Goodbye England, hello England

The journey from the airport to our new (as yet unseen) house was lovely but strange. It was a beautiful sunny day, and at that time in the morning, the roads of Shanghai were still relatively empty. Everything felt welcoming and familiar, but there was still a definite 'going on holiday' feel to everything. Arriving at the house was like arriving at a hotel. That was probably because it was roughly the size of a hotel. I was stunned. Although I had seen pictures, I wasn't prepared for this. It has been built in a curious split-level way, which results in there being 5 floors. Most of the ceilings (though not all) are probably 20 feet high. Every room has at least 3 light switches, while the living room has 15 I think - this is to control the wall lights, central lights, chandeliers, lamps, concealed lights, picture lights, spot lights...you get the idea. The furniture is about as far removed as you can get from the beech wood and pale lilac walls that are so trendy in England at the moment. It is all very heavy, carved, deeply polished mahogany, with red and gold Chinese upholstery and wall hangings at every opportunity. Probably not to everyone's taste, but I am in heaven!

S wanted to make sure that D in particular learnt straightaway that England (or at least reminders of England) were never too far away. So we had lunch in Pizza Hut, tea in TGI Friday's, and went to do some Western shopping in Carrefour. We all played Table Tennis in the garage on the newly installed Olympic Standard Table Tennis table. D and J watched an episode of Friends from the Complete Set of Every Friends Episode on DVD. Then they both played on the X-Box in the den. So, just like England really, except that our 3 course meal in Pizza Hut came to 14 pounds, the table tennis table cost 60 pounds (including delivery), the complete set of every Friends episode on DVD cost 15 pounds (yes - 15 pounds for the entire 10 series), and X-box games are 20p each.