Joshua’s fourth birthday party
Vee and I had our first holiday in China in September 2000. On the flight back from Beijing to London, we sat in a row of three seats, the third of which was occupied by a 25 year old Chinese student setting off to Oxford University to commence a PhD in biochemical engineering. It was a journey of over 10 hours and there was plenty of time to talk and become friends.
Hua (English name Cathy) had never left China before and was a little anxious about negotiating controls at Heathrow Airport, connecting with the person expected to meet her, and establishing herself in Oxford. So we stayed with her while she went through the controls and then met her contact and the next weekend we visited Oxford to take her for lunch and see how she was settling down. From that initial contact developed a wonderful friendship in which Hua became like a daughter to us.
At the end of her first year of study at Oxford University, Hua returned to China to marry her university boyfriend and he subsequently joined her in Britain. Zhihao (English name Alex) was as warm and engaging as Hua and immediately became like a son to us. In April 2007, Hua & Zhihao had a baby boy called Qinyuan (English name Joshua). By then, they were living in London and we visited them every few weeks to see Joshua growing up. At the time, we had no grandchildren and darling Joshua became like a grandson to us.
This Bank Easter weekend, Joshua had his fourth birthday and we all celebrated at the Egham home of Vee’s nephew Martin. Martin and his wife Isobel have two wonderful children: Yasmin, who is five and half, and Lucas, who is almost three. Also they have a long garden which had lots of fun things for the kids including a small bouncy castle. The weather was still warm (it’s become cooler now), Isobel made some lovely food, and Hua brought a delicious cake – so we all all had a really fun time. The three children particularly enjoyed me being the tickle monster.
Joshua (middle) with Yasmin (left) and Lucas (right)
Joshua’s special cake – tasty, very tasty