Wednesday 30th January, 2013         1900

Mange. With Pepsi not being a dog confident enough to interact with me much, I perhaps don’t notice as quickly when something is amiss as I might do if she came for a fuss more often. When I took her out to do her business this morning I noticed her muzzle and the areas below both ears seemed a little dirty. On closer inspection it was apparent it was yet again mange. A couple of weeks ago she had a spot on a front elbow which I got rid of with spray and I am hoping that is all that is required for the latest outbreak. She doesn’t like having it on her snout though and as soon as I finished the application she went potty, rubbing her head over her bed pillows to try and get rid of the smell. I thought with the intensive treatment from the vet it wouldn’t rear its ugly head again and I can do without paying for another course of injections and twice weekly trips downtown with her.

The day though was fabulous at 18C and so I rode to town. I lunched in Ke Bi Wang and for once became extremely annoyed because so many people stopped and stared at the laowei. Not because they stared per se, but because they were doing it while I was trying to eat. I retaliated by informing them (not that they understood) that even foreigners (two of us!) eat there and I also stared some of them out. It is difficult to dine with half a dozen pairs of eyes on you.

Afterwards I took the bike for adjustments and repairs. The brakes were adjusted, the bullbars tightened and then I asked them to fix my lopsided mudguard. I was told they couldn’t and I would have to buy a new one for 35y. I told them to go ahead but my new friend the mechanic ignored this and simply took his drill, made a hole and then used an electrical tie to secure it for free. Somebody has collided with it while it was parked because the small reflector is missing and I think I know exactly where and when. During my exams I heard my alarm going off and when I finished and came out the bike was in a different position to the one I left it in. It can only have been a car, and a teacher’s at that.

All fixed up, I went and bought a load of food for the brood and the lasagne ingredients. No need to shop tomorrow so I have tentative arrangements to meet Crystal for lunch. The forecast is for rain late afternoon and I hope they have it right because at 20C I will take the bike and would like to be home again in the dry before it starts. Qing tells me she is feeling a little unwell but assures me she will make it back here on Friday. I sincerely hope she does as I am looking forward to my dinner followed by a good weekend in Hefei.

Thursday 31st          1545

So much for the predicted 21C with rain tonight - we had rain while I was asleep but it was dry for my ride in to meet Crystal and Pam. They took me for a nice hotpot at a place I hadn’t been to before. Most hotpot places serve much the same stuff and this was no exception except a small side plate was produced that had but a small layer of some grey stuff on it. The girls informed me it was made from shrimps although it didn’t smell like it. I put a small spoonful into my pot assuming it was for flavouring but in fact after a while a lump floated to the top. It was now ready to eat. It didn’t taste of shrimps either, in fact I can’t say what it did taste like as it was unlike anything I have had before. While not being unpleasant it is not something to rave over either.

We spent a pleasant two hours chatting during which I learnt they had dined with Prof Fang last night. Uh oh - the meetings with me simply had to have cropped up in conversation and so I asked. Thankfully Crystal assured me she sang my praises! Before we finished I reminded her that I was unavailable until at least Monday so she could text me then to arrange a further meeting. She looked uncomfortable at this so I asked what the problem was. Monday is a special day apparently, a rehearsal for Chinese new year and families have a big meal together. It seemed odd to me to be having a dry run 6 days before the big event rather than 7 but then certain numbers loom large in Chinese culture, so who knows? Anyway I said she could still text and I would let her know if Qing had gone home again so we could make arrangements. Now they want to meet her, although somehow I think if she comes back with me from Hefei she will probably disappear Monday anyway. Next time they want to try the prawn hotpot seeing as neither of them have been. I’m happy seeing as Crystal’s dad is paying!

When we emerged it was raining so I had a slightly damp return journey and as it looks set to stay for the rest of the day Pepsi will get a quick trot outside the building. I don’t want to go anywhere! Anyway I am exhausted. I went to bed at 0030 with the alarm set for nine. After three hours I woke up and I was damned if I could get back to sleep. I don’t know why because I was certainly tired enough but it guarantees an early finish tonight. No bad thing seeing as I have plenty to do tomorrow.

Monday 28th January, 2013           1945

This time the forecasters got it right. Not in the morning though, for at ten I couldn’t see further than 50 yards because of thick fog, but at lunchtime the sun broke through. By two when I was gearing up to meet Crystal and Jim downtown it was positively warm at 14C. Cue riding the bike.

I had timed the meeting for three because it meant it was easy to avoid agreeing to either lunch or dinner - even though in theory I am working I never feel comfortable being treated all the time. This way they just had to provide the ale. Next time, which will probably be Thursday, I will go earlier and be happy to accept a free lunch.

As it happens I did a quick shop for some flour and grabbed a KFC. The problem with leaving the meeting late meant that I was then in a race to beat sundown, it gets chilly very quickly thereafter. I made it back just as the light was fading. Time to take Pepsi out and buy enough liquid supplies so that I have no need to go out at all tomorrow if I don’t want. I will have no need, I have a chilli in the freezer and have the option of rice or making fresh bread to go with it. Ditto Wednesday although Thursday I must go to town, food to buy and money to get from the bank for our little trip.

Tuesday 29th         1815

Up to 17C today and even when I finally went out at 1630 I didn’t need my jumper under the coat - it was far too nice not to, although I could have just taken the dog outside the building. Allegedly it will be even warmer tomorrow so the bike is on charge for a town run. I have a repair on the rear mudguard to get done on the bike (it is lopsided where a bracket has snapped, probably someone did it when it was parked), get the brakes adjusted and I may as well get my money out and stock up on pet meat. That would just leave having lunch with Crystal and another friend she will bring (as Jim won’t be around) on Thursday.

Taking Pepsi to the shop I decided to dump her off at the sweet pork place while I went to buy wine but I noticed on approaching thousands of small tatters of red paper on the ground outside. That could only mean two things - one, a load of bangers had been set off recently and two, they are now shut for the spring festival.

Undeterred and despite my misgivings I took Pepsi to the restaurant near the fish place - the one where she disappeared into the undergrowth that time. She did exactly the same this time but in precisely the same place so I knew where she would be when I wanted to leave. I just had the one bottle as I stood outside and watched a vivid orange sun go down and youngsters riding rickety old bikes and giving smaller friends lifts on the luggage racks. It is pleasant to see kids playing the way we did when I was younger instead of sitting glued to the box, a computer or a game console. They are even allowed to do such dangerous things as fall over.



Kevin got home early today and emailed me to complain of being very tired. Flying via Dubai may have had something to do with it because he has hours to wait for a plane change there. He has custody of my dongle as I asked him to use it in order that Vodafone don’t deactivate it and render it useless under their idiotic “don’t use it for 9 months and lose it” rule. The first time he tried to use it a message appeared for him to call them so I hope they don’t play silly buggers - I am quite happy to email them myself to tell them what is going on.

Oh, and before I went out I put the bread maker on for fresh bread to go with the chilli. On checking it on my return it had reset itself to the beginning, thus prolonging things by over an hour. I wondered if yet again I had been lumbered with a faulty machine, but just now I looked around to see Tigger perched on top of it. My educated guess is that one of the cats reset it when I wasn’t here. At a stroke I could stop a recurrence by relocating it to the kitchen/balcony but they don’t work too well in the cold - can’t put a lid on it either as there are vents in the top cover. Is nothing sacred?

Sunday 27th January, 2013         2100

She did come back yesterday lunchtime, not in the happiest of moods though because she had wasted her time in going to see schools/teachers who offer Arabic. Said mood improved a couple of hours later when she located a private tutor on the net, who although on holiday elsewhere is normally based in Hefei. He speaks Arabic, French, English and Chinese so she is hoping that after the spring festival she can meet him and that he is as good as she hopes.

