Just one blog post in 2012 and another slow year has followed. That is what you would be forgiven for thinking, from the lack of activity on here, but the reality is rather different:
• August 2012 – left English First after four years and two months
• August 2012 – moved to Luohe, Henan Province
• September 2012 – started a new job at Luohe Vocational and Technical College
• January 2013 – back to the UK for one month
• March 2013 – launched Benny Says, a private English teaching school
• May 2013 – official Chinese family wedding
• May 2013 – honeymoon in Thailand
• July 2013 – summer school at Benny Says
• August 2013 – holiday in Rizhao
• August 2013 – started writing my first novel
• September 2013 – new year at Luohe Vocational and Technical College
This is where a dedicated blogger, with a large readership, goes into great detail about each of the bullet points. As neither of the conditions for great detail have been met, I will just read the comments on this post later to see if anyone cares.
I am of the view that the trip back to the UK was an alternative to a post, as the blog is only read by family and a few very close friends, so I saw most of my readers personally in January or February.
As I am now writing a book, I am going to start using the online community a lot more. I will get to grips with things like Twitter, which I have previously ignored, and that might mean I will feel the need to update the blog more frequently. It depends entirely upon the actions and feedback from my readers and followers.
Publishing anything without feedback is an empty task, whether contributing to an international magazine, updating a blog, sending a text message, writing a letter or posting a birthday card. Comments, good or bad, are always welcome.
Best wishes to you all.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Thursday, May 24, 2012
10th May 2012
I know that the heading is not the date of this post but it is an important date for my new wife and I, because it is the date that we got married.
Mr and Mrs Benjamin Lefroy
We were supposed to get married two days beforehand but we ran into some difficulties. Why? Because my new passport, issued to me since my arrival in China, does not have a date of entry stamp.
I have had two twelve-month visas on the passport since receiving it in July 2010 without any questions being asked by the local Public Security Bureau (PSB). The British Embassy issued me with a Certificate of Non Impediment (CNI), which enabled me to marry in China and made no comment about the date of entry stamp. But as soon as the day arrived for us to get married at the office in Zhengzhou, people started asking questions.
Happy, or the current Mrs Benjamin Lefroy, was in tears in the office trying to establish why, when we had all the necessary paperwork, issued by the British Embassy, there was a problem with the validity of my passport. We were shown a form which we could obtain from the PSB verifying the date of entry and told that if we could get hold of such a document, stamped with an official government stamp, that the lack of a date stamp in the passport did not matter.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, we are now married. The document we presented satisfied the requirements of the woman in the office and we have two little marriage books stamped, dated and officially proving that we are husband and wife, or Lao Gong (老公) and Lao Po (老婆), so the validity of the aforementioned document is no longer an issue.
More news on the China front that I promised to include in this update is the birth, on 20th May, of Tom and Ping's baby girl, Arianna. Not many of you know Tom and those of you who do are in China, so probably can't access this blog unless you have a VPN. But he is a fellow Somerset boy and my congratulations to the two of you and I trust that we will have the opportunity to wet the baby's head sometime soon.
Talking of VPNs, I have just regained access to Facebook, Blogger, etc. courtesy of a new, completely free, service called Spotflux and I am using it right now to update my blog. I will keep you posted on its performance, but it seems to be performing quite well, thus far.
And that's about all that I have to offer on the news front. It's probably the most news you will get for the foreseeable future as children definitely aren't on the radar just yet. But then neither was marriage a few months ago, so watch this space.
There's a slightly new look to the blog, which is all down to changes engineered by Blogger – the company responsible for the talent and brains behind my little soapbox. Well, come on, you didn't seriously expect me to have gone to that much effort to make it look prettier now, did you? Given that I struggle to even post updates once every four or five months!
And finally, best wishes to my loyal reader and only follower, Hannah (my sister for those of you who don't know). If anyone else can't bear to wait for the Facebook status updates about the blog or the e-mails, which usually get lost between China and the rest of the world, then you can now follow the blog, too. I am not expecting many new faces the next time I update the blog but you never know...
Mr and Mrs Benjamin Lefroy
We were supposed to get married two days beforehand but we ran into some difficulties. Why? Because my new passport, issued to me since my arrival in China, does not have a date of entry stamp.
