Floor-walking

In an attempt to get fit for a mountain trek in a fortnight's time, I'm walking up & down the stairs. Our flat is on the 21st floor so that's quite a few steps - despite the missing 4th, 13th and 14th floors. Floor-walking - or rather floor-racing - is an organized sport nowadays. When we were living in Bangkok, I once contemplated doing the annual Banyan Tree Hotel climb - 61 flights, 1,237 steps - but thought better of it. One guy did it in an astonishing 6:19 mins. I do my 226 steps in about the same time.

Mike-san

Nice dinner with Mike Winter, visiting Beijing on business. Used to be a British Council colleague, Liz's boss in London in the late 80s, mine in Tokyo in the early 00s, left five years ago to work in higher education, haven't seen him in years. The evening flashes by.

Nelson Mandela RIP

It had been coming... Well, what a life. Good, bad, certainly full (though one could argue whether  27 years in prison could ever be 'full' - except in thinking time); a terrorist, a saint, an all-round icon. Like many, I read The Long Road to Freedom, still have the Special AKA single at home, and well remember a visit he made to Brixton in 1996 where I was living at the time. Somehow I received an invitation to a speech he was giving in the sports centre. It was like a carnival or gospel convention. He had a kind, quiet voice, a bit like Kofi Annan's. It's funny how we're conditioned to think that speeches should be loud and dramatic. His was the opposite, but just as impactful. 

Bike, Mouse, Hamster, Snake

Over breakfast this morning Alyssa started singing "I've got a mouse and he hasn't got a house, I don't know why I call him Gerald. He's getting rather old but he's a good mouse". 
Now if you know your Pink Floyd, you'll know this is from 'Bike', the last track on Piper at the Gates of Dawn. Stunned, I wondered where she'd heard it. I've got the LP, but don't think I've ever played it within her earshot. Turns out her maths teacher told the class he had a hamster called Gerald. 
"I don't know why I call him Gerald..." he said, and then launched into the song. He got quite carried away, playing a YouTube version on the white-board and before too long the whole class was singing along. Altogether now... "I've got a bike, you can ride it if you like. It's got a basket, a bell that rings and things to make it look good. I'd give it to you if I could, but I borrowed it".
He's also got a large snake, whose name was not revealed. Apparently it eats hamsters. He may have been teasing, but Alyssa said he was serious. Sounds quite a character. Oh, and his name is Mr Mason.

Neigh

With PM, Ministers and delegation in Shanghai, and my colleagues there taking over, it was back to mission control for me. Trip seems to be going well, now two-thirds through. During a lunch for 600, the National Theatre's War Horse made a surprise appearance, led down the aisles in front of bemused guests. The NT have done a deal with the NT in Beijing to produce a Chinese version. 

The Return of VVIP

So, after four weeks of frantic preparation and three years after his last visit, PM David Cameron, several Ministers and a 125-strong business delegation touched down at 7am in Beijing at the start of an intense three-day China visit. 
In the build-up, the programme changed constantly, right up to the day before, which unfortunately meant that Hangzhou dropped by the wayside, but still includes Shanghai and Chengdu. 
And what was my role in all this? I led on Maria Miller, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport's programme, and I must say (not because I have to!), she was very nice.
This will all be in the news, so here are half-a-dozen in-the-margins asides:

• For the last few weeks we could only use the term VVIP and could never mention dates which was quite difficult when trying to organize events. "Can't say who it's for or when exactly, but is it OK with you?"   
• The PM really is followed around by a man with a red briefcase.
• Cameron has a Chinese weibo blog: if you press google-translate it says: "Hi, I am a Prime Minister! Sign up microblogging powder me, I am ready to share the latest!"
• The PM was driven to the Great Hall of the People in a Chinese-made Hongqi (meaning Red Flag) car which is traditionally used for conveying dignatories.
• Nice to bump into some less famous friends and acquaintances, here with the delegation, including designer Michael Young who I last saw in a Tokyo bar ten years ago, which prompted us to celebrate with a bottle of Asahi.
• We knocked over a Christmas Tree in the Grand Hyatt, narrowly missing (though she wasn't aware of it) Zaha Hadid. It was a small one. 

And then, off they went on a chartered Virgin Atlantic flight to Shanghai. 

Hànyǔ Shuǐpíng Kǎoshì

Liz sat her HSK level 3 Chinese exam today. Looks like all that hard work in class, pouring over textbooks and writing Chinese characters on the iPad paid off. She won't know for a month but it seemed to go OK. Very proud of her.
Me? I was in the office all day preparing for...