Up on the roof

Somehow or other, almost all of my friends these days seem to be in 'the media', in some sense (although almost as many of them are photographers and film-makers as are writers; and amongst the writers, they're mostly working for expat magazines or wire agencies or as opportunistic freelancers rather than for the major newspapers). Perhaps this is a sign that I have broken free at last from the dismal ranks of the TEFLers. Then again, perhaps not.

Anyway, one of the advantages of this new social bias to my life is that I now get invited to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China's events - such as last Saturday's 'End Of Summer Barbecue' on Obi-Wan's rooftop, overlooking Xihai lake.

I'm not a fan of that bar in general (STUPID name; and it styles itself a 'Club' - always a bad sign!), but it has a great location, nicely out of the way on the northernmost of the three lakes forming the 'Houhai' area (Houhai is actually the middle lake, but remarkably few people seem to know this). This end of the lakes is still largely undeveloped (although this can cause a problem for a bar here; Obi-Wan's [rather nicer] predecessor on this site, Rain, foundered largely because no-one knew it was there....); the tranquility is appreciated by the hordes of fishermen here, and makes a very pleasant contrast to the frenetic bustle a mile further south at Yinding Bridge.

The only thing we were missing on this occasion was some decent weather - we got one of those beastly, skyless days, cool yet still oppressively clammy (a real rarity for September - but I fear our weather patterns are a bit fucked-up by all the government's attempts to "manage" them over the past couple of months). Ah, well. It was still a damn good time, with several old friends in attendance: Dishy Debs, The Choirboy, Stroppy Tom, Nick O'Pix, Tennessee Tom.... even my nemesis from the Pool Bar, New Dad (and his family).

The ticket was only 180RMB for 5 hours of all-you-can-eat and all-you-can-drink. I probably got my money's worth on the beers alone......

I wonder when their Christmas party is going to be???