I have had two twelve-month visas on the passport since receiving it in July 2010 without any questions being asked by the local Public Security Bureau (PSB). The British Embassy issued me with a Certificate of Non Impediment (CNI), which enabled me to marry in China and made no comment about the date of entry stamp. But as soon as the day arrived for us to get married at the office in Zhengzhou, people started asking questions.
Happy, or the current Mrs Benjamin Lefroy, was in tears in the office trying to establish why, when we had all the necessary paperwork, issued by the British Embassy, there was a problem with the validity of my passport. We were shown a form which we could obtain from the PSB verifying the date of entry and told that if we could get hold of such a document, stamped with an official government stamp, that the lack of a date stamp in the passport did not matter.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, we are now married. The document we presented satisfied the requirements of the woman in the office and we have two little marriage books stamped, dated and officially proving that we are husband and wife, or Lao Gong (老公) and Lao Po (老婆), so the validity of the aforementioned document is no longer an issue.
More news on the China front that I promised to include in this update is the birth, on 20th May, of Tom and Ping's baby girl, Arianna. Not many of you know Tom and those of you who do are in China, so probably can't access this blog unless you have a VPN. But he is a fellow Somerset boy and my congratulations to the two of you and I trust that we will have the opportunity to wet the baby's head sometime soon.
Talking of VPNs, I have just regained access to Facebook, Blogger, etc. courtesy of a new, completely free, service called Spotflux and I am using it right now to update my blog. I will keep you posted on its performance, but it seems to be performing quite well, thus far.
And that's about all that I have to offer on the news front. It's probably the most news you will get for the foreseeable future as children definitely aren't on the radar just yet. But then neither was marriage a few months ago, so watch this space.
There's a slightly new look to the blog, which is all down to changes engineered by Blogger – the company responsible for the talent and brains behind my little soapbox. Well, come on, you didn't seriously expect me to have gone to that much effort to make it look prettier now, did you? Given that I struggle to even post updates once every four or five months!
And finally, best wishes to my loyal reader and only follower, Hannah (my sister for those of you who don't know). If anyone else can't bear to wait for the Facebook status updates about the blog or the e-mails, which usually get lost between China and the rest of the world, then you can now follow the blog, too. I am not expecting many new faces the next time I update the blog but you never know...
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Merry Christmas !!
My computer network has changed in my apartment and as a result I now spend less time on this machine and more time on "Bertha", my beloved media centre. It is a very poor excuse for not having updated the blog in six months and I have let it lapse to the extent that I am now receiving e-mails and letters enquiring about my health and/or continued existence here in China. So, to all concerned, and those who have just forgotten to blacklist me yet, I'm still alive – Merry Christmas!
Life here is much the same, which I could engineer into another feeble excuse for not keeping in touch as there is no news to tell, but I won't... on this occasion. There's a new girl in tow, who I met during the Chinese National Day holiday, but she lives about nine hours away. She has already made the journey to see me four times and I am planning to head over to Henan province to see her for Chinese New Year. She is young, intelligent and gorgeous (just like me) and perhaps after the Chinese New Year trip there will be something of more interest to blog about.
Best wishes to all for a very merry festive season. I am picturing some of the proper English turkey roasts that you will be enjoying and hope that they will be as mouthwatering to your taste buds as they are in my mind.
Just a short one today and if I made New Year resolutions, mine would be to update the blog more regularly... but I don't. So, I will speak to you on the blog the next time that I feel guilty or, for the technically capable among you, the next time that I catch you on Skype (ben_lefroy).
Best wishes to you, all and one.
Life here is much the same, which I could engineer into another feeble excuse for not keeping in touch as there is no news to tell, but I won't... on this occasion. There's a new girl in tow, who I met during the Chinese National Day holiday, but she lives about nine hours away. She has already made the journey to see me four times and I am planning to head over to Henan province to see her for Chinese New Year. She is young, intelligent and gorgeous (just like me) and perhaps after the Chinese New Year trip there will be something of more interest to blog about.
Best wishes to all for a very merry festive season. I am picturing some of the proper English turkey roasts that you will be enjoying and hope that they will be as mouthwatering to your taste buds as they are in my mind.
Just a short one today and if I made New Year resolutions, mine would be to update the blog more regularly... but I don't. So, I will speak to you on the blog the next time that I feel guilty or, for the technically capable among you, the next time that I catch you on Skype (ben_lefroy).
Best wishes to you, all and one.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Poor excuse for a blogger...
