Sunday 29th March, 2015              1800

Friday I got out of bed and thought “Oooh, that doesn’t hurt so much” when I stood up. I then did something a little bit foolish and tottered unaided to the bathroom for my shower. I made it. I can’t go far without the sticks but it’s another welcome improvement, so much so that despite previously resigning myself to not going to Wuhu on Saturday, I booked and paid for the hotel. It is non-refundable so now I have to go, whether on crutches or not!

Mulan was going to be away “playing” with friends on Friday and Saturday nights so I asked Anna if she would be my “carer”. Previously she had incinerated one of the handles on the pot used to boil the animal food by cremating it on full gas but I never realised precisely how much of a walking disaster she is. She had already lost my medical card (meaning all sorts of problems now to cancel the old one and get a replacement) but she excelled herself on Friday night.

She neglected to ensure the cats had biscuits for the night, that was just the start. I’m sure there is more that I have forgotten but memorably the cats cried all night and from my bed I couldn’t figure out why. No biscuits, that certainly contributed but in the morning when I went into the living room I spotted that the chicken breast hadn’t been touched. I then realised that although she had boiled the meat, she had neglected to pour the water away, so if they wanted to eat the cats had to go swimming. Then I heard a noise from the kitchen. On opening the door I was greeted by a scene of devastation. She had locked Zorro in there alone all night. No wonder there was so much wailing through the night.

In despair I took a shower and when I finished I shouted for her to get up. We were going to town for breakfast and I like to take the 0935 bus, which gets to McDonald’s thirty minutes later. My leg is not strong enough to be confident taking a passenger  on the bike so she had to walk. She left late, and when I admonished her she gaily told me she could run. Fair enough because she is a good runner but she certainly didn’t even break into a trot because I was standing leaning on my props watching the back end of my preferred bus as it rolled majestically off into the distance by the time she finally appeared. By now I was wondering what on earth had possessed me to ask her to look after me when she is clearly incapable of looking after herself and given McD’s propensity for stopping breakfasts before time, I told her that I would be highly miffed if I went all that way for nothing. Luckily the previous bus to the one we caught must have picked up 95% of the passengers because we only arrived five minutes later than we would have done had we left as planned. I got my breakfast.

Anna was then despatched after eating to the hospital to see if she had left my medical card when she used it to pay for my x-rays. An hour later she returned, unsuccessful. She did however elicit the information that the medical cards we foreigners were given by the school are all but obsolete and we need new ones anyway, replacements can be obtained, bizarrely, from any bank. So this morning we went again for breakfast (Anna was sure to be early this time but the bus I wanted was so full before it left that I opted to take the later one) with my passport. After dining she went around the corner to check to see if a new card could be had from the bank and yes it can but first the old one has to be cancelled by some other place which doesn’t open at weekends. Don’t ask me why the place that cancels them can’t issue new ones. We were successful in one thing though, I now have my train tickets for the weekend. A bit of luxury, hopefully English style breakfasts and Pizza Hut are thoughts filling my mind now, along with the information Ollivier provided regarding a French supermarket not too far from the hotel which sells continental cheeses.

I will finish this one on a high. I have the week off after Qing Ming! My classes are all freshmen and that week it is the turn of the foreign language dept to carry out chain gang activities (picking up litter, stones, weeding etc) and this time the students actually mentioned it beforehand. Previously it has been a case of my turning up to an empty classroom and then having to make calls to find out what the hell is going on. This time I know in advance.