I did make pizzas and it was the first test of the newly purchased pizza trays. What a difference they make! No more soggy middle and perfectly cooked all over. And she did eat two! We stayed in all day apart from an hour when we took Pepsi out and visited the wild puppies that hang around the sweet pork place. I had to be up at 0630 today and intended to get an early night but it was past midnight when I did clock off.

I had the pronunciation testing at the little school from 0900-1100 and I suggested Qing come with me. I had been told that due to a family birthday party they would be unable to take me to lunch afterwards so I said I would take her for a prawn hotpot. The forecast, even when I woke up, was for a high of 11C and sunny. Accordingly I never donned long johns or took my gauntlets. It was foggy and remained so and it was bloody freezing! Aside from being conducted outside in a public square in the cold my work was as always pleasant with Helen’s students. I was glad to see she has 46 of them because she seems to do a good job.

To my surprise, at the end we were indeed invited for lunch. Fine by me as it was better than paying myself, and I asked about the party. They would go after lunch. We went to a renowned dumpling restaurant (there are three in the chain here but I don’t know if they are national) Wan Qing if I have the spelling correct. I must admit they do lovely fried jowza and today for the first time in China I was given a soup I liked! It was tomato and pork and - sheer bliss - there were no bones in the pork. She took me there once before and I think she must be a regular as both times they had a private room free for us. A big bonus was the heating. I warmed up enough to take off my coat. Unfortunately because of the party they decamped early but left Qing and me to continue eating.

She had said she was going home to Tongling afterwards anyway and the plan had been to take her to the station. The location of the restaurant was a huge plus considering the cold, for it was 300 yards from the bus route and all I had to do was drop her off there and it was also on my way home. Timing doesn’t get much better though. With one bus every 40 minutes no sooner had we stopped than the bus arrived and she jumped off the bike and hopped straight on the bus. No time for anything other than a quick goodbye and a wave from the window.

It is doubtful she will be back before Friday and I have promised her lasagne that day. A good amount of my day will be spent cooking because I will need to prepare three days of animal food as well - we will go to Hefei together Saturday morning and I need to make sure they don’t get hungry. That’s when they wreck the place. In fact I am getting the evil eye right now because I had a kip earlier and their dinner is late.

Time to close now but here are two photos, one of the cats enjoying my electric blanket, the other of Qing studying in her “office” by my bread maker.

Thursday 24th January, 2013            2200

Ah, China - the land that is constantly in flux and making plans is hard to do, to bastardise a song title.

Far from making pizza today I am instead alone. I woke up to a text today saying that Qing had met the other teacher last night and it is obvious she hasn’t been impressed with either. Her father wants to send her to Nanjing to study but she wants to stay within strike distance of Tongling, at least for now. So, one of her friends is taking her to meet a private tutor tomorrow (hence she never came back) and afterwards she is going to Tongling to see Lucy. I met Lucy when I was there, she is a teacher from Swansea and is off this weekend to Thailand to spend the holidays. I know they are both good friends so I understand her wanting to say goodbye for a while. So, God knows when she will be here, hopefully early next week but one thing is for sure, I am not firming up next weekend in Hefei until I am as sure as it is possible here that we will actually go! I do miss her though…..

I wasn’t cooking pizza from scratch for one though so decided I would go downtown. Kevin wanted to meet up as he wanted to give me the main set of keys to his motorbike so that if he was burgled he would still have some. Unlikely considering his flat downtown has a door with more bolts than a bank vault door. I decided to do a bit of shopping first and then meet in the little Korean place. We actually met in the supermarket in the commercial centre. Lottemart has flour but no yeast - this is China - and stone me if the other place has yeast but no flour! Better still neither has margarine (butter is too much to ask) but I did manage to buy some bacon. What I wouldn’t do for some proper back bacon or a proper leg of ham.

Dinner was a nice change though, although I was sad to note after passing by on the bus thrice now that the Korean bbq restaurant down the road seems to have closed for good. It was a little pricey perhaps but the food was good. As I said, flux, businesses open, flourish and then for no apparent reason simply disappear. Maybe they got caught up in the horsemeat scandal.

Friday 25th        1930

What a lovely day again, peaking at 9C. Not that I have done much mind - aside from my laundry. Oh, and emailed my shopping list to Kevin who leaves in the morning. Just small things which annoyingly aren’t readily available such as salt and pepper cellars (you know, the cheap ones they use in greasy spoons), Atora suet and a couple of fuses - no such thing here which is fine except I need 1 and 13 amp fuses if my UK extension decides to blow up. Not the sort of thing you think to take anywhere because I never dreamed they weren’t available.

As for Qing, she will let me know in the morning if she will come back tomorrow. I will need to know early so I can make dough for pizzas and also to prevent me from going downtown shopping and eating. I hope she returns although I know she is having an evening with Lucy tonight, because if she does perhaps she will come with me to my little two hour gig at Helen’s school. After we may be taken for lunch but if not I will take her anyway.

I can’t believe how incredibly lucky I have been so far with winters here. The first one was awful with snow and bitter cold, last year was mild and this year aside from a fair dumping of white stuff a couple of weeks ago has turned decent as well. In fact Kevin - who hates cold weather with a passion - is going to blunder into far worse when he lands in the midlands! Heehee!

Wednesday 23rd January, 2013             1800

Last night Qing told me she would come back today and that the meeting she had with the Arabic teacher was “terrible” and that she would explain when she saw me. I was rather upbeat and replied that as I had something on today it would be better if we ate downtown tonight and accordingly went to bed with a smile on my face.

I had made arrangements to meet up with the girl who wants to practise English at 1230 today downtown. I duly arrived at the south gate in good time although had I known today was going to be relatively warm I would have charged the bike last night and taken that instead. I had the misfortune to time my trip very badly indeed, for the nursing college opposite was disgorging young would-be Nightingales as they finally closed for the spring festival.

The first bus was rammed full of bodies and suitcases so I thought no problem, I will take the next bus, plenty of time. Four nurses and I duly waited a few minutes and were rewarded with a new vehicle. By this time though, dozens more fledglings had joined us and as soon as the bus doors opened I found myself in a situation similar to one I was in years ago when I had the misfortune to encounter a Glasgow theatre emptying after a Bay City Rollers concert. There was a sense of every girl for herself, stuff the fat old laowei who was here before us, we are getting on!

Yes of course I was tempted - extremely - to bellow and demand my place near the head of a by now non-existent queue which had become a stampede but I became so angry I actually pushed people away so I could get the hell out of it. Some of these girls (who remember are being trained to be caring and sympathetic towards people) turned to look at me as if I was mad. I simply shook my head with a stonefaced expression. Whether they understood my disgust at such primitive behaviour I know not. So I waited for bus number three. Now of course I was going to be late. It arrived and once again I was surrounded by nurses. I had decided that I was either taking this one or forgetting the idea entirely. Exactly the same happened as before but this time I allowed four people to embark before using my weight, getting to the entrance and then grasping both sides so as to prevent anyone else pushing in front of me. This was met with some surprise but I gave them a (probably unintelligible to them) lecture on manners and the fact this was my third bus. I got a seat.

Half way through my “free” lunch with Crystal and her friend Jim, Qing texted me to say she wasn’t coming today. She had a meeting with a second teacher at six this evening so would return tomorrow. Damn. Still, it gives me all day tomorrow to prepare her dinner request - pizza. Considering her appetite I am wondering whether I should make one each or a third one for her as well!

It was still a lovely day when I got back so I took Pepsi to the outside shops and stood outside having a drink and watching some new puppies playing. Two of them wanted to play with Pepsi but she is not the sociable sort when it comes to strange animals, they were greeted with a low and (if you didn’t know she was afraid of her own shadow) menacing growl. She truly is only secure and happy when we are home. And as soon as the sun disappeared it got very cold very quickly.

