The opening day of Marks and Spencer’s new store in Shanghai was a thing of great beauty. Four floors full sweating laowai trying on ill-fitting slacks and flowery blouses. The fourth floor was the food floor and its with joy that I can report that it was like being back in London. A bit. No fresh food obv but nice to get some decent tea and pasta sauces from home and much cheaper than the imported food shop mafia that we usually go to. Afterwards a meal and as usual our son is the star of the show. There we literally four serving staff playing with him for the duration of our meal not because they had to but because they wanted to. When we moved here we were uncomfortable with this but after a while you get in a groove with it – its the culture.