It appears that my last blog update was on the 6th of March and so I have been rather neglectful in my communication duties towards family and friends – for this I apologise profusely, although the reality is that there really isn't anything to tell.
The weather is starting to pick up for the summer and I have already managed to have one beach outing with my students. Sandcastles and ice-creams by the sea is a far superior option to book exercises, sat in the classroom, but it does involve some serious homework marking at a later date, as the aforementioned students are all tasked with writing about any out-of-class activities post-excursion.
I do not keep a very close eye on news from the West because it no longer affects me greatly, and most of the time it consists of people whining about one thing or another, but at last glance it seems that the UK is planning to go on strike.
Why is it that people who work for state institutions expect to automatically be paid for years and years after they cease doing any work? The argument appears to be over pensions and the requirement for people who have not made any personal arrangements for their retirement to put in a little bit of extra effort before reaping the rewards offered by the state.
Given that the UK is still struggling to escape the huge financial burden gifted to it by so many consequetive months of 'financial growth' since Blair, Brown et al. I do not think that it is unreasonable for the government to expect a little help from those who benefit the most from the freebies long after they have hung up their plimsolls and mortar boards.
For those who are not happy with the situation back home (and I still consider it to be my home) I recommend a move overseas. Whilst we happily criticise communist regimes and the corruption in foreign countries, there is a lot to commend much of the thinking behind the red flags.
Citizens here in China love their government, despite the censorship and the poor human rights history. The love is not universal but it far outweighs the feeling towards the powers that be in the UK. And long may it continue.
If the strikers understood that the government is trying to correct the debt issues and the financial problems that the country faces, then perhaps they would not be behaving like spoilt children with too many teddies to throw. And maybe their time on strike would be better spent addressing their own plans for pension income once they cease to contribute anything worthwhile to society (assuming they are doing anything worthwhile at present), rather than just creating a further burden to a troubled country.
But this is just a blog, read by family and friends, and not the place for political whining. So, forgive me my rant, many thanks to those of you who have contributed so generously to my student stamp collection campaign and I will try not to leave the next update for so long.
The weather is starting to pick up for the summer and I have already managed to have one beach outing with my students. Sandcastles and ice-creams by the sea is a far superior option to book exercises, sat in the classroom, but it does involve some serious homework marking at a later date, as the aforementioned students are all tasked with writing about any out-of-class activities post-excursion.
I do not keep a very close eye on news from the West because it no longer affects me greatly, and most of the time it consists of people whining about one thing or another, but at last glance it seems that the UK is planning to go on strike.
Why is it that people who work for state institutions expect to automatically be paid for years and years after they cease doing any work? The argument appears to be over pensions and the requirement for people who have not made any personal arrangements for their retirement to put in a little bit of extra effort before reaping the rewards offered by the state.
Given that the UK is still struggling to escape the huge financial burden gifted to it by so many consequetive months of 'financial growth' since Blair, Brown et al. I do not think that it is unreasonable for the government to expect a little help from those who benefit the most from the freebies long after they have hung up their plimsolls and mortar boards.
For those who are not happy with the situation back home (and I still consider it to be my home) I recommend a move overseas. Whilst we happily criticise communist regimes and the corruption in foreign countries, there is a lot to commend much of the thinking behind the red flags.
Citizens here in China love their government, despite the censorship and the poor human rights history. The love is not universal but it far outweighs the feeling towards the powers that be in the UK. And long may it continue.
If the strikers understood that the government is trying to correct the debt issues and the financial problems that the country faces, then perhaps they would not be behaving like spoilt children with too many teddies to throw. And maybe their time on strike would be better spent addressing their own plans for pension income once they cease to contribute anything worthwhile to society (assuming they are doing anything worthwhile at present), rather than just creating a further burden to a troubled country.
But this is just a blog, read by family and friends, and not the place for political whining. So, forgive me my rant, many thanks to those of you who have contributed so generously to my student stamp collection campaign and I will try not to leave the next update for so long.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Six months...
It really has been six months since my last blog entry – although with two or three months of time spent researching Chinese hospitals, Christmas, New Year, Chinese New Year and my own birthday having been squeezed into those months it doesn't seem like half a year at all.
The bitterly cold weather looks to be easing up a little and Rizhao has enjoyed some relatively mild days of late. The heavy snow which affected large parts of China this winter only paid a flying visit to the coastal area of Shandong and it is unlikely to return as we head into March, April and beyond.
