Saturday 20^th January, 2018 1800

Procrastination sometimes bites back.

We did have water ever since my last post (there are still buckets of water just in case) but despite a complete lack of wine I postponed shopping until today. Adriana was coming for dinner and after we were going to the bar where I drink gin.

The plan had been to sleep from 0200, get a good kip and wake up mid-morning, shop, tidy and sweep and then produce some home made burgers and chips for dinner.

I think I maybe slept for four hours, it was certainly dark when I woke and for the life of me I could not drop off again so I got up early, thinking everything would get done and after dinner I wouldn't want to go out drinking.

That all changed when Adriana sent a text, problems with her grades and she needed to go to school to sort it, could we postpone? Manna from heaven! Yes, sorry about that but ok. Hot on the heels of that was another from Joan telling me she would come on Thursday, let her know and she would buy the ticket immediately.

Frantic internet searches showed the only sensible train she could take arrives in Xian 1834 (previous fast one all sold out in all classes and anything later either slow or arriving after bedtime) so then a look to see what options there were for me. Flying takes almost as long as the train and for once the train is cheaper anyway, yes there was a train which arrived 24 minutes before hers so no tarrying for hours waiting, in fact enough time for a cigar before she gets there, perfect.

Loads of seats left (first class being the preference) and I could easily have decided to turn up on Thursday afternoon to buy my ticket just before the train left. This is China. It is spring festival. Xian is a tourist destination. Would you cross your fingers that during the biggest human migration on the planet every year there would still be a seat left by then?

No, I thought not. I needed that ticket today.

The problem was, the train leaves from the west station. That's a 40y taxi round trip. I could buy the tickets from the main station, a 2y round bus trip. That's what I did. I WILL go shopping tomorrow! Buying the ticket took two and a half hours start to finish, the actual journey itself is only 30 minutes longer! At least I know I have seat 6A in car 1 though.

When I had my ticket I considered eating a chicken curry in Dicos at the station but decided instead to wait and have sweet pork nearer home. The bloody place is all shuttered up! Either they have gone on a very long winter holiday (still more than 3 weeks to new year) or they have gone out of business. I find the latter hard to believe, it may not have been busy during the day but it always seemed popular at night. Who knows?

Being too tired to travel elsewhere, I dithered over whether to have noodles or not. Then I thought I could have a fried bap with assorted fillings from the stall nearby. Until I saw the huge queue of students.

I had cheese and jalapeno quesadillas last night (highly recommended if you are suffering from constipation) and tonight I am trying something wacky – quesadillas filled with sardines in tomato sauce! Sounds vile? I'll let you know!