were now opening up.    At first glance, my experience tied in with this idea.  I can’t compare it with life before the Beijing Olympics, but it is said that things have improved since then.  One of the restrictions I read about was about not being able to comment on blogs, but as I surfed from Shanghai I encountered no such limitations.  I could blog and comment.  I could get my fix of the BBC News Page.  Steve Zodiac could get his fix of Facebook (before he got his comeuppance, of course).   Interestingly, however, www.biblegateway.com was apparently suffering problems and I...

It's perhaps inevitable that life immediately after a period of travelling is going to seem comparatively dull. But a couple of instances this week have made me wonder if things are worse than I realised.   Firstly, I was in the canteen on Monday lunchtime having the usual "how was your weekend?" banter with my colleagues. On this occasion, come to think of it, banter is probably the wrong word, because the initial conversation consisted of little more than the odd mediocre "meh". I then chipped in with "I bought some new cycling shoes on Saturday!" This wasn't a word of a lie; I am the proud owner of some new cycling shoes*. However, the reaction I got implied that if that was all I had to say about my weekend** then my life must be monumentally dull. Incidentally, as a bloke I am well aware that getting excited about shoes (even those with a purpose) is Not The Done Thing, but everyone makes mistakes.   Then yesterday, I was chatting t...

Did anyone actually miss me?

I'll spare you the details, but let's just say that I'm unhappy with the fact my last two bills have been very spurious and very wrong and that all the Customer Services have managed so far is a set of stock emails explaining that paper billing has been activated on my account. I don't care whether I see the bill online or on A4 paper-excessive money has still been disappearing from my account.

Cheers.

Given the continuing absence from Facebook, I'm experimenting with blog post titles as a way of sharing my status with the world. If you've missed it when I pop up on your mini-feed with the odd observation or cryptic take on the way I feel then you may now rejoice that all has not been lost.

Last Thursday, I updated my Facebook status.  It was something about visiting the Hang Yan Fu Wu Bu for an ice-cream break.  For those people who stalk me on Facebook but otherwise have little contact with me these days, that was the last they will have heard.  Later that evening, I attempted to log in again, and received a message explaining that my account had been disabled by an administrator. "Shurely there'sh been a mishtake" I thought to myself, before sending an appropriate email to the appeal address I was given. But then later on, as I lay in my window ledge bath and gazed out over the Shanghai skyline it dawned on me. Some time back, and for no really good reason that I can now think of, I may just have updated my details to include "Steve Zodiac" as a former name. Oh dear. So, over a week later, and I'm still Facebook Disabled - with all sorts of mixed feelings as a result. Part of me is very disappointed.  I've evidently completel...

Picking up on Starkey's comment about "China Rail" I thought I would post this video of the Shanghai Maglev, which I took on my way to work last week. This isn't one of these "London to Brighton in 5 minutes" high speed videos, it's real-time footage.  Believe it or not, however, I covered 30km. Compare this to Southern Railway, where my 21km commute takes over half an hour.  Even off-peak, the Shanghai Maglev is cheaper and I'm pretty sure that if it did snow here it wouldn't come grinding to a halt. It makes you wonder where it all goes wrong in the UK, though on the plus side I do get a free paper and time in which to read it.  You've got to love the Metro.* >> *and thelondonpaper, of course.  No commute home should normally be complete without random photographs of the lovely Kelly Brook.

You might be pleased to know that the BBC News page hasn't entirely slipped from my radar, and I picked up on this saga earlier from my Oriental vantage point. I was particularly intruiged by this comment: "Most people here are proud that the prime minister is a Scot and believe him to be the right person to get the UK through this global economic crisis." Most people where, exactly?  Not anywhere in my vicinity, that's for sure.

So go the lyrics of a rather catchy song.  I had spent a week in Shanghai wondering something similar actually, though in my head I was thinking of people in general and not just cowboys.  The part of town in which I am resident has been remarkably quiet for somewhere which is apparently home to 20million people. I know that it's been a bit of a holiday season out here, but even so it did feel a bit empty. At the weekend, however, I went downtown, and my questions were answered.  This is where everyone has been hiding.  All 20million of them.  Really.

So we've seen the view from my lofty vantage point, and I've talked about feeling sophisticated as I indulge myself over breakfast.  I even alluded to the fact that on some scale I might be "posh". Before I get too carried away with my delusions of grandeur, however, let's bring things back down to the ground floor and remind you what I've been eating for dinner on a fairly regular basis. All things considered, however, they have been surprisingly satisfying.