“Auld Lang Syne” is not Chinese !

Nor, for that matter, is “Herge’s Adventures of Tin-Tin”.

These little nuggets of information may not appear earth-shattering to you, but they did come as quite a surprise to Amanda.

“How ?”, you might ask…

“Look at your wife” (2) … The official wedding pictures

Well Amanda had a good day on Thursday… not only did the Official Wedding Photos arrive, but she got her new visa too. Yes, A full 2 year, multiple entry visa which gives her the freedom to come and go as she pleases.

Anyway, now you can see why I was so starry-eyed that day ….

My beautiful Amanda with her new husband

My beautiful little wife

Hello you ! .... Kiss ?

This is Amanda's favourite picture

Words fail me

Beautiful and happy

All pictures copyright A&TH

More wedding pics

Okay, so here are some more pictures of us on, or around, our wedding day.

The two of us at an office dinner	Getting ready to go in	Getting the paperwork done
Saluting the flag	Yes, Mr & Mrs !	Double Happy - Job done

The official photographers have said that they will need around 50 days to get the proper pictures ready.

I dread to think how much “air-brushing” they need to do of me …

“Look at your wife.”

Nervous moments

Double-checking

It's time for the rings

The photographer spoke in a monotone voice the whole time, and yet with a certainty that was apparent even though I could not understand a word that he said, except on the occasional times when he broke into his limited English. 

 

As the sessions continued I became more used to what was required of me, and gradually his utterances of “Sir” and a hand gesture became easier to understand.  He smiled and said “Oh yes!” more often.

 

All the while his assistant busied himself with the task of positioning us, our hands and our clothes. His favourite expression seemed to be “Okay, Sir, take a break” whenever my involvement in a sitting was complete.

 

Sometimes there was a degree of confusion but, on the whole, things went fairly smoothly. 

 

Amanda acted as translator for us, passing on the instructions from the pair of them, and the instruction I enjoyed hearing from her the most was “Look at your wife”.

 

 

I looked at the beautiful face so close to mine. 

 

I looked into the eyes of my Amanda who was radiant as I had never seen her before.

 

 

She was happy, delighted, and delightful. 

 

I looked into the eyes of my beautiful Amanda and wondered how life could ever be better than this.

 

Amanda in her 'Wedding Dress'

The waiting begins

Amanda in The Man In The Rock

Amanda on a sightseeing bus in Edinburgh

I arrived home this morning having taken Amanda to the airport.

As I put the kettle on the clock in the village struck seven.

This was noticable because everything in the flat was still and quiet.  There is an emptiness, the like of which I have not experienced before.

I can hear the clock in the kitchen ticking away, oblivious to the change that has taken place.

Apart from that, all is still and quiet… and lonely.

I’ll be seeing you in 36 hours from now

Well this is it…

At 5am tomorrow I get up, head for Edinburgh airport, and set off to meet one beautiful lady

At last all the waiting will be over.  Yippee !

 

Yes, Amanda does like wearing red and black… but the new dress she bought yesterday (classic Chinese style) is more subdued.

She’s already in Hong Kong waiting for me, staying with her friend who, coincidentally, will be catching the very plane I am arriving on … That’s another wierd coincidence !

The weather could be better there for me, heavy rain and thunderstorms, with a temperature pushing 30C… that’s 86F…  Erk !!  For someone who dislikes it over 70F I sure did pick the wrong time of year didn’t I ?

I’ll be putting some pictures up on here every couple of days while I’m away, so all of you can hopefully see something of what China is like, and how much we are enjoying ourselves.

Take care y’all !

How a brain-injured Brit prepares for a trip to China

Wow… is it nearly a month since I wrote anything on here ?  Just shows how busy I’ve been.

So much to do now that I’m working almost full time on the “placement”, and am trying (trying) to get ready to go to China next Wednesday to meet my darling Amanda

This last Wednesday was a typically confusing day for me…

Egypt ?

Hey, who picked me up from Egypt ? !!!

If you ever visit again please do leave a comment somewhere !!!

(There’s plenty of space, haha   )  

China here I come

What a busy time I’ve had lately.

I started a part-time ”work placement” a few weeks ago as part of the “work prep” scheme that I’m on.  This is a scheme that helps people who have been out of work due to some form of disability to get back into the swing of what working means.  It monitors the progress of their mental tiredness, interacting abilities, capability to perform the tasks set in the workplace etc etc, and the support team are there “on call” to discuss anything and everything that may be of help.

My placement is with a company which imports and distributes kiddies sweets to supermarkets and wholesalers, “candies” to any Americans out there.

The job itself is a Finance Assistant, and is virtually the same as the last job I had in Wales before I moved to Scotland, so I have the benefit of being able to drop right on to it.  Same software (albeit newer version), similar procedures.

And the good news is that I have now been offered the job on a full-time basis.  Yee-ha !

Where did I put that “Me Time” ?

Oh you just can’t start a work placement, travel from one end of the country to the other at short notice, see your daughter for the first time in 12 months, your grandchildren for the first time in 2 years, and visit your best mate in hospital before he has his triple heart bypass op without some smartass coming along and asking if your Chinese fiancee (who you still have to try to find time to cam with because she’s missing you like crazy and the time difference messes up every day, but by hell it’s worth it ) is taking up all your time and might just be the reason you haven’t posted anything for a while !

Pant… pant…