Kung hei fat choy! That’s Cantonese that is, and means happy new year, or something like that. Not to be confused with kung hei chow yun fat, which doesn’t have anything to do with Chinese New Year.

Last week was Chinese New Year, this year being the Year of the Ox. It doesn’t really mean a great deal to me, but everyone got a little holiday (slightly annoying when you’re running a start-up business) and the missus says it’s her family’s equivalent of Christmas. Except instead of Christmas trees and nicely wrapped presents, it’s all about orange trees and red envelopes filled with crisp banknotes… and they said the Chinese weren’t capitalists!

What did I do over the holiday? Not a great deal, other than visiting the in-laws, eating a lot, and visiting the New Year flower market – a mass of stalls heaving with people, selling mainly cow-related nik naks and inflatable toys. Not to mention the lai see, where married people give children and bastard singletons money. Doesn’t seem like a good deal to me.

So I had a little trouble really getting into the spirit of things – but does it have to be so soon after Christmas? This being the Year of the Ox, has something to do with being serious and hardworking. Possibly drinking lots of milk. Sounds great.