[imcarthur]

fwiw . . .

My stepson (SS) finally met his future father-in-law a couple of nights ago. Dad slipped into Beijing for a high-level meeting & arranged to pick them up at a downtown mall. He arrived very, very courteous, begged off dinner (too drunk), drove them to the condo (which he now knows they are sharing - prenuptials) & made a date for the next day. His chauffer drove btw. He cancelled the next day as he was urgently pulled away on gov’t business . . .

Hmmmmmmmm . . .

This weekend, SS is in Handan with the whole lot of them for the wedding photos. Dad surprisingly made an appearance & has offered to buy SS the new shoes he was supposed to buy before he left . . .

We have our Visas, tickets for the 5th of Feb & a hotel in Beijing, although we were talked into staying in the condo for the first 2 nights. As for our China travel, future mom-in-law is handing it – she travels all the time too so she turned it over to her travel agent. I picked up the China Rough Guide & a small translation book.

We also bought the bride some jewelry & got a supply of wedding red envelopes. Other gifts remain to be bought but the clock is ticking.

So . . . it’s getting interesting.

Ian