COR, it looks a jolly nice place to live, a bit like xishuangbanna perhaps. [edited]

I've read a lot of your stuff over the past....must be a few years now.? Your efforts have always been well-written and very caring. You can be a bit unsettling, you're a nicer man than I-that's unsettling. You are clearly a proper teacher; you are qualified to teach English to the English; whereas, when the rest of us return to Blighty, even after many years of "teaching" in the orient, are reduced to stacking Tesco shelves-if we can get it.

I bet a pound to a penny there are many out there who benefit from your posts, who have had nothing to do with all the recent wailing and gnashing of teeth- they will miss you, and will no longer be able to benefit from your wisdom.

Personally, I like u-turns and have surprised myself over the past few years that when I make such a manoeuvre, the stars don't stop their relentless progress and seemingly futile purpose into nothingness.

Thank you.Although it doesn't always seem apparent, I have learned a tad of restraint from you.