My employer has asked me to extend my contract, by two months to September 2011, for reasons unknown to me. I am more than happy to do so but I was already planning to sign a new contract from July for a further 12 months. One can only assume that he wants his staff requirement for the summer courses covered well in advance but it does generate an unnecessary amount of paperwork regarding visa, flight allowance, pay increase etc. Upon reflection, it does mean that any future six- or 12-month contracts that I sign after that date will always come to an end on the other side of the very busy winter and summer courses – ie. he will not be left in the lurch, at least not by me. Perhaps it's not such a ridiculous idea after all.
I have been looking everywhere for a way to get a prepaid Visa or Mastercard here in China. I thought that I had found a way around the problem via Western Union's prepaid card but it turns out that you cannot simply add funds at any Western Union branch anywhere in the world, which I am sure would not be difficult for them to implement into a straightforward, risk-free product. No, it is designed for UK residents and can be magically topped up in numerous places all over the UK, but in China it is just a pretty piece of plastic.
China does have a card processing network, called Unionpay, and has been slowly building global relationships to enable the use of these cards overseas and online. Unionpay is supposedly supported by PayPal, but I ditched PayPal over a year ago because of its failure to comprehend such an animal as an expat, trying to use an account in a foreign country, and requesting verification for every purchase it thought might be fraudulent. I attempted setting up a China PayPal account a couple of days ago but when I tried to process a Unionpay payment it just failed. I will notify the world of any developments.
If you Google the subject of credit cards for expats in China, you will notice that there are more than a few potential customers for a prepaid card. In fact, one was launched by Bank of China during the Olympic Games, in Beijing, to ease the financial transaction difficulties for foreigners trying to survive in the clutches of the nation's restrictions. And as soon as the games finished, the card was buried, putting a stop to all those RMB escaping in the direction of a non state-controlled entity.
I fear that banking restrictions are here to stay for a few more years on the development ladder before they are removed in favour of competition, convenience and choice.
Still, I have found a proxy which enables me to use Blogger without the need for a credit card, for the time being (Blogger being one of the many government-censored sites), and will try not to leave it quite so long until the next update.
Warmest of regards and thanks for the continued letters, cards, e-mails, messages, tweets etc.
The bitterly cold weather looks to be easing up a little and Rizhao has enjoyed some relatively mild days of late. The heavy snow which affected large parts of China this winter only paid a flying visit to the coastal area of Shandong and it is unlikely to return as we head into March, April and beyond.
My employer has asked me to extend my contract, by two months to September 2011, for reasons unknown to me. I am more than happy to do so but I was already planning to sign a new contract from July for a further 12 months. One can only assume that he wants his staff requirement for the summer courses covered well in advance but it does generate an unnecessary amount of paperwork regarding visa, flight allowance, pay increase etc. Upon reflection, it does mean that any future six- or 12-month contracts that I sign after that date will always come to an end on the other side of the very busy winter and summer courses – ie. he will not be left in the lurch, at least not by me. Perhaps it's not such a ridiculous idea after all.
I have been looking everywhere for a way to get a prepaid Visa or Mastercard here in China. I thought that I had found a way around the problem via Western Union's prepaid card but it turns out that you cannot simply add funds at any Western Union branch anywhere in the world, which I am sure would not be difficult for them to implement into a straightforward, risk-free product. No, it is designed for UK residents and can be magically topped up in numerous places all over the UK, but in China it is just a pretty piece of plastic.
China does have a card processing network, called Unionpay, and has been slowly building global relationships to enable the use of these cards overseas and online. Unionpay is supposedly supported by PayPal, but I ditched PayPal over a year ago because of its failure to comprehend such an animal as an expat, trying to use an account in a foreign country, and requesting verification for every purchase it thought might be fraudulent. I attempted setting up a China PayPal account a couple of days ago but when I tried to process a Unionpay payment it just failed. I will notify the world of any developments.
If you Google the subject of credit cards for expats in China, you will notice that there are more than a few potential customers for a prepaid card. In fact, one was launched by Bank of China during the Olympic Games, in Beijing, to ease the financial transaction difficulties for foreigners trying to survive in the clutches of the nation's restrictions. And as soon as the games finished, the card was buried, putting a stop to all those RMB escaping in the direction of a non state-controlled entity.
