more calendars

Digital StillCamera

Digital StillCamera

Digital StillCamera

Digital StillCamera

Digital StillCamera

Digital StillCamera

london 12pm 8C raining sunday 2017

london is having its celebration cny in trafalgar square. it rained. but that is par for the course at this time of year. yesterday was dry and sunny so it would have been good to have it then, but there you are. there was a stall   giving out desk top calendars, featuring paintings in the chinese style of cockerels which is rather nice, i thought;  and a gadget that looks like a charger. i have no idea what it is used for. maybe i can google it. added, google wasnot much help. 

one of the pictures show the tail end of the cny parade that was heading towards chinatown. 

 

cny eve

london 5.7C 2.30pm misty friday 2017

6.5C 7.17pm dry night. seems to be increasing in temperature as the night goes on.

a quiet night for me. i am sure very unlike those chinese living in s.e.asia or china , taiwan where they will be greeting the chinese new year (cny) with crackers and noise. though with so much disturbances there have been steps taken to curb a lot of the excesses that can occur.

there is a lot of fun to be had of course with setting off crackers so that they make the path to the house a sea of red which will be left to remain in place for the 15days of celebrations that follow.

 its very festive, and red is such a prosperous colour. and of course if u are a kid, it is all very exciting because not least for the red packets of money that u will receive. and for the food too, because this is when mothers will show forth their culinary expertise. 

the splendidly lighted statue in singapore.

in anticipation of more statues of cocks to commemorate the coming chinese new year of the cock.

london

courtesy of this blog which told me of singapore starting off the year of the cock with a huge statue of a cock. singapore is doing a lot to celebrate this year from lanterns, to coins, and i am sure angpows with the cock motifs on them.

i think we shall have a fun year with all the allusions to cock in the coming chinese new year. haha. it is the year of the red fire cock.  i do hope people will use it to have a laugh , as the lord knows we could all do with something to laugh . i am hoping a lot more countries start putting up statues of the cock.

it is a magnificent bird and one not afraid to crow its praises every morning.

here is another cock image from china

and here is one made out of poo. 

more cocks hhaha. dont worry they are all safe for work.

this cock statue in trafalgar square has been replaced by a thumb ups hand. pity that as a cock statue would be most appropriate this year.

stamps of cock to commemorate this year.

added. 11.06am thursday 12.1.16 7.8cloudy. it seems the fashion world has tried to incorporate these cocks in this year’s design. 

i can understand that if u have to pay £1000s for that fashion item, u dont want it to date so quickly 1 year later. fashion conscious people wont want to wear something so obviously out of date next year.

though i remember i did buy gaultier that are distinctly that season, (this was in those olden days when i was a fashion victim haha) because even though it dates it, i think they are so distinctive, it is quite an inverse upmanship to be able to wear it years later as it will become instantly recognisable and a classic.

but a cock design is rather risque, and some might say common and vulgar. but it is very dolce and gabbana. they like to tease and shock because their clients are so rich, those clients can afford to have fun with their clothes and be playful with it even though it might set them back £1000s. 

though if it were done outside the high end fashion houses with their sky high prices say , if primark would do something like this, i might be tempted to buy , just for the fun of it. 

added 23.1.17

from this guy

chinese, in trafalgar square

london 12.55pm 8.2C cloudy sunday 2016

i just got back from the festival, at trafalgar square, and had the sandwich (melted cheese/lettuce/tomato) which i made and took to the square, but did not have time to eat it.

i got there early enough, to be able to get into the square. i was looking for the grocery store that used to sell very good bargains. this time they were unable to get a big corner to themselves and have to mix in with all the other stalls, so that i nearly missed it. i saw a young lady with a bag of chinese sauces, and vermicelli, telling all that it is 5 for £3. i did not connect at first that it is that store, and they were selling every item 5 for £3.

i bought 5 vermicelli singapore rice noodles 350mg for £3. she said i could mix and match but i only want the vermicelli. a bargain, and she even put in a free black soya drink. nice of her. when i left it was getting so v crowded. i went to the library to read the sunday papers. this one only has the sunday times. the other papers were either not ordered, or others have taken them away. when i came out, the streets were crowded with people. and it was impossible to get into trafalgar square. so i was glad to take the 88 back. luckily the 88 was running.

i have told friends i might be there, but i am afraid i could only stand it for 1hr. haha.

ah well, i know enough and shall next time just go for the grocery bargains and that means going there early. because the lady said they only offer these prices for a short time early in the day. i dont see anyone else buying these, maybe because no one wants to walk about all day carrying it. haha. they are not like me, who lives so near, i could in fact return to my flat, off load my bag, and go back to it without much interruptions to my being in the thick of it, if that is what i want.

it was quite fun, in that i have gone to see what it is all about and come to realise i just want the grocery bargains, the rest of it i can take it or leave it.  haha.

actually do go early, i met two chinese guys and told them about my bargain, and they top it by holding up a bottle of black soya sauce from amoy, and saying they got it free. haha. i did pass that amoy stall with a huge crowd of people there and decided not to bother finding out what it was.  after hearing him, i still felt it was not worthwhile to join the crowd to get it.

i think you can hold anything in london and you will be able to get a crowd. where did all these people come from i wonder?

on the bus going back home,i caught it at trafalgar square, i saw a crowd of foreign families with kids got on.  they got off at westminster abbey. so i suppose many will be foreign visitors. 

Digital StillCamera

5 of this vermicelli by yeo’s.

Digital StillCamera

what it looks like after it has been rehydrated. the noodles are slightly thicker than those i get from chinatown.

