Wow, 2 full months being married and look what's happened - no blog posts! Well, that is more a coincidence than a cause. There have been other causes: work, travel, relaxing and shopping.
Work is busy, due to some staff leaving, and as a lot of work comes in before the end of the year across the organization. It has taken me to Shanghai and Hong Kong, both cities I like in their own ways, and particularly like being able to explore. This time in Shanghai, Andrea and I were able to visit some wetlands on an island near Shanghai that is a mere 80km long. Trust me, it is a damn big island. Anyway the wetlands were well worth the hour bus ride across massive bridges and under massive tunnels (all new of course). There was a lack of birds there, since we were a month or two too early for the migration season, but it was peaceful, green and pleasant.
In Hong Kong, I was flat out at meetings and conferences, but did manage some social time with work-related people (which unfortunately ran until past 3am), and some reflection. One part of my work is trying to influence the evil world of finance to be somewhat less evil along the lines that if people invested money for long-term growth, then surely they'd care about the long-term health of the companies they invest in, and the long-term sustainability of the people that work for those companies, the people that buy from those companies, and the environment that supports the company's ability to manufacture (etc etc). Unfortunately most of the markets are dominated by short-term thinkers and it is hard to set any system up that really values and rewards companies based on positive social, environmental, governance and even economic performance. In the long-term. And that is kind of the problem with sustainable development. It is about the long-term and many people just think about the short-term. Meanwhile the world is getting nowhere nearer to developing the will (politically, individually, corporate or otherwise) to apply the solutions (or the restraint) which we already have (though potentially more expensive than current activities which are too cheap) to solve the many problems we face.
Anyway, aside from some reflection and ramblings on what BSR can or should be doing, let alone everyone else, I've been back in Beijing plugging away at various other things, working on some newsletters at work (e.g.
here and
here), finally reviewing wedding photos (up on facebook somewhere, and will be on flickr *soon*) and thinking through the implications of the baby that is due in 3 and a half months time. This is not just about thinking (or shopping, or visiting the doctor, or working out how to rearrange the apartment), but it is also about mental preparation. Clearly there are stages - many stages - and all have their pros and cons. In the early months, for example, the baby will be mostly sleeping and so won't require constant attention, but in the early years, the toddler will be speaking and all sorts.
So that is somewhat simplistic and more thoughts have gone through my head than that, but there is no need to write them down yet. I'm yet to read a baby book yet, nor really grill my parent-friends. I am though enjoying time with some of the kids of our friends, and definitely enjoying the last of the Autumn in Beijing outside where, despite other people's noisy kids, it is just Andrea and I. The two of us. I joked today that it is a very short marriage. Pretty soon it will be over, gatecrashed by a third person!
Anyway, on that note, it's time to get over celebrating China's National Day that led to a week vacation and get back to work. Unfortunately we need to work on the weekend to make up for some of the vacation time (this is a national policy, and it must be unique to China) which means I can't go to the pub to watch the Rugby. Thankfully there is always the internet at work!
Adam
