Monday 22^nd January, 2018 1930

Sardine quesadillas are not exactly a meal of choice but fill a hole if there's nothing else. They weren't as unpalatable as one might expect. Really only for emergencies though.

Yesterday I still put off the shopping trip (the haircut is on hold also until after Joan leaves) but I did manage to go to the underground market in the square where I bought 20\ of pick'n'mix and then went in search of a small wheeled suitcase.

Steph has my old one for her trip to the States. To be honest, I was convinced Joan wouldn't come and that if I was to go anywhere alone it would only be for one night so the laptop case would be enough and I lent it to her. Now of course it is for two nights and I like to take my own bar with me so two bottles of wine and four half bottles of jing jo will hardly fit, let alone clothes. I actually managed to get a decent deal on a small one for 230\. Two-thirds of the pick'n'mix are for me, inedible. They now nestle in the case, I am sure my visitor will eat them!

I am falling into the holiday trap of retiring late and sometimes waking too early. Other times I am unavailable until noon. The latter was the case today but with only two days left after tonight, I want to at least make an effort to clean the floors. They are not filthy but the faux wooden flooring shows up every speck of dirt and anyway, it's winter so the ceiling in the dining room is snowing plaster.

So today was crunch day for food shopping, well, not actually food (pack of bacon and some spuds – which seem to be becoming worse quality again), rather it was for two boxes of wine. My wine girl was surprised I hadn't gone back to England for the duration but who the hell wants to go back to snow, post-Christmas?

And here's another thing – there still seem to be quite a few students here. I am sure there are teachers still but it seems strange, I don't recall that happening last year. Thinking back to Chizhou, during my first spring festival absolutely everyone left. The only life on campus was security, Piggy my dog and me. The second one there were a handful of teachers and each subsequent year saw more teachers staying as the new, much warmer flats were opened up. But no students.

And I just looked at the weather forecast. It's not often I do seeing as it's normally wrong but I hope it is this time. Some rare snow here on Wednesday but not Thursday, heavy at times in Xian on Thursday but not Friday. Hopefully nowhere near what the likes of the UK and Japan are getting.