Yes I know it has been a week but the truth is the interim has been pretty humdrum with little of note to post.
However, on Saturday evening I discovered Joan was free all day Sunday and so gave her a choice of things to do. I said we could go to Chizhou airport (she had never seen a plane up close and never seen an airport either until Saturday when she saw a fighter jet in Hefei on display in a park) or alternatively we could cross the Yangtse on a ferry (she had never been on a boat or on water).
She chose to cross the Yangtse, saying she was excited and “timid” at the same time because like most inland Chinese she never learnt to swim. I did however warn her that it was an exercise in futility as I knew from my previous foray when I took my beloved Pepsi that there is bugger all the other side. But hell, it was going to be a new experience for her so that was enough for me.
We duly left campus at ten on a beautiful warm Sunday morning which quickly got much warmer, just shy of thirty degrees. Unfortunately I had gone and got my hair cut to skinhead proportions the day before so now my scalp is a little tender.
Anyway we arrived at the dock and I was happy at our good fortune - I bought the tickets, we sailed straight through the gate and found ourselves to be the first aboard the ferry. I did rather wonder why there were cars and buses being held back by the barrier though but last time I bypassed them so I assumed e-bikes are treated as pedestrians.
Due to Joan’s fear of sinking and drowning I familiarised her with the position of the lifebelts and told her at all costs she was to grab one if we were going down. Tied up alongside the ferry was a rather nice port authority launch (which would make a beautiful cabin cruiser) on which there were some officers doing generally nothing until they spotted me.
They came and started talking to Joan and after a while I thought I heard one of them say my name after Joan had explained in Chinese I was a teacher at the university (yes, I DO understand that much!). Then Joan said the man wanted to know if I knew (insert Chinese name) and I said I would need her English name. She is his daughter and he phoned her, spoke for a minute and then said to me “Linda” and offered me the phone. I have known Linda the entire time I have been here so marvelled at what a small world it was.
Once finished, I had a good idea. This was Joan’s first time on a boat so I asked Dad if it would be possible for her to go on the bridge once we were under weigh to meet the Captain. Yes, no problem indicated he, gesturing toward another ferry about to dock next to us. Oh, thought I, the Old Man switches ships between crossings. Sometimes I can be very slow on the uptake.
Joan and he then had a brief conversation and then she said to me let’s go. No said I, I have seen many bridges in my time, I just want you to have a new experience and anyway with my leg I don’t want to climb the stairs. Off she went.
Bugger me if she didn’t get off the ferry and go on the newly arrived one. Ok, it was a newer model. It was only when I became aware of bikes, cars and buses coming down the road and boarding the other ferry that it dawned on me I might be on the wrong bloody boat! Using body language to the officers, it was made apparent that the reason I was the only one aboard the ferry I was on was because it was the wrong one and it was going nowhere! Had I sat there blissfully unaware, Joan would have sailed off waving to me!!
All’s well that ends well though, I relocated and Joan got to meet the Captain and watch him con the vessel, in fact she stayed up there the entire crossing. As promised, there was bugger all the other side but we had a ride and I told her to pick a place for lunch. She didn’t think any would be any good and suggested we have lunch in the business street when we got back. I agreed to that but said I needed a beer (it was hot) and there was a restaurant near the dock I could get one and have a sit down. No, she said, there’s no restaurant. Yes said I.
“I can’t believe you knew how to get beer here!” she exclaimed as I opened the bottle seated at a table in the little eatery by the dock. Oh Joan, I’m a professional - if there is beer to be had I will sniff it out! Actually I had to have two because maybe the boats run on the hour that side and we arrived ten minutes too late (must remember in case I need it in the future) but at least the return voyage was a lot faster.
By the time we got to the business street for a lunch of rice, sweet and sour and meatballs we were both cream crackered and so siestas were in order but I was happy to have given my friend a novel day, which by the way was all over the internet before it had even started!
Anyway, later I saw Ollivier and Coco out walking Hadrian in his three-wheeled buggy and we arranged to meet at south gate this morning at nine so I could get a lift to McD’s for breakfast and they carried on doing their own thing. I would get a bus back. No sign of them at the appointed hour and no reply to my messages - bloody French. I took a bus.
No big deal, it’s just that the walking does me in at present, however I had my breakfast (lunacy really because I could fry eggs and grill bacon and even make toast if I shifted myself and baked bread - in much less time) and then went to RT Mart. There I met the French/Chinese contingent who apologised for the lack of a lift but it wasn’t necessary, the bus is easy enough apart from the hike and anyway, Ollivier got eight bottles of wine for me which will last me until after my trip to Huainan, where by pure accident I may just meet Joan - she does rather seem to turn up in the most unexpected places!
When I moved in here to the new place the first thing I bought was a chest freezer for !,000y (£100) because it made sense with all the meat for the pets (it doesn’t now Pepsi is gone though because to make things easy I have switched the cats to complete dry food). The majority of the space is now used by the Ollivier family and after they returned he came to stash more food. It was then that he proved he wasn’t lying before (I did think he was making it up the first time) when he said he found some stockings in my freezer - he brought three pairs to my bedroom to show me what he found in the freezer. This was a first for me. Joan would have told me if it was her so the obvious choice had to be Mulan. Guilty as charged. I should add they are brand new and in their packets and apparently it prevents ladders. I have since had it confirmed from the UK (I was thinking it was yet another Chinese folly) and may just do some further research to find the truth and the reason behind it.
Enough for now - I need a kip.
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