Digital StillCamera

i am a sucker for pens. it reminds me of those tourists who go to poor countries and give out pens and pencils. haha. i am like those kids eager to get hold of these pens, or pencils. i wonder why haha . i got these from the guys promoting lycamobile. there were another lot of guys giving some chinese brochures, which i cannot read; they have this red packet, but it contains a sweet.

Digital StillCamera

 

old age, young age, celebrating cny

london 3.15pm 11.3C cloudy but bright. sunday 2016

it’s chinese new year eve today in london. nothing going on this weekend to celebrate it, as the celebration will be on next weekend, on sunday 14feb, which is also valentine’s day. (added.11.2.16 was on the bus going through chinatown and saw posters saying the parade and festival is on 13feb, not 14feb). added 12.2.16.looks like that poster was just saying that particular street will be closed on 13feb. the  main festival is on 14feb. 

i suppose it will be a good thing, because the chinese will be going to have their dimsum chinese newyear get together today, or their reunion dinner tonight without the huge tourists crowd coming in too.

i am sure london is so big, and with so many with the money to spend, that the restaurants on chinatown must be very busy today.

people will always want to celebrate it with a reunion meal; it is a chance and an excuse to get together with friends and family… though most of us will be having friends around rather than family, since our families may well be overseas. i wont be joining in, as i think i am past it… i just have a thought, here in uk , esp london, all the chinese businesses, eatingplaces are open for chinese new year. that is rather nice. because in malaysia, singapore, maybe even in china, many of them will be shut to give their employees a chance to go home for their reunion. i know that in malaysia, chinese new year , so many chinese owned businesses shut ,and i am thinkingof the hawker stalls where we lowly earners will rely on for our meals are all shut, forcing us to go to the malay or indian hawkers; it is quite boring for visitors or those single people with no family to eat with, to be there around that time. 

it brings back memories of my youth,though, to see others celebrating it with a reunion meal.  when we would do just what they are doing now… arrange to meet and have dimsum in chinatown. it was very busy though, and a bit of a scramble, with the staff overworked and the kitchen swept off its feet with the high demand. and queues of people waiting for the people to vacate and free up the table. the dimsum was hongkong style, so no yu shang,( tossing the cold fish salad) , that is a malaysian/singaporean invention. i have nice memories of those times.

now every year is more or less the same, and the effort of doing something , anything , becomes more onerous. is that what going old means i wonder? i think that is it really, the thing that separates a young person from a old one. to a young person,everything is new and exciting.  and if you get the strong feelings , you also get the strong despair… when you are young, every little thing seem like a world disaster and hits u hard… but when you grow old, things may not have that high excitement anymore, but u dont get into deep despair either.

 you dont get this high manic excitement of youth,  and it seems to compensate for that, u get this even equable feeling of a steady contentment…. at least that is what my life is like now.

i think when i was young, i was glad to get the high excitement, but now i am old, i like what it is now… an even keel of emotions.

maybe depression is the state when u are out of sync with your emotions and your desires. those depressed when they are young are those who want a even keel of emotions whilst youth gives them the manic high excitement of life and the deep despair that pairs with it… whilst those old people who are depressed are the opposite. 

i wonder whether the girls are also at it, rent a girlfriend for a boy to bring home to meet the parents. it is all good commerce haha.

Seeing there are more boys than girls i would think the girl- for -hire scenario is more likely.

i wonder if there are many gays in china who have to hide their sexuality from the parents and so have to hire someone to bring home to parents for the cny reunion.

some of them marry lesbians or straight women to hide their sexuality from the parents.

and it is a puzzle to me why the girls find it hard to find a boy to marry. one would have thought with so few girls around, they would have their pick of boys. but i guess money is important . No girl want to marry a poor boy.

I have a thought . Since parents just want grandchildren, why dont the gays marry a surrogate mother and get a child? that way they can fulfill the desire of their parents for a son, whilst being free to live their gay livestyle without any nagging from the parents.

I guess it wont happen it is too simple a solution. added. not only a simple solution, it is a very expensive one. haha. the surrogate mother is not going to do it for a pittance, that is for sure. so this solution is only available for rich people, and even then it is a partial solution, as no rich person will want to marry the surrogate mother, and the parents will not be willing to accept a bastard child.

So it looks like i have discovered why this solution  is not going to be simple or popular. ah well, back to the drawing board. haha.

I am just glad i dont have that problem. it just goes to show if they just be honest and tell their parents about their being gay it would make life so much easier for them. it wont make life easy for their parents as their hopes for a son is dashed forever, but u cant tell, they might be willing to accept a surrogate birth, if the son uses his own sperm. of course, it might be a daughter and that is another kettle of fish to contend with, seeing daughters are not popular amongst the chinese parents.

Ah we humans, we do like to make life complicated dont we?

Death Noodle

Since China’s gradual opening up to the world post-Mao, a whole generation of youngsters have grown up free from the life or death choices that faced their forebears. These Little Emperors – the result of China’s controversial one-child policy – have had it pretty bloody good when you consider their parents’ and grandparents’ generations faced the horrors of the Great Famine, the Cultural Revolution and flared trousers. They may be blinged up with iPhones, Gucci handbags and Burberry scarves but one thing the girls at least still can’t get their hands on these days is a fella.

Now, it’s not quite clear why this might be, given that the one-child policy and a cultural predilection for a son and heir has led to a gender imbalance in China which could mean 40 million more men than women by 2020. Maybe the women need to try a bit harder, put some…

View original post 263 more words