As for me, I am tired and I think tonight will be an early one. Having had lunch I don’t really need dinner although I bought some more seafood and cheese spring rolls and will do them for a decent snack later. Oh, and Kevin swears blind he thought my phone call was going to be for a dinner invitation and not to get me to help anyone out. Right.

Monday 21st January, 2013       1730

It looks as though Qing has made her mind up regarding her future - as much as that happens here because things always change. What she wants to do is to study Arabic in Hefei for 4 months and then in the summer go to Sydney. Ideally she wants to be a TV or radio hostess but I doubt that will happen. I think she has chosen the best path which is also her father’s wish.

She says that working for a local television station would get her an annual salary of 36,000y - not a bad wage, but if she works for her uncle’s business he will pay her eight times that, which is astronomical here. At least if she does in fact make it to Oz she has thinking time as to what she really wants to do in her life. From my perspective, the problem is that tomorrow morning she is going to Hefei to meet two teachers who will tutor her in Arabic (not a lot of call for it in China!) and it is quite possible she will start studies almost immediately which will mean she won’t come back here. Our weekend at the Hilton in a fortnight is still on track though - for now!

She cluttered off downtown a couple of hours ago to buy a pair of slippers she saw the other day but didn’t buy. In the meantime I am busy baking fruit bread for her to take in the morning and my version of shepherds pie for our dinner later. I told her I would hold off on the mashed potato until she returns so I can show her how to make it.

Tuesday 22nd          0830

While she was out shopping I did the “filling” for the pie, adding some hot chilli to pep it up, but waited until she came back to boil the spuds. She was then treated to a lesson in mashing and when it was done I let her take a spoonful to taste before I covered the meat & veg. “Wow!!!! That’s delicious!!!” was the response, so I told her to wait until she tasted the entire thing.

Now, the pie was easily enough to feed four. When it was done she thought the pattern in the potato I scratched with the tines was absolutely marvellous and I dished up a quarter each. I couldn’t finish my portion (but I have to say it was very tasty) as I was stuffed, she on the other hand had no such problem. She ended up eating the same amount again AND a cake for pudding! How in God’s name she stays so slim with the amount she packs in I don’t know but she did say if she lived with me she would get fat because she loves my cooking.

This morning we got up early as she wanted to set out in good time for Hefei. It takes about four hours by buses all told so I imagine she will be having lunch at midday. I turned out in the cold to give her a ride to the south gate - I would have taken her to the main bus station but she would have been frozen on the back of the bike and anyway the bus from here only costs 1y.

I don’t know if the promise of a selection of more western cooking had any bearing on it but at some point she will indeed be returning because she decided to leave her laptop and a few other items here. The sooner she returns the better as far as I am concerned.

1000

I was toying with the idea of going to town for lunch and shopping today but also with going back to bed for a while, when the phone rang. It was Prof Fang asking me what my plans were for the holiday. Kevin told me yesterday to expect a call as he said she would invite me to dinner, probably with some of the school bigwigs. Either he has become a simpleton or he is a duplicitous bastard and I know which one I think and I will kill him! Not that it would have made any difference if he had told the truth, the result would have been the same. I told her I was going to Hefei for a weekend but aside from that I would be local the rest of the time, which is true because at present the only other arrangement I have is a two hour appearance downtown on Sunday to test pronunciation for Helen’s students (she is the one whose kids are really well behaved).

Anyway, far from receiving a dinner invitation, I was told she needed a favour. The vice chancellor’s daughter hasn’t gone to uni yet and needs to practise her English. I have a feeling this is the same girl Cinny brought for a chat a couple of weeks ago. Well how the bloody hell can I turn down the dean and the number two honcho??!! Not that I would anyway, when students of any major approach me for help I give it freely. The girl is willing to come here, possibly with another girl she is friends with, however I suggested that as I often go to town in the holidays to buy supplies perhaps we should meet there. It looks as if it will be tomorrow lunchtime. It means I won’t be going out today (better bake a loaf for my food today then) but it does mean I will be treated to lunch.

For now though it’s back to bed. Not only was I up early but the cats were up to mischief all night and at one point Qing had to get out of bed to rescue a key which sits in  a wardrobe lock quite high up and with which they were playing after Pooh (probably) removed it.  

Saturday 19th January, 2013        1700

Still some straggling students here but I expect they will all depart by tomorrow seeing as the dormitory buildings will all be locked tonight - or at least most of them. I went to the outside supermarket this afternoon with Pepsi, seems they will remain open until the back end of the month.

While I was outside enjoying 10C and sunshine with a bottle I was approached by two fluffy puppies. No, I am not doing that again, but then a larger dog appeared and stood some way off. I wasn’t sure but I thought it could possibly be Flopsy. I haven’t seen her in months and I assumed she had been run over or killed and eaten. I called out to the dog, it ran over and immediately flopped down on her back to have a belly rub! She is still around and it made me happy to know. Almost as happy as ten minutes later when I received a text from Qing saying she was on the way to the station and would be here in the early evening.

2030

Too late in the day for me to contemplate cooking, so I came home, dumped Pepsi and left to take a bus to meet her. We have just dined on sweet pork (she loved it), prawns and egg & tomato - very nice thank you. Earlier Kevin managed to fathom out the router so I now have wifi, albeit everything had to be secreted behind the headboard so the cats don’t eat the wires. At present she is at my right elbow on her laptop chatting to friends and all is well with the world - my world that is. The bread machine is currently on and a loaf will be ready before midnight. This is so she can have marmalade on toast for her breakfast preparatory to a foray into town, when she wants to stock up on her own particular favourite snacks. As the forecast is 11C again the plan is to go on the bike, that way if she wants to visit multiple shops I won’t get exhausted from tramping after her.

For now though, I end this entry to watch some downloads and just enjoy her company.

Sunday 20th         1600

It never got to eleven degrees so at noon we took the bus along with some of the remaining stragglers still on campus. Incredibly (can’t remember if I mentioned this before) in midwinter suddenly pineapples have appeared, so I bought one in order to make pizza later in the week. As we were strolling to get the fruit I heard my name and turned around. It was Joanna. She has been staying with a student who lives here and will go home tomorrow. As soon as I introduced her to Qing the pair reverted to Chinese, a sure sign I wasn’t supposed to know the topic of conversation. It didn’t take a genius to know if it was whether we were married or going to be. Qing denied everything of course - she wants the rumours spreading as much as me - but of course nobody will believe a word. We can but try.

Ke Bi Wang it was for lunch, I wasn’t hungry but bought a small amount anyway, Qing put away four dishes, boiled rice AND went back for more rice. For a slim girl she can’t half eat.  Then it was the supermarket, mainly to buy meat for the brood seeing as rain is forecast for the next few days and anyway I don’t want to go out too often. As of this morning Qing was introduced to the delights of toast and jam for breakfast, which she ate after consuming a cold tin of Chinese “porridge”, which is a revolting snot stew but they love it. So, she had to buy more jam, methinks I will be making plenty of bread whilst she is here. How long that will be I know not because she is seriously considering going to Hefei after the holidays to study Arabic and then work at her uncle’s company, abandoning the idea of Sydney. I will get round to discussing her options some time soon.

Anyway, rather fortuitously Kevin phoned to tell me he was just leaving for campus so we got him to divert and pick us up. She forgot to bring her phone charger with her so as of this morning has been using the antiquated Nokia I used in my first year. Her dad has given it to a bus driver and it should arrive at the station in about an hour so I will see if I can prevail upon Kevin to take her.

We will all eat together tonight, finally I will make the chilli so I’d better get started if I am going to get the animals fed as well.

