I Love China

I saw this the other day in a shop. I like it because Tommy paws at things in exactly the same way as this cat.

He may be over five years old but he’s only just learned how to speak!

Around 65 to 70 percent of Americans are overweight and about one third of Americans are obese (having a body mass index above 30). That’s a pretty shocking set of statistics. I’m now starting to suspect Tommy is in fact American.

Tommy is always finding new places to chill for hours and hours. His latest favourite place appears to be by the window between the wooden posts. The fact he’s exposed to the glaring heat from the summer sun doesn’t seem to bother him as long as he can look down on the street and watch the world go by.

How time flies! We’ve been together for 5 happy years now, since July 2005. Here’s a short video clip of a young Tommy exploring his new home when he first came to live with me and his first frightening experience with mirrors!

I love you Tommy. Here’s to the next 5 years!

Tommy patiently waiting for the England vs USA match to start

So here we are at last, the 2010 FIFA World Cup started yesterday with the hosts South Africa getting the competition underway against Mexico. It was very fitting I thought, that the hosts South Africa scored the first goal of the tournament, the first ever World Cup to be held in Africa. And what a spectacular goal from Siphiwe Tshabalala it was too, followed by a lovely joyful little celebration routine afterwards. It might be a bit early to vote the goal as goal of the tournament, but I think it will be in contention. Rooney could not have finished better, and I don’t think he’d take that as an insult.

So apart from England, I’ll be rooting for the hosts, as it’s always nice to see the host nation do well and perhaps go beyond the opening group stages. What a pity then that Mexico got a bit lucky and equalised towards the end of the match. (I have to say I was somewhat surprised by the number of Mexicans in Big Bamboo last night. I had no idea there were so many of them living in Shanghai!)

Tonight of course is the big one : England vs USA. My England shirt is washed and ironed and ready for action! Come on England!!!

Yes folks, today is the first day of the six month 2010 Shanghai World Expo. I’m at the Expo today but Tommy’s staying at home to catch up on his beauty sleep. I took this last night as I was testing my camera equipment in preparation for the Expo visit.

We’re taking you wayyyyy back to 2005. This was in July, days after I first found Tommy on the street outside my house on that fateful day. The clip is on YouTube so if you are in China you will need a proxy to view it. I will try to upload it to a Chinese video site soon so everyone can access it.

The format is widescreen so if you want to see the whole frame, it might be better to go to the YouTube page itself.

Every time I take Tommy out of my apartment he goes completely crazy. If I take him in to the elevator he digs his claws in to me so deep he usually draws blood and then he usually tries to break free and run back home.

This afternoon, I took him up to my friend’s apartment on the 23rd floor (I’m on the 5th) and he was so nervous he spent the entire time hidden in a corner behind a table, only once peering over to assess the situation before going back to cowering in the corner in his hiding place. This is in complete contrast to when he’s at home where he is always running from room to room, jumping on tables and chairs and generally owning the place!

I know, it’s not a good reflection on me when you can count on one hand the number of posts I’ve written so far this year, so apologies for that. Work has been super busy and it doesn’t look like slowing down any time soon, but I’ll try and respect my blogging responsibilities.

Anyway, here’s the first Caturday for 2010. It looks like a studio shot but it’s actually Tommy sitting in my bath tub. Basically I go in to the bathroom to have a shower, he runs in quick as lightening and jumps in the tub, so I have only two choices : get him wet by turning on the water (which of course, he hates), or run out to grab my camera to take a picture. On this occasion, I went for option two.