She risked her life for tofu

Gao Yuanyuan in Shanghai Dreams When Lanying was eight years old her parents made her cook the rice every day for dinner. She was also sent to get the tofu.  Tofu, like all food in China in the early 1980s, was rationed, so she had to take her bowl and her coupons to the tofu [...]

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How to be an entrepreneur

The first thing Matthias noticed after he recovered from the ascent of the stairs was our TV digibox. He started asking questions about it. I suspected nothing, thinking that this was just standard geek talk. Matthias gets really excited about technology. Then on Saturday Lanying called me. They had been to see “We Will Rock [...]

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Gone forever

They charge for rubbish by the yard. I was told I can get rid of 6 yards for £190 or 8 yards for £250. In the end the men charged me £190 “because of the weight,” whatever that meant. “This is a very heavy load,” they kept saying. “A very heavy load.” I certainly feel [...]

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Caveman

Since I was writing all weekend I didn’t have time to get rid of our old washing machine. “You’re a caveman,” Lanying told me. I think a caveman would probably be a little bit more practical. He would probably be able to drag the washing machine away and hurl it into an abyss. “Because I [...]

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