I’m sat in the airport wearing my heaviest possible clothes with the baggage receipts for 9 (nine) suitcases weighing down the boarding pass. Leaving on a jet plane to old London town (and then Manchester).
That’s right- this is the final blog entry for ISpyShanghai, your favourite Shanghai based Ukulele blog about shoes (well, top 10 anyway).
Because I’ve got a girlfriend now, this move was actually pretty organised; we left the house yesterday and slept in the airport hotel.
As you might expect though from a man who thinks 3D pictures of cats are a great purchase the house was completely filled with tat that we couldn’t take with us.
In the end we gave away so much stuff to the neighbourhood recycling chaps (i.e. the ones who pedal around streets ringing a bell, looking for scrap cardboard) that a queue formed outside the back door. At one point- and this is true- there were so many people fighting over our left-over salt and half broken badminton rackets, that a guy set up shop selling roast potatoes to the crowd.
Anyway we got it done, paid the excess baggage (one million dollars) and take off in about half an hour.
Thank you, goodbye and Merry Christmas Shanghai- it’s been a blast.
Jamma out
A truly sad day, the end of an era, Shanghai’s loss is Manchester’s gain. We’ll miss you Emma. Oh and you too James!
Best of luck to you!~
New shoe blog for a new location??
First post…despite reading for over two years ( and I don’t even live in Shanghai anymore either). Have enjoyed your offerings and the ‘signature’ song on the blog won’t be the same without you and the Uke (sorry Dingle and WoA….but it won’t!!)
Good luck to you both in Blighty…hope to hear what happens next…
Good luck.
I’ll add this line as the comment was rejected for being too short.
Andy that’s a deliberate ploy by James to make it look like people have lots to say about his blog. Let me just say that on MY blog, you can leave a one letter response and it will be welcomed with open arms.
LostManchester?
ISpyonCCTVcamerasabunchofgoodfornothingreprobateswearinghoodies.com?
Will you come back and tell us your next blog destination?
T__+__T
Bye bye for now….. (fat lady sings sad song….)
I saw you and Emma (Plus Dingle and H) @ that Southern restaurant last sunday n I was shy to say Hi..but best of luck to you and Emma!
I hope you do the occasional call in to the podcast to let us all know
how you’re doing. all the best.
Ah, what a pitty! I always liked your posts, though the ones about shoes where not my favourites!
Have a good time!
This is a surprise. Well, good luck, and come back for a visit sometime. Or stick around on Shanghai Expat at least.
Cheers!
“Don’t walk away / in silence”
Look on the bright side: damp dark lonely miserable Manchester awaits!
Good luck with the move back to the UK. I hope you keep blogging from the UK.
Best of luck Jamma
I’ve only been following your blog for a few weeks, but I’ve enjoyed every post. Good luck.
Good luck James and all the best. Don’t be a stranger!
I laughed at the thought of a brawling rabble fighting over your unwashed underpants.
Karyn, I hope you weren’t the couple with a young child sat right behind us, that poor kid probably heard some odd things until we realised he was there! Don’t be so shy next time!
As Woai says, it’s the end of an era, I’d probably be really sad if I wasn’t so heavily sedated right now..
I think i’m going to cry .
My nose is available for another electrocution in any country. All the best
snyft snyft :’(
……………….
You’ll be missed
Best of luck in the good old (boring-boring) Europe.
Hopefully you’ll let us know when you start your new blog
)
Wow, I really enjoyed reading your blog, it was the first page I started reading about Shanghai when I came here. Thank you for that and wish you all the best!
James and Emma,
I am gonna miss checking in with you both and getting the inside scoop on the weird and wonderful of Shanghai. Thanks for the all the laughs and good luck in Manchester.
I hope you start a blog about how it feels to be an expat returning home, I am sure it will be weird to be a ‘foreign’ local.
Have a great Christmas and let us know how you are doing once you get settled.
Missing you already (oh and you too James!)
Thank you for writing this blog, it’s been a pleasure to read
for us its the end
but for Emma and James ?
“We’ve only just begun … ” (Carpenters)
lol
Nooo, say it ain´t so!
