Back to London

Back to London for Claire's graduation from Warwick University. Nice ceremony - just an hour - with a few good speeches. Especially the reminders to the students to remember and appreciate the sacrifices made by their parents. Exactly. On to lunch in Leamington with Claire's friend Bryony and her parents.

Great to see Rebecca and the rest of the family and catch up with friends. Weather is horrendous - major rains and flooding across the country.

Still, nice to see the sky for the first time in many weeks and to get out of the oppressive Beijing heat for a few days.

Only six months in China but already we are in price shock everywhere we go in London. And forgotten how to tip..though it's coming back fast.

Really fancied Chinese food tonight so we got a take away from Four Regions round the corner. Great lemon chicken - in Beijing they make it with a thick lemon curd sauce and it's much too sweet. Overall, though, the food lacked bite..where are those giant red chillies I'm used to?