I’ve been back in China for a month now and I feel very much at home, especially since I’ve moved to the new flat near Central Park, I have started to go to the park after breakfast to do exercise, which consists of walking around the park and using some of the equipment of the park. My body has been a bit tired and a bit sore this week as it gets used to the new regime.

I’m always surprised by the amount of older Chinese that I see in the park, they are either part of a dancing group or they might be doing Tai Chi. Some are being taught some form of self defence , such as Tae Kwon Do. There are also many individuals all doing their own thing. Many older Chinese have the flexibility of a child and you will often see them stretching their legs almost up to head height. Many will walk around and clap their hands or hit part of their body as they stroll around the park. They do this to improve the circulation. Almost every part of the park is being used in some sort of fashion. I see the same faces most mornings and I have become friendly with an old bunch of guys that have come here for a long time. They certainly do not look like your typical older foreigner. Because the environment is safe and the crime rate is very low, the old and the young can mix happily in the park and don’t have to worry about anything other than doing their thing. It’s very different to many western countries.

also met a young girl there, well she’s 40, but we had seen each other at the Toastmasters a few weeks ago. We caught up for a chat after our workout and it turns out that she lives in the same complex as I do and so most mornings we will walk and talk as we walk back home. We even went out for lunch 🙂

I have been busy or I can be if I want to be. I have picked up a few lessons and yesterday I went for a demo class and the young girl has confirmed that we will meet once a week. I have one group of students I see once a fortnight and then I have 3 other individual students and so I only need to acquire another 5 hours or so a week to make life a bit easier.

I’m sharing the flat with Sissi and we will chat in the morning to help each other with our learning of each others language. Sissi is a quite a character and life is never dull. She runs an Airbnb and so she often has to go to meet guests or to clean the house after the guests have left. She has her routine in the morning where she will do Yoga and study most days. I also try to get into my study by reading my books but I still find this a very difficult thing to do.

I got a ticket to go and see the “Lord of the Dance” which is a spin off from Riverdance which was around last century. Michael Flatley’s name is still attached to this event and so his reputation is obviously carrying it a little. Now I would never have bought tickets to this show because I don’t mind watching a youtube video of this bizarre form of dancing where it looks as though the dancers leg is about to come off at any moment or even more disturbing the feeling you get when you see there legs flying around as if they are broken, but to sit through an entire show is another thing.

This show was also 2 hours long, I mean how long can you really flog a dead horse. It is impressive, the speed and precision of the dancers, their timing is amazing and the foot work is mesmerising………..but two hours. We had so many costume changes, I mean I lost count. Each time the male dancers, who I felt were better dancers but not so easy on the eye as the fine young ladies, would come out and do their thing and prance around and then they would finish with some heavy coordinated footwork. The rhythm and timing as I say was great and for two mins or more the audience was spellbound by the footwork.

This show was called “Dangerous Games” and it was about the “Lord Of the Dance”, the hero, and the other guy Mr Bionic wearing some kind of terminator gear fighting over the forest to be the best dancer………..or should I say the Lord of the Dance.

There was a young girl that was the guide or a creature of the forest and she got caught up in the fight, but she was a very good contemporary dancer and her style was very refreshing. The young women that came to dance were really prancing around a lot, but the dancing was not strong and at best I would say mediocre. When both sexes danced together they choreography was better. They were very pretty but the fake blond wigs looked really tragic, I don’t think there were many Irish lassies on stage last night. Most had those fake American style smiles that you see painted on and of course the Americans can do this really well.

There were two girl fiddler’s that played some good old fashioned Irish jigs and the second time they came on stage the whole ensemble joined them and that was good. There was also a singer that appeared 3 times and what a dreadful casting that was, mind you the material she was singing with was very week and so maybe it wasn’t all her fault.

So all in all I think if the performance had run for an hour, they had cut out the singer, there had been a lot less prancing around the stage. think I would have enjoyed it a lot more. But to put this all in perspective, the audience is Chinese and they are also amazed at by the young foreigner folk on the stage. They gave them a rousing reception. For them to see so many white females together was quite the spectacle. many would have never seen this kind of dancing before, I have. and so I think many people enjoyed it and I did see a kid walking out the auditorium trying to prance around like the eegits on stage, so you never know maybe in 10 years time she will be in Ireland doing her thang.

Last week on the BBC website there you were able to get an approximation on your BMI. I did the test and was pleasantly surprised to see that I’m not fat afterall, but then it all depends on what answers you give.

And so I think I was very honest and to this end you can’t call me a fat bastard 😆

So the other day ma heid wus nippin and a wusnae too sure why that wus so, and then I thought to masel maybe it’s gonny rain, ’cause ma Ma used to always say that her corn wus gein her jip and sure enough no lang efter it would rain and so I wus reminded of this the other day.

I had a lesson with Amy, one of my regular students and she said that she had been feeling unwell for a few days, she had been having really bad headaches. I told her that I too had been having a headache and wasn’t feeling 100%. My forehead was really sore and I felt that my sinuses were about to explode, which would not really be a good look.

I was then reminded about what my mother would say to us, she used to say that if the Corn on her big toe started to give her a bit of grief then it was going to rain. Even on the rare occasion that the sun did shine in Scotland for a few days then sure as the sun comes up in the morn it would rain and this is even if there was no rain predicted in the coming days. My Mum’s success rate for predicting rain was way better than Michael Fish.

Anyway back to Amy, later that night the rains came to Suzhou with a vengeance, the rain came pissing down and I should know because I got caught in it on the way home and got drookit. But Amy sent me a message to tell me that her headache had gone, when the rain started the pain went away. Spooky she said and she said that she did not want this “kind of magic” which I thought was great. I never thought of it as being magic before, but then this is the joy of the English language when someone with limited English can express themselves in such a simple but succinct way. And so I guess me Ma really did possess some supernatural powers.

Corns and calluses are hard, thickened areas of skin that form as a consequence of rubbing, friction, or pressure on the skin. Corns and calluses form on the feet and can make walking painful. … Corns generally occur on the tops and sides of the toes.

An amazing array of colours in this small Suzhou garden..

So this weekend is a holiday for all the workers and so they will have Monday and Tuesday off to celebrate but there is a catch, they have to work Saturday and Sunday. There’s no flies in this government 😆

For the passed few weeks I’ve gone down to the park where I have met a few old Chinese guys that do a workout that would put most folk to shame.

The oldest is 77 and the youngest is 68 I think. The use most of the gym equipment here and can do full body pull ups with hands facing either direction on the bar which is not easy. If you grab the bar with an open palm towards you then you will find this a lot easier than trying to grab the bar with an pen palm facing away, give it a try. Two of them, the oldest and the youngest can both do these pull ups. They do push ups, the do stretches which sees them having their legs up on the wall nearly at head height. The flexibility they have is quite amazing.

I just hope I’m as fit and mobile when I reach their age.

Got to love the free WiFi on the Suzhou buses, I’m currently listening to “The Old Grey Whistle Test”on the BBC Iplayer app. You have got to love technology……

For the last three mornings I have gone across to Central Park to do some exercise and to use the Monkey bars that they have there.

I’ve wanted to get back into a bit of exercise after what felt like a very fat winter in the UK. A week ago it felt like winter had returned but the last few days and in particular this morning, the sun has come out and it’s very pleasant. The sky is blue and there are very few clouds.

I go to the monkey bars and then do a quick circuit of the paths and then return to the bars once more. I’ll do three laps and by that time I’m unable to do another chin up and so I’ll come back to the flat for a shower. However I think I’m going to have to get up a bit earlier if it continues to warm up so quickly.