Friday 18th January, 2013          2215

That was a bit of a shock. I loafed around indoors until two pondering on whether to go to town shopping today or tomorrow and eventually decided I really didn’t need to go until Monday regardless of whether Ching came Saturday or Sunday. I took Pepsi to the shops and was astounded to find my café wide open and all the equipment and furniture outside being scrubbed, with not a beer in sight to be had. Ok, supermarket. Like an English Tesco when snow has been forecast but thankfully the students don’t buy much in the way of alcohol. I went to the bigger café for a beer and found it open but no liquid refreshment available. Previously they have wound down on the Monday or Tuesday because some students won’t go home until tomorrow.

It was a nice day (about 5C and sunny) so I took the pup to the sweet pork place where I could get an ale, plus I checked out the supermarket there which will stay open for most of the holidays. All the new restaurants will apparently have closed up shop for the duration in about thirty minutes time, meaning they have opened for business simply on the back of the custom from the university students. It never happened this quickly before and as the tentative plan was that if Ching came tomorrow I was taking her for sweet pork and now I can’t be sure the place will even be open, I decided perhaps a shop was in order.

The trouble was, as I stood outside supping, I saw bus after 29 bus arriving empty and departing absolutely rammed full. Knowing Kevin was teaching downtown tonight I asked him if he would give me a lift and pick me up after classes and maybe we could have dinner together. Job done, but one of his students (Mandy) was probably coming to meet him as well at Da Niang. Fine by me, underneath Lottemart and I could sit and wait in there with a drink and then have a steak and dumpling platter - sorted. In fact, he sent Mandy a text saying she could go earlier and sit chatting to me - no problem there.

As an aside, I don’t know how many of you have heard of QQ? It is one of the Chinese equivalents of Facebook except it has more Chinese users than Facebook has worldwide.

Anyway, Mandy came and we talked for a while before the inevitable marriage topic cropped up. This time though I got more information. I now know why everyone in China - not just the campus - thinks I am engaged. A student posted on there that teacher Steve went to Tongling to meet his mother and father in law! The post was picked up by others, shared and I suppose the internet term for it is that it’s now gone “viral”!! I am sitting here wondering how on earth a simple thing like meeting a friend’s family results in such a huge leap forward to being married with 2.4 children and the whole of China can read all about it.  This might also explain other things that have happened, such as the local TV station and newspaper wanting to interview me because I keep animals as pets. God forbid I ever split my trousers in public!

The router arrived as well - bloody quick and only two days after ordering. It is now in Kevin’s custody to configure, which of course is easier said than done because when plugged in everything is in Chinese with no English option even though it is made by Mercury. With luck though tomorrow my room should be a “hot spot” where anyone with the password can go online.

I have noticed of late that the animals haven’t been too keen on boiled chicken - not even the dog - so tonight I am spit roasting one to see if that makes any difference. Because it is so late they are all following my every move and Pepsi keeps nuzzling me as if to say “feed me!” anyone would think they are starved but if they are hungry there is always plenty of dry food out for them. I have no idea how they will cope when Ching and I go to Hefei in a fortnight.

Thursday 17th January, 2013        1245

Thankfully instead of throwing my plunger out the supervisor had snaffled it for her own bathroom and 305 retrieved it. As I have long since swapped a traditional mop to a refillable sponge one, using a mop to unblock the lav is no longer an option.

When I went out last night I found out the extent to which the tomtoms have been beating and the size of the rumours which have sprung up. On no less than three occasions students of mine came for a chat and after a minute or two all of them (all girls) gave me a sheepish look and said “can I ask you a question?”

Said question was of course, “are you getting married?”

It would seem that the very act of going to Tongling to meet Qing’s family was sufficient to push the campus rumour mill into overdrive. I have engaged in damage limitation insofar as I have stressed we are just friends (in the hope that the rebuttal will spread equally swiftly) but I feel it is akin to breaking wind directly into a force ten gale. And if the students are saying these things you can bet your bottom dollar the faculty know. I don’t think Qing helped the situation either on Monday.

I spotted the building supervisor when we came home. In the past there have been occasions where students moved into empty flats and have been reported, followed by a school deputation to evict them. The last thing I need is to have a knock at my door and a row over a legitimate guest, so I asked her just to tell the supervisor that she was staying with me at my invitation. After she did so and we came home I asked her what she had said. “I told her I was sleeping with you”. God give me strength!

The original plan had been for her to return here today but now it will be tomorrow or even the weekend. She wants to talk to her family about her future and get their advice. She doesn’t know whether to go to Sydney, forget that and go east to find a job or to stay here/Tongling and get a job. I’m not sure of her thinking, but my opinion is that if her folks can afford her subsistence in Oz (the Chinese govt pays the fees) then she should go and obtain an excellent qualification which will open many doors here for her. I am sure it will come up in conversation with me.

2000

This being China, things are ever in flux. She may come back Saturday but it may be Sunday. An uncle is visiting to bring her a gift and depending on when he comes will decide which day she will come here.

From our computer chat it is apparent her head is in a spin. Dad wants her to study in Oz, an uncle wants her to study Arabic in Hefei and then work for her company and she has thoughts of going east. I personally don’t think it is anyone’s right to decide the rest of her life other than hers, so the best I can do is, when we talk about it, point out the pros and cons of each option she is considering. I am not going to try to sway her at all - after all, my preferred option (teaching here) is not among the choices! What a complicated web life is, and few more complicated than in China.

Anyway, life is for living.

Last night I made another loaf of bread. For the first time since owning my own bread machine I seem to have stumbled on the optimum quantities to make a good loaf. The problem before? My guess is that all the manufacturers recipes for machines sold here don’t specify enough water - hence my previous attempts have all emerged as contenders for the next sports day’s shot for putting.

When I went out earlier I stocked up on soap, tissues, shampoo and toilet rolls to last through the shutdown. I couldn’t of course fit the paper toiletries in the bike storage so hung them from the bungee straps which secure the top box to stop it rattling. When Pepsi and I got back, somewhere along the way - about a 150 yard ride - a pack of a dozen loo rolls had detached themselves. I grabbed the dog and set about retracing the route. Some lucky bastard now hasn’t got to spend money on going to the toilet for some time because there was no sign of it! Another 15y I have to spend now.

Tuesday 15th January, 2013          1530

Nobody has commented on my recent error where I reverted to 2012! I think it usually takes me three months to automatically remember the correct year.

Christ I am tired today. I am definitely going to have a sleep after I take Pepsi to the shops. Why am I tired? I persuaded Anita (Chinese name Qing, pronounced “Ching”) to stay last night and go home today. We had leftover Bolognese last night and I made her some cinnamon and raisin bread which she loved - so much so that she took the rest of the loaf back to Tongling.

At a little after midnight we were going to call it a day but I received a Skype video call which delayed me until nearer one. No problem, no need to get up too early was there? Factor in text messages to her phone under the pillow at six this morning from a classmate informing her they were on the bus home and giving today’s weather forecast and you have one wide awake author. Doubly bad, it precipitated the Serengetti “wildebeest that look like cats” migration with the bed cropping up multiple times as an obstacle along the way. I did try to drop off again but not before we cuddled so she could get nice and warm from my heat. I am sure I am not the only person in the world who loves to have a girl close by using their arm for a pillow. The trouble is, eventually the arm goes dead and you have such an urge to change position that you can neither get back to sleep nor move because you don’t want to wake the girl. Couple that with a hacking cough I have picked up in the last 24 hours which saw me trying to muffle it in the pillow and you will understand why I am so weary.