Sorry to see you go: your Shanghai blogs have been great and I wish I’d had time to read and comment more.
Hope you don’t carry on Shoe Tuesday in the UK, I hear the police over there take a dim view of people photographing…. er… pretty much everything these days, unless you’re a terrorist and/or paedophile.
Shanghai’s loss. Happy homecoming!
Well that’s it, if there isn’t an ISpy to keep us going it’s not worth staying in China anymore. Your writings, well your wit and humor (we were thinking this was a British trait but Woai can’t always pull it off), were a great find when were were first adapting to our life in China. Thanks for all the laughs, you’ve had a great run and entertained a good lot of folks in your time here…
ever since i’ve left shanghai, i still was there through you…and what fun that was! sorry your going, but i’m hoping you’ll pop up with another great blog from england…i always wanted to move there too! best of luck…!
jamma!
best of luck, but i’m sure i’ll miss bumping into you come champions league final.
manchester won’t have half the atmosphere of yeeha’s…
I’ve been following your blog since LostSeouls (it’s not stalking until the restraining order), and while I’m sorry to see your journey in Shanghai wrapping up, I wish you the best of luck in the next chapter of your life. Hopefully you’ll get the blogging bug again sooner or later.
Looking forward to ISpyManchester, where you make fun of the locals and their shoes. Good luck!
nine suitcases, wow. I could only imagine how many zeros you paid in excess baggage fees. I would’ve fed ex’ed (or even snail mailed) some of those.
“…. well your wit and humor (we were thinking this was a British trait but Woai can’t always pull it off)”
@Mark – Well that’s because as Dingle and James keep reminding me, I’m not a “real” Brit and have only just learned to speak English properly.
ISpyShanghai was an awesome feature and you will be truly missed in Shanghai. Have a great time in Manchester!
@ Dingle: I was the young child! ;p
Karyn, how come you have a girl’s name you big sissy?
You must be one of the very few expats not to return to your homecountry with an asian bride in tow.
This reads like a eulogy. Except Dingle’s last comment.
It seems wrong to use this medium to respond to woai, perhaps if he posted something of his own, but we are inclined to agree with the Dingle and Swiss – only real Brits know good humor and can pull off some proper sarcasm.
Hopefully you two step up, I’m not expecting much from dingle, and pull us out of our Ispy doldrums. We will miss him much less if you can post often, but with the funny. (Dingle get’s this but post less, and although we understand the cat posts, we aren’t all pussy looking to commiserate….)
Still, it’s a sad day. We hope the podcasts continue, as well and all of those somewhat acidic viewpoints that are guaranteed to get a reaction from you loving followers. We will have to work on commenting more.
I’d argue that my last post doesn’t make enough sense – mind you that it’s a Tuesday and I’m drunk posting – but what I’m trying to say is that there are other Shanghai blogs that can pick up the slack from the gaping hole that ISpy is leaving. Right? Who’s not going to miss Swiss and his posts
I’m questioning, not making a statement – Ok, we all know we will miss him, but there are replacement blogs.
Actually we have talked about this, and what blogs will we read once we’ve left China, and you’re all in our keep bin – I think it’s a fairly select group. But for sure Woai and Dingle, and for reasons my mind can’t explain, will stay in our reader….
So sad! But Shanghai’s loss is Manchester’s gain. I hope to bump into you in the street sometime, preferably while you’re wearing a pair of crazy Chinese shoes. Thanks for the giggles! x
‘we are inclined to agree with the Dingle and Swiss’
Remember that Dingle once ate cow spine and Swiss employed pandas as crane operators on construction sites, so their judgements could be brought into question. As for WoAi, I always thought he was the funniest German blogger I’ve ever read.
A while back I stumbled across this site whilst looking for a blog about Shanghai that:
1. The browser could display in a coherent manner.
2. Is posted in a language that I can fully comprehend.
3. Is amusing and funny.
Needless to say after finding this perfect blog site, I have been revisiting regularly and it’s just so sad that this is the last post.
Good luck to you and your girlfriend and thank you for providing the entertaining reads and pics!
@Mark – Message received, will try harder, I promise.
@DavidA – Nein, das ist nicht richtig. I am only half German!
