Dear —
Greetings again from northwest England, where skies are blue and, after the frosts of April and the downpours of May, wonderstruck friends have been posting photos of the recently cleared heavens on social media!
"Yet herein will I imitate the sun
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That when he please again to be himself,
Being wanted, he may be more wondered at
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him."
I just wrote this passage from memory—no way to prove that of course, you'll have to take my word for it—because I love Shakespeare, and quoting him is my favourite party trick!
I haven't seen people posting pictures of the sky since I last lived in Beijing. Expats call this phenomenon 'APEC blue', which occurs when the Chinese government wants to window-dress for high-profile events such as the Olympics, military parades, or gatherings of world leaders. Factories are briefly closed down, and flowerpots hastily lined along major streets. As one WeChat comment said at the time, "The weather is insanely nice, and teases us for a brief moment about what Beijing could be if there was no corruption, coal consumption, or environmental degradation."
I share this quote too in my five-volume Dueling the Dragon Collection of memoirs about living and working in China over 10 years. I began by teaching English in the western province of Sichuan before making my way to China's state-media giants in Beijing, with an intervening period of freelancing in the performing arts.
Anyway, back to the English weather... Another benefit of these warm days is that I can enjoy my newly purchased 'solar shower'. What is it? A black bag that heats water in the sun, plus a hose attachment with a shower head. This in preparation for the next chapter of my life in a campervan, which I recently purchased to get me between house-sits — a way of life that was severely disrupted during 'lockdown'.
At some point, this campervan may be material for another chapter in My Portable Paradise, my guide-slash-memoir about house-sitting. I wrote it in a beach house in Costa Rica.
Or maybe there'll be a new book entirely, who knows? Anyway, it's free today in this Travel-Books promotion. (Getting it will add you to my Travel & Memoir Readers List, but won't make a significant difference to the frequency of notifications you get from me.)
Until next time,
Abdiel
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