Kevin came to campus to get his travel money so he kindly took Ching to the station and me downtown. Hopefully she will return Thursday or Friday. I needed the cash point to pay him back, collect my cigars and buy some meat for the brood. I treated him to a slap up lunch at Ke Bi Wang which without my beer would have been all of 36y. No way was I walking home from a bus with heavy shopping so I took a cab and unusually he went on the meter. Normally they want 30y off it but this time it only cost 25y. So before I fall asleep at my desk I will take Pepsi out, buy some Werthers facsimiles for my cough and then grab a couple of hours. Under no circumstances (barring fire or an earthquake) will I be stirring early in the morning. Living with someone is hard on the sleep patterns at first.

Today is also tinged with sadness. Not only am I alone now but my best friend Kiki left for Beijing - maybe for good - yesterday afternoon. She has left immense holes in both my life and my heart and I can only hope she fulfils her promise to stay in touch.

Wednesday 16th        1130

I never took a nap after all. Whilst out I started to feel even worse so decided if I was going to feel awful after waking up, I preferred only to do it once in a day! I called it a day at eleven and “died” for the next nine hours. Although still rough, I feel measurably better.

Hopefully by now Qing has ordered a wifi router on the internet - Kevin suggested it as a solution to both of us being able to use our computers at once in here. The price of a decent one was pleasantly surprising - 53y (or just over a fiver) including free delivery. I of course have no idea how to set it up but of course Kevin can do it for me provided it arrives before he leaves on the 25th. The only possible problem I foresee is that maybe the students who collect the parcels from downtown may have disappeared off home before it comes, which will mean having to identify which depot it has been sent to in the city and then collecting it.

Soon Kevin is going to move back to campus. He has decided he needs to save money on electricity downtown (it is free for us here) and now Daisy has left for her hometown Fuyan he is all alone, much as I would be now Kiki has gone were it not for Qing. I had thought perhaps that the students would all leave during next week but I may have assumed wrongly - the exodus is starting today and they may be gone by Monday. That means all the shops and cafes will close shortly after, leaving me to either cook every day or go downtown. At least the buses will be empty then.

Right, time to wrap this up and hope 305 is home. She borrowed my plunger a week ago and hasn’t returned it and now my own loo is blocked - easy to do seeing as all I flushed were some tissues I used to blow my nose because the pipe gauges in China are ridiculously small.

Oh great! Just been up there and she left it outside my door later the same day. That’s where we leave our rubbish for the building supervisor to collect! Arrgghh!

Sunday 13th January, 2013        2115

What can I say?

Yes I had a haircut - not just because I wanted to ages ago (Anita stopped me) but because one of my brothers commented on a photo that I had transmogrified into our mother. Bastard. I thought so too.

So, feeling comfortable if somewhat cold in the cranial region, Anita and I were collected by Kevin to go to the wine shop for a wine tasting party.

We really should have known better. This being China we never even saw a wine shop. We were taken to what will be one once the rubble has been cleared and they actually put some wine in it, and later we went to the “party” elsewhere. It was the grand opening of a new housing development (people being persuaded to buy new apartments) but sponsored by a wine company.

Fine so far, but then it was “sing for your supper” time! Kevin and I were expected to lecture on plonk! Ok, I did three minutes and left him to do five (he regards himself as a connoisseur, I simply know what tastes good) - job done. They had a buffet of various Chinese tidbits with some superb sushi I loved along with other delicacies which were not for me. It amazes me that at such functions “bag ladies” suddenly appear, eat their fill and stuff their overall pockets with food with nary a word spoken - but it happens. This is China!

Fine, we both did our bit and the plan was to go as a foursome for a hotpot dinner after, but first we had to wait for the raffle because originally we were supposed to help. That didn’t happen. We were simply called as guests to pick a ticket, I assumed for someone else to win a prize. Wrong. We picked a ticket to see if we could win. Premium prize was a laptop, next was a digital camera and “first” prize was 200y. Kevin got a goody bag with umbrella and playing cards, I won the first prize of 200y, thank you very much.

Dinner plans disappeared when we were invited by the property and wine company plus the local government official to dine with them. Sod it, it’s free! And so we went to a hitherto unknown restaurant where the usual scenario would take place.

That is, everyone sits around for an hour watching four people playing an incomprehensible card game before the food arrives. Sorry, I didn’t learn the landlord and farmer game for nothing, so I asked Anita if she could get me in. sorry, they wanted to play a different game (ok) but could the laowei really play? Yes I bloody can, so while Kevin was showing Anita how to do Soduku on his mobile I did battle - and held my own - against the government and national and local business stalwarts. I enjoyed it, especially as I had more success than I did playing Anita’s family.

The meal was good - plenty of plonk as you would expect - and I particularly liked something obviously Chinese but very akin to pakora. It was lovely, so were the crispy pigeon wings.

Cassandra - Kevin’s lady friend - made a foolish bet by saying she would drink a bottle of red if anyone could understand what she said in the local dialect. I am sure you have guessed who actually fulfilled her side of the bargain when she lost - hence I am decidedly tiddly tonight.

All in all though, as always with plans that don’t go according to plan, a good day and one on which I not only never paid a penny but profited from the tombola!

Friday 11th January, 2012                        1230

Slight change of plan, we are not taking the bus at one, instead her, Dad and a driver will collect me at three. I am happy because the bus takes two hours and by car it will take 45 minutes.

Unfortunately I am a little weary today. I had to get up earlier than planned because Cinny was bring Daisy (this one is the niece of our dept’s vice dean)  to practise her English. She is going to Berkely uni in San Francisco soon and wants to ensure she uses English as much as she can. I am happy to do anything I can for Cinny because she is terrific as my assistant. In fact both Kevin and I think she would make the perfect foreign affairs officer.

This morning Anita chatted with me on Skype messenger. Possibly as early as the coming week she is starting a new job here in Chizhou. She will live with me - quite where we will conjure up storage space for her clothes is at present unknown, but I am looking forward to it immensely.

Saturday 12th    1900

Well what a wonderful time I had!

I was duly collected by an SUV containing Anita, her father and two other policemen and taken to Tongling. She checked me into an hotel and insisted she pay for it along with a bottle of Changyu wine, then we briefly went to mum’s home. Her parents are divorced but mum has another chap now - I like them all. The idea was to wait until we were collected for dinner but I suggested as we had a little time to kill we could go and get a set of keys cut for Anita so she can come and go as she pleases in/out of what I am now pleased to call “our” home.

Then we went for dinner. It transpired that mum works there (see photo of her in the red/burgundy jacket) and would not join us, instead she would be one of our fuyans. It was obvious that immense thought had been put into what to order because for once I liked more than half the dishes. There were prawns, sweet(ish) pork, celery, egg and tomato, beef and peppers plus a dish of finely shredded pork which you put into a noodle based sheet with spring onions and folded up to eat. Now I am not much of a fish lover (except British fish and chips) - shellfish yes, but last night there was also a whole fish which intrigued me. You can see it at the far end of the table with “lumpy” flanks. It was swimming in a gelatinous red sauce much like the sweet and sour sauce in the UK.

I had to try it. I thought I had died and gone to heaven! It was simply the most divine fish I have ever eaten in my life in any country and the sauce WAS the same as sweet and sour. I couldn’t leave it alone. The company was great even though only she and I could speak any English - dad had even bought me some cigars and dad number two was at the meal. a memorable evening.

After we finished Anita took me back to my hotel, where every Friday the expat teachers hold an “English salon” where Chinese people can come to practise speaking. Sadly we arrived quite late, so after an hour everyone was kicked out bar me. I went to my room to continue with my wine and use the free computer and internet provided. A little problematic seeing as everything was in Chinese but I managed to see my emails and news sites. When I turned in shortly after one, I had to leave my phone switched on because Anita was to text me to let me know when she was coming this morning. I was rudely awoken by a text at 0930 and, thinking it was from her, checked it. A bloody Chinese advert! Grrr!