I fear that banking restrictions are here to stay for a few more years on the development ladder before they are removed in favour of competition, convenience and choice.
Still, I have found a proxy which enables me to use Blogger without the need for a credit card, for the time being (Blogger being one of the many government-censored sites), and will try not to leave it quite so long until the next update.
Warmest of regards and thanks for the continued letters, cards, e-mails, messages, tweets etc.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Still none the wiser...
Well, the passport came back safely... minus a Chinese visa.
So, let's look at the facts:
• the Embassy in Hong Kong was to issue me with a new passport;
• it required my old passport (complete with a Chinese visa) in order to do so;
• it would cut the corners from the old passport, rendering it useless, as part of the process;
• it would be returning the new passport to a UK citizen, resident in China (a country where a visa is a legal requirement);
• the passport was issued minus said visa; and
• consequently, I have been an illegal immigrant now for over a month.
Why would anyone, even a civil servant, do something as banally stupid as that?
What possible reason could someone have for thinking that the passport did not require a visa? No, I can't think of one either.
Anyway, the result was a two-hour session at the PSB, involving a lot of questions, a photography session, several signatures (which you have to validate with a red-inked fingerprint across the top) on documents that I couldn't read, the exchange of a rather expensive-looking, unmarked, brown envelope and lots of 'aren't I a foolish foreigner' smiles to the lady at the desk. The result? I still don't have a passport with a visa.
I am scheduled to meet with the boss to sign a new contract at 3:00pm, when I will politely notify him that I am not going to sign anything until he can present me with my passport, complete with visa, and that I am 100% legal again.
The staff do not seem to realise that this is something of importance to a foreign national and wonder why I become frustrated with their lack of action if I ask them to do anything constructive about tracking the progress. At present I cannot book a hotel room, internal flight or do anything which requires proof of identification and confirms my legal status as a resident in China. It is not a situation that I wish to be in any longer and, hopefully, this afternoon's little tête-à-tête will higlight the importance of the issue.
Talking of the meeting, it is 2:30pm and I should head up to the school. I must get around to uploading some photographs soon. Every time that I decide to post an update it seems that it is rather time-limited but I have some interesting shots which, at around 1,000 words apiece, can tell you far more than I ever could in the time that I allow myself for blogging.
P.S. Weather's lovely !!
So, let's look at the facts:
• the Embassy in Hong Kong was to issue me with a new passport;
• it required my old passport (complete with a Chinese visa) in order to do so;
• it would cut the corners from the old passport, rendering it useless, as part of the process;
• it would be returning the new passport to a UK citizen, resident in China (a country where a visa is a legal requirement);
• the passport was issued minus said visa; and
• consequently, I have been an illegal immigrant now for over a month.
Why would anyone, even a civil servant, do something as banally stupid as that?
What possible reason could someone have for thinking that the passport did not require a visa? No, I can't think of one either.
Anyway, the result was a two-hour session at the PSB, involving a lot of questions, a photography session, several signatures (which you have to validate with a red-inked fingerprint across the top) on documents that I couldn't read, the exchange of a rather expensive-looking, unmarked, brown envelope and lots of 'aren't I a foolish foreigner' smiles to the lady at the desk. The result? I still don't have a passport with a visa.
I am scheduled to meet with the boss to sign a new contract at 3:00pm, when I will politely notify him that I am not going to sign anything until he can present me with my passport, complete with visa, and that I am 100% legal again.
The staff do not seem to realise that this is something of importance to a foreign national and wonder why I become frustrated with their lack of action if I ask them to do anything constructive about tracking the progress. At present I cannot book a hotel room, internal flight or do anything which requires proof of identification and confirms my legal status as a resident in China. It is not a situation that I wish to be in any longer and, hopefully, this afternoon's little tête-à-tête will higlight the importance of the issue.
Talking of the meeting, it is 2:30pm and I should head up to the school. I must get around to uploading some photographs soon. Every time that I decide to post an update it seems that it is rather time-limited but I have some interesting shots which, at around 1,000 words apiece, can tell you far more than I ever could in the time that I allow myself for blogging.
P.S. Weather's lovely !!
Friday, July 9, 2010
Still here, but for how long...
The school kept its status as an EF franchise, I renewed my contract for another year, you can't get a passport from the British Embassy, summer is here and I have sunburn.
