As usual I can get little work done during the winter vacation. For one thing, the Spring Festival is always a big distraction, and for days before and after nobody can get any work done. It's all right if you really have a nice time, as I used to. But now I find myself enjoying it less and less. I stopped enjoying fireworks and firecrackers years ago. The firecrackers especially get on my nerves.

 I really think we should stop making them, as every year many children have their eyes hurt or even blinded. Even worse sometimes fires are started and whole buildings get burned down. Still I suppose we'll continue to make them as long as there is a market for them.

    And the food! People spend days queuing and buying. The result - too much and too rich food which does nobody any good. Chicken, duck, fish, pork, beef, mutton, - name what you will. What's more they become oa;eless too. Too much of a good thing, as we say. And this visiting business too. It's all right for a few really good friends to get together and chat over some tea or drinks.

 But mere acquaintances and the usually not too neighbourly neighbours dropping in to say hello-well, I suppose these are well-intended gestures, but I find them a pain in the neck. Usually there is nothing to talk about except some meaningless platitudes.
    Mum is looking very tired, and no wonder Dad too, I think. found the whole thing a strain. The only two who really enjoyed the Spring Festival are Granny and Xiao Hong. Still Spring Festival comes only once a year.

    Oh yes, I did enjoy myself skating on the nearby lake quite a few times. The ice is not too good now and getting very thin. I stopped going before the Spring Festival. But there are people who are either too reckless or too ignorant or both, and we hear about people falling through thin ice every year.

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