August | 2013 | ShanghaiSims

“Would Paul Sims please contact immigration”. Not the friendliest of welcomes for Anny at Heathrow airport, as she’s taken to one side and quizzed about her reasons for visiting the UK. I kept my natural predilection for sarcasm suppressed as the immigration official asked questions such as “Are you expecting anyone at Heathrow today?” (“No, I just hang around airports hopefully”, I didn’t reply).

Since my answers matched Anny’s (How did I know her, what’s her Chinese name, what’s her situation in China, how long was she here, etc.), they eventually let her in, only an hour later than planned.

Our house became the temporary holiday home for our Chinese guest, privileged as we were to entertain Anny on her first ever trip outside China. Olney lived up to our description – no questions now on why we want to stay here rather than move closer to London (where Bron and I are now both working). A two week trip to the UK which saw Anny explore our small market town of Olney, as well as Cambridge and Oxford (Anny being determined that her daughter should study sufficiently hard to gain entry in the future – either would do), London and Maidenhead for a stroll along the Thames.

Our house now feels a little empty; Anny – you were a perfect guest, and entertaining company as always. Plus, we had an added bonus of having a few home-cooked Chinese meals ready for us upon our return from work. We’re sure you’ll be able to visit us again in the future.

: By the river in Olney

: Back streets of Olney

: On the way to the river in Olney

: River in Olney

: Anny at the Swimming Steps in Olney

: One of our Olney Pubs

: Anny in the pub

: Anny in Oxford

: Bicycles in Oxford

: Me & Bron in Oxford

: JB, Erica, me & Bron in Oxford

: Oblivious to the hidden photographer

: Again, somewhere in Oxford

: Justice at last

: Oxford Castle

: Oxford Castle

: Anny down in a Tube Station

: Anny in London

: In case you couldn’t see the tourist attraction, Anny points it out

: Houses of Parilament

: The London Eye

: Houses of Parilament

: Anny in Cambridge

: Anny tries a British delicacy – Cornish Pastie

: Me somewhere in Cambridge

: Punting… we didn’t

: With my parents and my Auntie Sylviain Maidenhead

: My parents and Auntie Sylvia

: By the Thames in Maidenhead

: Bron and Anny by the Thames in Maidenhead

: With Richard in Chinatown, London

: A hotpot meal in London with Bron, Richard and Anny

: Last night in Olney

Poor, neglected blog…

Bron and Tim waiting for the rafts to appear

We’ve been back in the UK for just over 2 months now. We no longer have to worry about melting in the Shanghai summer, with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius (although this particular British summer has somehow managed 30 degrees on a few occasions), crossing the road (pedestrians having right of way here) or cockroaches in the bed. I do, however, have to worry about over-eating (a British calorific diet contributing to my commensurately expanding waistline in just a few weeks), expensive petrol and access to online shopping. Despite the plethora of colourful, offer-rich, information-explosive shopping websites in China, being unable to read (and hence, transact) the Chinese sites is a pretty good deterrent to buying things you don’t actually need.

With Isaac and Chong on the beach at Bray

But we miss constantly being challenged with language barriers, we miss the never-ending flow of bizarre but unforgettable random encounters (from hot springs on mountaintops to karaoke swimming pools) and we miss the strange bunch of people that became our short-lived Shanghai family. With regards to the latter, we’ve realised the world isn’t that small. Marcel’s 6 week stint in the UK as part of his MBA gave us a great night out in Olney a few weeks ago (always good to introduce UK market town life to a South African), and we’ve been over to Ireland for the second part of Chong and Isaac’s wedding. A meet-up with Rachel beckons later this year.

It hasn’t take us long to settle back into life here; from weddings and a plethora of beer festivals to the eccentricities of British life demonstrated by the annual Olney raft race (build a raft out of floating stuff, paddle it a few hundred metres down a slow moving river; dodging the over-enthusiastic crowd, some of whom have made it into the river) after the annual Olney rubber duck race.

Our visas expire in March 2014 – maybe there’s one more trip on the cards (got to use the airmiles somehow) before we finally put an end to our Chinese experience.