Saturday 18^th November, 2017 2000

The last thing I wanted to hear from Dean yesterday was the suggestion that after his son had finished his skating lesson that he would come and look at my laptop. It was intimated it would be 2200.

With a five o'clock start followed by a full day of teaching, I was less than keen, especially as I had promised to go for a drink afterwards.

I begged off and suggested today might be better. He agreed but patently his wife had other plans for him today so at 2000 yesterday evening he said he had finished early and could he come?

Sure enough, he resolved my laptop issues and even tried to get China Mobile to fix my phone problem – I cannot discover my credit balance any more so have no way of telling when to top up. I still can't but I dismissed his suggestion that I needed to buy a new phone. If I can receive texts from other people and even my bank then the problem has to be with the phone company and not my handset.

I asked Annie where the bar Stephanie said stocked tonic water was and was given a vague indication of the name (Qing Kong) and that it was near the golden bull.

There are two bulls, the golden one at one end of Taurus Street, a black one at the other. We walked up and down the entire length inside the pedestrian precinct and also the parallel road with vehicular traffic. I had all but given up on the idea when Dean suddenly spotted the sign. I would never have found it because it was only in Chinese and it is such a small place.

Sure enough though they had tonic. And gin. Gordons, Tanqueray, Bombay Sapphire, The Botanist and others! A veritable Ruin of Mothers! It certainly ruined me! I tried all bar Gordons (he even had fresh limes, a rarity for China) and I have no idea what time we eventually left. I introduced Dean to G&T, rum and coke, Grand Marnier and other delights and when finally gaining the sanctuary of home I managed to fall asleep on my office desk. It was six this morning when I finally got between the sheets.

Rising at noon, it took until 1600 to motivate myself to go and do a cigar run. What eventually spurred me was the thought that if I never went today I would have to go tomorrow and I could really use a lazy day on Sunday.

So yes, I went and now have another month's supply. I toyed with buying double (which would have cleaned them out and hopefully prompted them to order more in good time) but now that Annie and Stephanie are coming to Xining in a fortnight I felt it prudent to shepherd my money. My UK account is taboo between now and summer except for the annual VPN payment. I can but hope I will not encounter another cigargate in two months.

Our hotel room is now booked, I managed to find a two-bedroomed serviced apartment with the implied promise of a western style breakfast before we head back here. And do you know, unbelievably Stephanie has never eaten Indian! It should be a treat to initiate her into the world of nan, bhajias and the like.

I just hope nothing happens to cancel the trip, after all it is only 75 minutes away by fast train.