Hello Sheng,

It is so cold today, that I wish I was in Longzhou, where I am sure it is much warmer. Down in South Wales, and in South West England, there have been many floods. Water, water, everywhere, even in some of the homes, which must be very sad for them now that it is so near Christmas. I hope the weather is better tomorrow for our drive down to London. I have not been down to London for more than a year. The last time I was there, was the same time I came to meet you in Beijing.

In about twenty days time it will be the shortest day, so the sun will be starting to move closer towards us; it will be very nice to see the Spring again. I dont like the Winter very much. It is only 4 o'clock in the afternoon, but I have already drawn the curtains over the windows, to help keep the warmth in, and also so that I can not see the wet and windy weather outside. This time next year perhaps you will be here and you will have to wear lots of extra clothes to keep you warm, just like Van did when he was staying in London.

Zhong was hoping to come to London, but I dont think he will manage it for some time yet. When Zhong first wrote to me I thought he was only a young boy because he said that he was one of Yin's students. In fact he is now 20 years old and is attending the Art School, at Chang Sha. He sent me some photos of himself in his last letter, and Quang thinks he looks a bit like Liu. Liu will be on his own in Beijing for the next ten days, as Kate has gone to Japan, until the 12th December. Although she is going there on business for the hotel, I am sure she will have some free time to see something of the Japanese way of life, which should be very interesting. I have now learnt three short sentences in Japanese, from Ko ! I can say, 'What is your name?' ... 'What do you do ?' ... 'Are you Japanese?' The language seems much easier to learn than Chinese. Ko is going back to Japan next Summer .... for a holiday !

I have tried on my 'Father Christmas' costumn, ready for the school party on the 17th December, but Brian seems to think that all the children will be frightened when they see me. Instead of making them laugh, I will be making them cry. Do you think Xiao Ai would like to see me all dressed up ? I remember when I was a little boy and I was taken to see Father Christmas, I was too shy to say anything to him. When I came back home, I wondered whether 'He' would bring me anything for Christmas, even though I had not asked for anything. Of course 'He' did !!!

Take care and be happy,
Danny