@ Dingle: erm..my parents really wanted a girl?
Merry Christmas Swiss! It was a pleasure to at least have met you once and shared tequila. Good luck and Godspeed!
I’ve been lurking on your blog for a long time now. Great blog, it will be missed! Good luck in your next adventure.
You bald emperor!
elvis has left the building !!!
Elvis??? More like Andre Agassi on a crystal meth comedown.
“I started to hate the blogging so much,” says Swiss James, a recovering Shanghai blogger now being treated at Manchester’s premier internet-detox clinic. “At first it was fun, but then I started doing this podcast with these two weirdos. The pressure to perform week after week was just too intense. I was on the verge of going insane. I hope to lead a normal life from now on and have adopted two penguins named Bob and Rob. They’re so happy. Look at them fly.”
A sad leaving maybe is a good starting. Good luck, James.
Your Chinese workmates will miss you.
Good luck with everything, hope to see you in Dubai soon.
I sob uncontrollably into my Earl Gray. God speed the pair of you.
what’s next? A Culture Club reunion tour?
Thank you for the music / silly blog posts. And the good times (and bad) drinking and eating our way around Shanghai and talking absolute rubbish. Some good memories.
You will be missed.
….K-K-KAMMA-KAMMA-KAMMA-KAMMA-KAMMA-CHAMELEON!
Care to share your new url of your new blog when you return to your motherland?
@Miss Jane – we will never hear from Swiss again. He is in the process of changing his identity, growing a Lev Tolstoi beard and moving into the wilderness. He may start a new blog in ten or twenty years, but he will never tell anyone about it. If a blogger blogs in the forest and no one is around to read, does anyone give a toss?
don’t say goodbye …
been a great time, hope you continue on elsewhere?
@DavidA: Don’t you believe in magic?
@Miss jane: if Swiss gives birth to a baby camel with a full head of hair, then I just might….
Hey there James.
You’ve done some good blogging over the years. You deserve a rest. Sorry about the douchebag trolling your comments in my name over the last year or so. Best of luck in your future.
- William George
I felt the need to share with you the story of Jason Bromby, a 28-year-old British diplomat. He came to China to discuss foreign policy. He has now gone missing. Please read more:
link removed because, screw those guys- Swiss James
Spread the word, something needs to be done!!
to lisa: pls read the final words of jason:”本故事纯属虚构，你所读之处无一属实”
i.e. the story is made up.
From the website:
“Why then would two grown men spend so much time coming up with an elaborate untruth? What lessons can we learn from the tale of Jason Bromby?”
I guess the lesson I would learn is that some people should put down the bong and only be allowed out on April 1.
James! Good luck in Manchester. Your Lost Seouls blog introduced me to Korea when I had just arrived in Seoul and didn’t know anything about anything, so I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for you and your hilarious posts, wherever you happen to be living. Take care!
somehow i think you’ll be back …
maybe on a guest appearance someday when
woai and dingle have their own tv show !
Really pity that can’t read this blog’s update anymore.could u leave ur new blog if there is any?
Best wishes James! Was nice to meet you briefly in Beijing. Hope Manchester treats you well!
Swiss James,
Safe travels! Can you email me with your email? Wanted to see if you might be interested in putting your blog up for adoption. I’m allergic to cats and some commenters, but not blogs.
Elliott Ng
CNReviews.com
No sequel planned?
This is terrible. what am i going to do during lunch at my desk from now on? I have been away for 3 months and this is what i came back to.
Wish you all the best Swiss. Let us know if you are starting another blog.
It’s been a while since I’ve checked comments, but it is nice to see that Swiss still came in to clean up some spam. My wife keeps hoping he will pop up with a new blog, I think she’s going through withdrawal, but keep telling her she’s got to get over it….
We miss your take on life James, it was a great break in the everyday monotony. You’ve put a hurt on the entire blogging world, you may not have noticed it, but it’s more then just you’re two buddies that have drastically dropped their posts – what power do you hold?
It’s been fun following your blog from time to time, all the best in your new life. I have enjoyed reading you, as have visitors of trivago, as your link is top of our Shanghai list.