After 6 years I must say farewell to my friends and colleagues at thyssenkrupp System Engineering in Shanghai.
My new China adventure will start soon!
The smog has arrived in Shanghai. Pack extra N95 masks people! 😷
Sunday evening traffic in Shanghai. Will I ever get home?
This is my Saturday lunchtime listening while curled up on the couch with the dogs! A fantastic live album from one of my favourite bands.
Last night I finally got around to watching the Apple announcement from earlier this week. Although the HomePod doesn’t interest me because I am a big SONOS fan. I am pleased that Apple have reverted to the best iPhone style/design. I am really interested in trying out a 12 Mini.
Ignoring all iPhone 12 related posts so I can enjoy the announcement later tonight.
Anyone who has ever been to a bank in China can relate to this. I just wasted 90 minutes of my life trying to do some simple transactions and now I must return tomorrow with an old passport to complete everything. Probably another 90 minutes lost.
Is inbox zero actually achievable?
A view from Nanchang Jie, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. Again, I’m Playing with HDR.
After 19 years of marriage, happiness is the 21 year old Balvenie in my glass. 🥃😜
Some sites from around Lihu Lake, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province with me playing with HDR and filters.
Today is our 19th wedding anniversary and one reason we came to my wife’s hometown was the hope that I could return her under warranty. Apparently it wasn’t a lifetime warranty, but rather I had to keep her for a lifetime. If only I read the small print! 😜
The view from our hotel in downtown Wuxi.
I have also discovered a cool HDR app on the iPhone!
So tonight my wife and I met my mother-in-law for dinner near our hotel. Afterwards we decided to walk my mother-in-law home and neither my wife or mother-in-law knew the way and had to rely on the only person who did not grow up here to lead the way!
A live band is accompanying our evening meal!
Finally, some vacation time! Heading to Wuxi (my wife’s hometown) for a few days.
🐕Harry is admiring something he cannot have!
🛬 Wheels down Shanghai. Only 4 hours late which is classed as on-time in China 😜
Let’s try again. Boarding for second time, let’s hope we make it to Shanghai.
I hope they can keep their Flux under control this time.
Only in China can you board a flight on time, sit on the plane for an hour and then be told to disembark as there are air traffic control delays.
When I landed in Xi’an I saw these Take a nap boxes. Let’s hope my boss doesn’t come up with cost saving ideas after seeing them! Actually at 30RMB/hour they are not exactly cheap.
From the picture it looks quite comfortable and could well be a better standard than my normal business trip hotel!
If I can find them in the departure area of the airport on Friday, I think my curiosity will get the better of me.
Come to think of it, this could be a great escape room from a nagging wife!
Wheels down 🛬 Xi’an
I am just leaving home to go on my first business trip since returning to China. I am headed to the ancient city of Xi’an I sincerely hope this trip lasts it’s intended length.
Duff Beer portrait, taken with my iPhone. I’m quite pleased with the outcome. The beer was good too!
When I first got back to my apartment complex after my 14 days quarantine, I observed an unmanned food cart at the entrance. Over the last few weeks I have seen these carts at subway station entrances in the morning. They looked interesting but I had never seen one moving until yesterday.
First I should say that I live next to Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in the Pudong District of Shanghai. Across the street from my apartment complex is the Pudong Software Park where I often take my dogs for a walk because in the middle is a nice lake where the dogs can enjoy sniffing and running around.
Yesterday as we headed towards the park, I observed one of these unmanned food carts, but it was actually an autonomous unmanned food cart. As you can see in the video below, it is oblivious to the red light, not only at the pedestrian crossing, but also at the main junction. When I shared the video with my friend, he said it must have been programmed by a cyclist because the cyclist is also ignoring the red lights (which is pretty normal in China to be honest).
So it looks like they have a lot more work to do on the software before these are allowed to freely roam around the city.