Happy New Year is the greeting these days

In a few days, we will all be celebrating Chinese New Year.  Everyone joins in - because they then get a vacation!  I like how it leads up. It feels very festive in the country. Lots of red decorations adorn everything.  And best of all, Chinese friends give mandarin oranges.  I have never enjoyed mandarin oranges in Canada. Now I am convinced that they save the best for themselves. These are big, juicy, sweet, and delightfully refreshing fruits.

It is finally a time of year that the Chinese merchants give themselves the opportunity to take some time off. They work like crazy all year, so they are definitely deserving of this holiday.

I took a bottle of red wine to one of my Chinese friends. She of course greeted me with a bag of oranges - yippee.  She and her daughter are going to the UK for the vacation.  With her husband, like all husbands, nattering about what she does not know and what to expect, she asked me a few things about the UK. I guess because I am a westerner, although, from North America, I should know what to expect in the UK. One, I told her to take a sweater. Two, I told her that everything will be expensive, in comparison to here. She is going to Birmingham. Her husband told her to go to the castle where the royal family live - it should be very close by.  She was delighted to hear from me that her husband was mistaken. The royal family castle is called Buckingham, and it is in London, not Birmingham.  I can hardly wait until her return to tell me all about her adventure.