For lunch I was taken by dad and an uncle to an aunt’s restaurant - I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t have a relative who owns one - and this one was a spit’n’sawdust one. But, although the food was different it was also good, my favourite being a very eggy pancake wrapped around spicy sauce and spring onions. I even tried “smelly tofu”. well just a little because it does stink and it was coated in chilli sauce which took my breath away. At both restaurants four of us played the landlord and farmer card game before the meal. When I had suggested it on Friday night everyone was stunned that I could play - today they suggested mah jong but I had to own up to not having a clue about that.

Coming back the plan had been for me to take my first train ride in China (apart from the Shanghai Maglev) but no, uncle drove us plus dad back. We were dropped in town because I needed meat for the animals and I had rather hoped we had been paid on time but we weren’t so it will be Monday before I am flush again.

At the moment she is with her ex classmates but will return a little later. Going on the trip was most fortuitous (not just because I only spent a total of 30y) because the city was carrying out maintenance on the school electricity station and there was no power or water from 0830 to 1730, an hour after we got back.

Tomorrow Kevin will pick us up at lunch time and we will go to a wine tasting together with Cassandra, afterwards we will all go for a hotpot. On Monday Anita will return to Tongling to tie up loose ends and probably come back here on Wednesday with her wardrobe. I think I will have a houseguest for a few months at least.

In closing I must say I cannot speak highly enough of the hospitality and generosity her family showed me and I look forward greatly to seeing them again. Enjoy the photos - her real father is wearing the police sweatshirt, stepfather is in a photo with him and wearing a leather jacket. The aunt who owns the little restaurant is pictured outside waving goodbye.

Thursday 10th January, 2013         1330

Seeing as I won’t have chance to blog tomorrow or possibly the entire weekend, I thought it best to have a crack at an entry today.

I was taken somewhat aback at midday when Anita breezily announced on Skype she was coming to campus tomorrow morning, when I wasn’t expecting her until Saturday. It was good news because I haven’t stopped thinking of her since she left, but what stunned me was her plan to come here, say goodbye to her classmate who returns home tomorrow and then “whisk” me off to Tongling until Saturday morning! Well, “whisk” is not something that happens considering the Chinese public transport, but you get the idea.

I protested that until payday on Saturday I was skint and asked if we could do it next Friday instead. No, she wants it now, not least because the expats in her hometown have a get-together tomorrow night and she wants me to meet them. They seem to have many more westerners than here, so it will make a nice change. My protests were not to be heard though because she said she would pay for everything. A man has his pride and I wouldn’t hear of it. But I do want to go, she is good for me, so Kevin is very kindly taking me to town later to lend me the cash. I could raid my UK account but I am trying not to touch that.

Anyway, the plan is that once she sees her friend off, we leave for Tongling, I meet her parents for the afternoon/early evening then we go out with the laoweis and presumably whilst I go to an hotel afterwards she will return home for the night. I think it improbable she will join me with the folks nearby! On Saturday morning she will come back with me and stay for the weekend. It is my hope that she will stay for most of the next six weeks, although of course for the important spring festival celebrations she must be at home. She would love me to go with her but with nobody available to look after the pets it isn’t possible. Kevin was horror-struck when I asked him to cook fish for them tomorrow night! I told him to simply boil it and he asked aghast, “for how long?”! At least I am not leaving him the liver to do, which needs cutting up after cooking.

Now I have to go downtown, get some dinner, return and press some clean trousers, then address the problem of not possessing an overnight bag. I think I may just be able to squeeze a change of clothes into my little shoulder bag.

2130

I now have some money. Kevin, Daisy, Susan and I all went to town and went to Da Niang for dinner where I had a steak and dumpling platter as always. Normally it fills me up but for some reason tonight I could have eaten two. Anyway, the good news is that I don’t need to do my trousers until tomorrow because we won’t leave until one. As it will take until three-thirty to even get to the city it looks like four hours tops with the parents - although it would be good in a way if Dad came out with us - at least we won’t get arrested! I have already been asked by Anita what my favourite foods are, presumably Mum wants to know. I just hope to God I am not presented with something entirely inedible. The best thing would be if there was just one dish that I can honestly enthuse over - that way I can use that as an excuse for not eating anything else!

I mentioned over dinner that I would love to go for Chinese new year with her to her original hometown Lu’an but because there will be nobody here to look after the pets it wasn‘t an option. He suggested I leave them with the vet. He has a point. The cats can stay in cages for a few days and Pepsi doesn’t do anything when she goes out anyway (and they walk them at the vets) plus it would probably cost me 200y for three days. I am seriously considering it because it would be a privilege to share a special time of the year with a Chinese family. I will discuss it with her tomorrow. Lu’an would be a change as it is a city of 6.5 million people - I would be bound to find some western things there!

One way or another my life has recently taken some odd turns and of course I hope all of them lead down good roads, but if not, life is an adventure and to be lived!

For now though, this is the Chizhou Chronicle signing off, possibly for a few days whilst your reporter ventures into uncharted territory - physically, emotionally and culturally. I bet my Mum rings at some point!

Tuesday 8th January, 2012      1800

I am certainly making up for lost sleep, I never got out of bed until nearly eleven. Even though today was a lot warmer at eight degrees I never ventured out until getting on for four. I took Pepsi to buy some fish, the idea being if I supplemented their dinners I wouldn’t need to shop until the weekend.

The little place had the shutters down which rather threw me, but as there was a handwritten sign with an arrow I investigated the back. It was open and I suppose I can be forgiven for thinking the shutters were down because of the cold. Anyway they had run out of the usual fish I buy and the lady indicated they only had big ones left. Not popular with the kids but then if they were wild they would eat anything, so I went to where they keep them to have a look and find out just how big they were. That section was quite dark due to being shut up, but as I went in the woman made unmistakeable noises that meant “No no no!”

The reason it is closed is because they have just had the floor re-cemented! They also now have three size eight footprints in it!

Apologising profusely, I purchased a two foot long whopper and left. I have just hopefully beaten it to death in my bathroom in preparation for being bisected so it will do for two meals. I can’t hack it in half yet as I am waiting for some bread to finish and don’t want to bang it out onto a bloodied chopping board.

In my quest to make better loaves I am trying the French bread setting using no sugar at all. The problem is I forgot to set the size. It am baking a medium loaf but it is on the small setting. Hopefully it will still be edible!

I spent an hour at the campus shops and all credit to Pepsi, on our return and for the second night running she did her important business outside. Which reminds me, I must go and reclaim my plunger 305 borrowed last night for her blocked toilet.

Wednesday 9th        1400

I really should make a start on entering the exam scores on the website, but I am being ultra lazy today. Assuming I will actually get back to the UK for a holiday this summer, I was looking at flights. When the time comes, booking is going to be a nightmare. At present going via Shanghai, Canton or Hong Kong the prices all take me way over the amount I will be reimbursed - either by the price of the tickets themselves; or; if I find one that fits with the budget, they arrive at stupid times at night/have overnight stops etc meaning somewhere I have to shell out for an hotel, thus taking me way over budget. I have though found a route via Beijing that arrives both ends at sensible times, doesn’t take too long and wouldn’t require any overnight stays other than perhaps free ones at the Hefei Hilton staying with my friend. That comes in just under budget at the moment but will certainly go over once the internal flights to Beijing are bookable - they always increase in the summer, hence you can’t book now. And the routes take me from Hefei to Beijing to Berlin to London, then London to Zurich to Beijing to Hefei! Why doesn’t somebody open a direct flight??!! Arrgghh! No wonder I am not keen on going anywhere. And of course I will still need to find an animal sitter.

2345

Time for me to hit the sack. I may venture to town in the morning for more smokes, but only after I do a last minute exam.