Well, we had the visit from EF Shanghai and all went well. The new school is in transition phase at the moment which is, erm... interesting. But I am sure that we will iron out most of the wrinkles in due course.
I went to Beijing last month to renew my passport. My original intention was to go to Shanghai but, when I checked the British Embassy website a month previously, it informed me that Shangai stopped doing passports in February 2010 and I had to go to Beijing. Upon my arrival at the Embassy in Beijing, I was informed that they, too, have stopped issuing passports and I should go to Hong Kong. Marvellous.
Needless to say that I had neither the necessary time, nor holiday funds, to just jump on a plane and stay in Hong Kong for a couple of nights, so I have entrusted my passport to a Chinese courier company. I requested DHL but the school chose an alternative company which is "like DHL, only local".
The courier company in question is based in Rizhao. It took them four phone calls and a two-hour delay to locate the school, which is in the same city, which started the alarm bells ringing. I filled in the form in front of the two scruffy-looking representatives, to make sure that there were no errors or omissions, and one of the school's staff filled in the Chinese sections for me. They checked it over and off they went, leaving me with a wrinkled receipt informing me of my tracking number.
Two days later I received a call from the school informing me that my package could not be delivered "because I had not written down a telephone number for the recipient". Ok, breathe, Benny, breathe... calm down.
So, just which phone number would they like me to give them for the British Embassy, 1 Supreme Court Road, Hong Kong? The main switchboard, perhaps: "Dial '1' to be put on hold... Dial '2'... " etc.? Maybe they want the personal mobile number of whoever will be processing my application? What, exactly, do they expect me to put in as a phone number? But, and more importantly, why didn't Scruffy and Scruffier ask for that information in the first place and, furthermore, why does a courier company think its delivery driver will need to put in a phone call to find the BRITISH F***ING EMBASSY?!! Ok, breathe, Benny, breathe... calm down.
Anyway, it is all now in the lap of the Gods and if I get deported you can rest assured that you will read all about it here. If, on the other hand, I end up in a Chinese prison, you may find that blog updates become a little less frequent. Unless, of course, whilst behind bars, they provide me with a computer with internet access and don't mind me using proxy servers to bypass the Great Firewall of China...
Well, we had the visit from EF Shanghai and all went well. The new school is in transition phase at the moment which is, erm... interesting. But I am sure that we will iron out most of the wrinkles in due course.
I went to Beijing last month to renew my passport. My original intention was to go to Shanghai but, when I checked the British Embassy website a month previously, it informed me that Shangai stopped doing passports in February 2010 and I had to go to Beijing. Upon my arrival at the Embassy in Beijing, I was informed that they, too, have stopped issuing passports and I should go to Hong Kong. Marvellous.
Needless to say that I had neither the necessary time, nor holiday funds, to just jump on a plane and stay in Hong Kong for a couple of nights, so I have entrusted my passport to a Chinese courier company. I requested DHL but the school chose an alternative company which is "like DHL, only local".
The courier company in question is based in Rizhao. It took them four phone calls and a two-hour delay to locate the school, which is in the same city, which started the alarm bells ringing. I filled in the form in front of the two scruffy-looking representatives, to make sure that there were no errors or omissions, and one of the school's staff filled in the Chinese sections for me. They checked it over and off they went, leaving me with a wrinkled receipt informing me of my tracking number.
Two days later I received a call from the school informing me that my package could not be delivered "because I had not written down a telephone number for the recipient". Ok, breathe, Benny, breathe... calm down.
So, just which phone number would they like me to give them for the British Embassy, 1 Supreme Court Road, Hong Kong? The main switchboard, perhaps: "Dial '1' to be put on hold... Dial '2'... " etc.? Maybe they want the personal mobile number of whoever will be processing my application? What, exactly, do they expect me to put in as a phone number? But, and more importantly, why didn't Scruffy and Scruffier ask for that information in the first place and, furthermore, why does a courier company think its delivery driver will need to put in a phone call to find the BRITISH F***ING EMBASSY?!! Ok, breathe, Benny, breathe... calm down.
Anyway, it is all now in the lap of the Gods and if I get deported you can rest assured that you will read all about it here. If, on the other hand, I end up in a Chinese prison, you may find that blog updates become a little less frequent. Unless, of course, whilst behind bars, they provide me with a computer with internet access and don't mind me using proxy servers to bypass the Great Firewall of China...
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