Now's the Time to say Goodbye

Yesterday I was offered pre-sessional work at Brunel University and I decided for the time being to say goodbye to China. It will be a long goodbye; my partner arrives in Beijing on Friday, she will then fly to Yichang where I will join her, we will be getting on a boat and going up the Yangzte and then we will be travelling for about another ten days. On the third or fourth of August I will fly to London. It will be a long goodbye but already there is a sort of "Wehmut", a sort of sadness, because, although I have been doing a fair bit of complaining about this that and the next thing here, the experience has on the whole been positive. Still, I am still here so, perhaps, I should save my goodbyes until closer to the day. Now, is not the time to say goodbye!