I input all the student marks this afternoon/early evening, only to find that when I completed the last class, one of the students never even showed up for the test! Instead of giving her zero and submitting I sent her a text telling her she had just failed due to non-attendance. This not surprisingly elicited an immediate response to the effect that she had broken her leg, gone home for a few days to recover and had asked a friend to inform me she would not attend.

Of course I believe every word she sent. However, in the interests of fairness I have informed her she will be summoned for her exam in the morning and her English had better be pretty damned good too boot. I neglected to mention that I also expect to see a plaster cast - although I fully anticipate she will exhibit the swiftest bone healing ever witnessed on the planet. Oh yes, she is going to get both broadsides (unless I am doing her an injustice and she really is in plaster, highly unlikely) and regardless of the result of her test I can guarantee there will be no repetition when it comes to the ensuing exams I set. Because I am not as strict in class as their Chinese teachers they think they can get away with murder. She will be the third student to have that illusion shattered this term and whilst I am hopping mad that they think they can take liberties with impunity, I take comfort in the knowledge that news will spread like an Australian bushfire - ere long all my students will get the message that they can have a great time in my classes IF, and only if, they follow my rules.

Bloody students. They think they are so much smarter than the teachers. I never did, says he with fingers crossed………

Monday 7th January, 2012         1500

The Bolognese went down a treat with her, she managed to put away two portions. I on the other hand could only handle a child’s serving, which I forced myself to eat simply because I had eaten nothing all day. There is plenty left so I will tuck in again tonight, my stomach having improved after a better night’s sleep.

Her father and uncle came to collect her at noon but parked up near the basketball court, so I took her on the bike and met Dad - who had arrived in police uniform. I am sure the passing students thought I was being arrested! She has promised to return next weekend to stay and possibly also to keep me company when the campus is dead during the holidays, although of course she will spend the important days with her family.

I am at a loss as to how all this came about, for previously the only interaction we had was confined to “hello” or “bye” except for her graduation day when she spotted me and asked if she could have a photo with me in her gown and mortar board. She left and I never expected any further contact. Over the months I have received the odd text but until Saturday, nothing of note. Still, it makes a surprisingly refreshing change.

2230

Well, I’m not sure quite what to make of the latest development. Her parents want me to visit their home. For the uninitiated (and as Kevin was rather swift to point out even though I already knew) this in China is normally step one on the path to marriage! I will go of course, probably next week while I can still get Kevin to animal sit  before he flies back to Blighty.

I know they say there’s no fool like an old fool but I assure everyone I am anything but - been there, done that. However, I do find myself wishing it was Saturday already and feeling like an extremely mature twenty-something which rather unnerves me in a way that I can’t quite describe. It sounds ridiculous to say this I know but I really haven’t experienced this since I WAS twenty something! For many years now I have railed against the injustice of life for only giving me the wisdom to know what to do in respect of women when the opportunities had all but vanished! I think it would be far better to have the wisdom in youth (as another saying goes, youth is wasted on the young) and slowly grow more stupid! Mind you, some people do……

On another front, Kiki is utterly convinced she has failed her post-graduate exam. As her surrogate father, mine was the preferred shoulder to lean on. We had a chat at lunchtime after Anita left and her plan then had been to go to Beijing - with no plan. She really wants to be a teacher of Chinese history (Lord only knows why) and is envisaging a bleak future. Apparently she can retake the entrance exam every year until she attains the age of forty, so if she really has the dream then all she needs to do is maintain herself by working for a year or as many as it takes to pass. Her father is either in France or Australia and is contributing nothing, her mother only scrapes by, so I made what I thought was a good suggestion.

I can, by virtue of a simple email, procure her a front of house job at the Hilton Hefei. Not megabucks but free food and board and she can study in her free time as well as save money - her own money. She left me feeling very happy and at my insistence - she insisted that was what she wanted to do and I had made her so happy when last night she was so despondent - I told her to see what her mother thought because I was not about to pull a favour only to be left looking stupid. I did not want relatives putting the kibosh on it.

Mum thought it was crap. Mum of course doesn’t have a better plan other than that Kiki lives with her and studies for a year but no mention of financial assistance, so it would mean being a checkout girl or similar instead of possibly (who knows?) the start of a job she loves and a successful alternative career. Exasperated, I have told her that when she goes to bed she should have a long, hard think about who should decide the rest of her life - mum or her.

It saddens me beyond compare when I see young adults here who have been told by their parents they must become teachers, interpreters or whatever because Daddy/Mummy knows best. I can’t be too vocal on the issue for obvious reasons, but I do my best to point out that this doesn’t normally happen in the west, that parents have had their lives and should not attempt to re-live theirs vicariously through their offspring. Sure, the parents are paying for the education, but I find it incomprehensible that they fail to grasp someone will do far better studying a subject they love than in one they hate. All of us had favourite and disliked subjects at school and I would venture that the marks obtained usually reflected the level of interest and commitment.

Ok, rant over and please forgive the rather youthful timbre to this post. It may all come to nought but that would definitely not be a first for me! Here are some better pictures of her which she emailed me tonight after she got home.

Friday 4th January, 2012     2030

For some reason I awoke at 0330 this morning which: considering I had to get up at 0630 anyway; displeased me greatly, especially as I was singularly unable to drop back off again. Instead I did what most people do in such a situation, I stayed in bed hoping for blessed oblivion. It arrived five seconds before the alarm went off.

As if that wasn’t a bad enough start to the day, when I pulled the curtains everything was white. No e-bike to work and I had to do it twice. Salvation came after lunch though because Kevin decided his feet were too cold to walk and we went in his car. When I asked him how many packs of cigars he managed to buy for me last night the reply was, “You never reminded me”. Considering we only discussed it two hours before he left campus I assumed I wouldn’t need to. Bemoaning the fact that I was down to my last six smokes, after class I searched my home and found two pouches of Craven Aromatic I never knew I had and which after three years are as dry as tea leaves, rooted out some pipes and joyfully went to his place to impart the good news that I had a temporary reprieve before needing to climb the walls or go in search. And strewth was it cold sitting in classrooms testing today.

To his credit he phoned Daisy who is staying in his downtown pad and asked her to pop to his local shop and see how many they had of the little expensive ones. It turned out they had 300 that I could buy for 570y but a week away from payday I don’t have enough. I said I would buy 100. On impulse he decided we would go there and then and whilst there we would have a prawn hotpot, so I naturally agreed. My peas, prawns and pasta can wait until tomorrow. It would seem there is a chance this shop may be able to source my cheaper ones and he has been promised sales of three cartons per month if he can oblige. The snow hasn’t stopped all day and although it has been relatively light, it has settled in many places.

It doesn’t really matter that much now because I am done with work for the next seven and a half weeks, the students will disappear in a fortnight and the number 29 will be almost empty. It just helps to have the bike to go to the supermarket here to save carrying heavy beer and wine back or indeed to leave near the bus stop in case I bring back plenty of shopping, which I need to do often because of the pets.

I won’t be going out again tonight, I prefer seeing my snow from the warm side of a window.

Saturday 5th      1900

I never went to bed until seven this morning. I got second wind and instead sat up all night playing long forgotten songs that evoked past memories. As a result I never woke up until one this afternoon and on turning my phone on I found a message from an ex student here. Not one of mine and not even an English major, but a rather pretty girl I often used to say hello to. She has been working in Tongling, very close to this city, and wondered if I was free because she wanted to return to school for a visit this afternoon.

She arrived just after four and since making friends in her new town with foreigners her English has gone from one to about five on a scale of ten, remarkable in just a few months. Clearly she is a bright student because she passed a postgraduate entrance exam with marks high enough for a university in Sydney to accept her next summer, so I am really pleased for her. Any OCs in the area are requested to indicate whether they would be willing to meet her when she is living there. Please let me know, she is a really charming girl.

