Tis the season to be jolly

With covid sweeping unhindered in Beijing, I caught the virus mid-December, which was rather unpleasant and tiring. More distressing: it prevented me from hosting guests for celebratory pre-Christmas dinners and the music we were supposed to sing for the third Sunday of Advent service went unsung because nearly all the singers had caught covid! 

So I was releaved to get out of morose Beijing on 17 December for a few days of duty travel to Hong Kong. It was an opportunity to meet up with my brother and sister-in-law, whom I had not seen in the flesh since June 2019! We shared many delicious dinners in the restaurants which were reopening after the Hong Kong covid spell of last spring. I even enjoyed the rather kitch Christmas spirit pervasive throughout the city: Christmas decorations and lights, carols suffusing out from all the sound systems of malls and lifts, gourmet goods and ingredients in the shops and supermarkets. All these things were sadly missing in Beijing this past month.

The weather was wonderfully sunny during my six days in Hong Kong. I went out for a hike in the new territories with my brother. I took a day off to roam around town and on the bay. The skyline is always impressive and uplifting.

 

 

 

I have now arrived back in France for Christmas with my parents and the rest of my family.

 

 

Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Nana Mouskouri, Christian Christmas songs