Chere voyageuse

1 At last, you are about to read the first post from Stayahome. I hope that the journey, now accomplished, was not so burdensome at the time that the recollection remains a burden. In China, in Peking, online. You can connect with the Old Country (though China, as a whole, is an even older country). Send news.

2 Reports of first impressions. Many people? Maybe, but we are familiar with many people, the common experience on commuter trains. Differently-dressed people? Maybe, yet I will not be surprised to hear that people in Peking dress much as people in London do; or perhaps just some people in Peking could be mistaken for people in London.

3 Things to look for. Look for Catholic churches. When she visited, my chum who spent four years in the city as the wife of the RAF Attaché, talked about the churches being filled with congregations of thousands. She spoke of churches which were open. Keep an eye out.

3.1 Copies of the Daily Telegraph. I have a notion that a city in which the airmail edition of the DT is not available is a distant city indeed.

3.2 And what about breakfast? Ask, in English, (or choose from an English menu) for scrambled eggs and bacon. And toast. And English breakfast tea, the tea which is grown on the south-facing slopes of the North Yorkshire Moors. (No, I remember, that tea is Yorkshire tea. English breakfast must be tended on the south-facing slopes, probably, of the North Downs, perhaps close to the vineyard in Godstone.

Best wishes

Don