Anyway, we had a “reunion” and I brought her home to get warm, her timing on this occasion was really bad, for all her old classmates (along with Kiki) were taking postgrad entrance exams elsewhere today and her plan was to book into an hotel downtown for the night. It is freezing cold so I asked Kevin if he was staying downtown, the thought being that maybe she could kip in his room here. If he does then Daisy and Susan will stay there so that ruled out that possibility. To my amazement, she suggested she stay here tonight. She has just popped out to get herself some soft drinks (I only keep alcohol and black tea) and I am even going to share my pasta, prawns and peas with her later - I have nothing else substantial to offer her.

Sunday 6th     1000

I didn’t get a particularly sound sleep, hardly surprising seeing as the only thing I normally share my bed with are cats but I really did enjoy it. She has popped to the hairdressers to get her hair washed and we will go to town together a little later. She is thinking of staying on campus until her friends return this evening so there is a possibility she may stay with me again tonight. She seems to have enjoyed herself here, so I hope she does, it makes a change to have company.

1500

We managed to get seats both ways on the bus which was good but we didn’t tarry in town too long, just bank and shopping. Anita is staying again tonight as her father (a policeman) will come and collect her at lunchtime tomorrow. I bought the requisite items to be able to make some Bolognese for later although I must admit I feel a little out of sorts at present. Maybe I am coming down with something. Anyway, it looks as if she wants to come and stay next weekend as well, so as my cleaners quit due to study requirements I don’t have much choice other than to get the place nice and clean during the week. Here are two photos, one of her and one showing how little Lottie has grown over the past weeks.

Wednesday 2nd January, 2012          1830

Flipping high of six degrees my backside! It stayed at two during all the daylight hours and considering the places I had to go today, taking the bus wasn’t really an option. Bank, lunch and then in search of cigars. My preferred place still hasn’t got any, the second place only had two packs, so my shopping in Lottemart was confined to animal biscuits. I couldn’t buy anything that wouldn’t fit in the luggage box as the next stop was the commercial centre where they sometimes have some. They didn’t. This is getting ridiculous, no pipe tobacco - don’t even think about rolling your own fags - and now a frantic search every couple of days for cigars! Kevin has located a couple of tins of small ones in his local shop downtown and will get them for me, but nobody is telling me that I am the only one of 1.65 million people who like a cheroot!

One good thing to come out of it though was that when I went to buy meat at the supermarket up there, they had bacon again, needless to say now they have none!

We have snow forecast for Friday and the weekend. As I have to make two round trips to our department on Friday I am rather hoping it won’t be severe enough to prevent biking. After that if I need to go to town I can walk or slither to the bus at leisure because I will be off until the end of February.

As for the lost quilt, presumably the wind blew it off the railings below but when I looked it wasn’t on the grass so someone must have snaffled it to use! A thought did strike me earlier, I haven’t seen the black gang for about a month now and come to think of it, I haven’t seen any dogs on campus at all for a few days now. I am wondering if the exterminators have paid a visit. It doesn’t affect Pepsi because she is always either inside or with me when we are out but if they have all been killed it is a shame. Some of them were very friendly mutts, many even younger than Pepsi.

Thursday 3rd        1830

To quote a comedy programme, I think Pepsi may be the only dog in the “village” - no sign at all of any of them today either.

Aside from ninety minutes a short while ago, I had confined myself to barracks today. A good job too, for the thermometer has stayed resolutely below freezing, although admittedly it was two below until the sun set and is now double that. Somehow I don’t think acclimatisation is the reason that when I went out I found it bone-chillingly cold. Kevin is right, there is something about the cold here which makes it feel so much worse. His theory is the humidity but it is not high. Mine is the fact that nowhere is heated and you sit down in many restaurants and you are blowing steam out of your mouth - you never really get warm inside.

Granted, so far I am managing to keep my own place reasonably comfortable provided I watch how many appliances I have running at once, too many (such as the a/c, 4Kw of heaters plus the oven or the hotplate or microwave) and the main breaker trips, resulting in a flit to the end of the corridor to reset it. It is plain that in my first winter I bought completely the wrong heaters, not least of all because they blew up in the depths of the winter. They sell these highly ineffective things here that look like fans without blades. They have a shiny back shield and a round element that heats, the shield reflecting the heat supposedly outwards. Bloody useless. The two towers I have had since last winter still work (except for the oscillating mechanisms, both of which failed last month) so at worst I can position them near where I sit now and have a warm breeze blowing around me.

I am really not looking forward to doing exams tomorrow in unheated classrooms. At least when I am teaching I can be peripatetic and keep warm, sitting still for an hour and a half is a different matter. A full set of long johns is definitely called for along with two pairs of socks.

Still, looking on the bright side, three hours work tomorrow and that’s me off until the last week in February. Just please don’t snow enough tomorrow to make me have to walk!

New years day 2013          1445

So much for being too tired to stay awake until midnight - eventually I crashed at 0330 after two bottles of Dynasty! No problem of course because I could sleep as long as I wanted couldn’t I? But I have four cats who not only open the curtains to let daylight in, but around 0700 chase each other all over my bed. Bastards.

However, what a glorious day today is, the sort on which you observe the deepest blue sky, the sun is shining, the temperature is up at 9C and you are glad to be alive. Oh good, I thought, I will go to town shopping! Oh no, the Chinese are cheeky buggers, they are not content with having their own new year, the buses don’t run on ours either! Sod it, if I had charged the bike last night I would have rode in but as it is I will have to do that tomorrow. As the high is forecast for zero I may have to take cattle truck 29 though - regardless, I must go because I will have run out of pet meat and cigars.

I am now the proud owner of half a dozen pizza trays and a proper slice but am now minus a summer quilt. It has been hanging outside my balcony for a few days to air and when I went to retrieve it I discovered the wind was too strong for the pegs and it now languishes on the outside laundry rails of the flat below. Which is unoccupied. I will probably declare it a total constructive loss and buy a new one when the weather warms up.

I bought a cap yesterday which has little ear flaps, not because I particularly needed one but because my hair is getting perilously close to having to be combed and I will need to get shorn before everything packs up here, it will get a tad chilly around my head once done. Not only did I find there are no buses but Barry Manilow has taken the day off so I was thwarted for the second time today and remain a long haired lout.

1915

Well I had nothing to speak of at home to make a meal unless I wanted to spend ages making macaroni cheese, so I invited Kiki for dinner just off campus at the sweet pork place. I am tired, she is studying hard for her entrance exams in 5 days time for further education and neither of us wanted to be out late. So it was a five o’clock assignation. No, I didn’t have sweet pork but we did have the prawns, cabbage hotpot and some chicken and Chinese chestnut affair which even Kiki didn’t like. Apparently in Beijing it is delicious but both of us found it tasted rather odd. Actually, I found it revolting. I really would love some good old pork bangers, mash and beans! Or fish fingers, mash, peas and parsley sauce. Even a Big Mac!

Tomorrow of course I shall content myself with either Chinese fast food or KFC when I go shopping, but I can see the coming holiday being filled with stews, chillis and bologneses. Or is it it bolognesi?

Eeyore still comes into season periodically. I could take her for a secondary operation to rectify the first abortion but seeing as she appears to be calming down (the last time she was rather vocal - as my mother will attest seeing as she could hear it on the phone) and now it takes the form of murmured sweet nothings and presenting her important parts to the two males who are incapable of satisfying her.  All credit to Tigger and Pooh, they bite her neck, pin her down on my bed and then display complete ignorance of which bits are supposed to go where. I have no idea if this is the reason, but Eeyore is a complete bitch in that she lets them go so far and then attacks them. There’s gratitude for you.