Sunday 30^th June, 2019 1800

So my final day on east campus came and went with barely a whimper. Admittedly, I started at 0955 and was finished by 1020 so the only people to really see me were the remaining eight students. The afternoon absentee? Well, he never responded to my message so I wasn't hanging around for him. So, twenty-five minutes work and a three hour round trip!

I don't know why but when I put the exam results in a drawer and took the keys off the keyring to leave them, it was a little poignant. After three years of teaching people who can't understand me there should have been champagne corks flying but no, I found myself actually feeling sorry I was leaving. Most odd.

I was back in plenty of time to bake some bread pudding for the Peili campus end of term teachers' party and duly attended. With around fifty teachers, all of whom had been asked to bring one dish each, there was an enormous variety of food on offer, sadly none of it to my taste but a veritable banquet for everyone else! I did eat some sushi and two prawns (they tasted weird) and needed watermelon to dispel the aftertaste.

Many of those attending performed a song or dance and I found myself, rather worryingly, out of breath singing Court of King Caractacus! Maybe I should stick to Wild Rover in future!

Still no insight into who I am teaching and what next term, although I now know the entire foreign language department is moving on 13^th July to main campus. I know where I will teach. I also discovered the school buses have now been discontinued. This is due to budgetary constraints – not because of my pay rise – and having just spent an entire term taking an hour and a half and two buses to get to and from work, I couldn't care less. It will be one bus of thirty minutes or less from now on. I can but hope my rota is not arranged with huge gaps between classes when I can't return home.

While I was at the party I had a text from Janet apologising for not being on east campus to mark my final day. Just as bloody well, considering I bunked off early. The reason? She can't “bend her body”. I am guessing a bad back.

So nine weeks holiday stretch ahead. At times such as this I do wish I was wealthy, I could go to another country for a couple of months but I am not, so a week in Shanghai will have to suffice. I can't really count the two nights in the hotel near Lanzhou Zhongchuan airport that I have had to book for the night before leaving and the night we return, due to a very early morning flight and a very late evening one respectively. One bonus is the free airport shuttle they offer. I normally choose civilised hours to fly but this year the prices are astronomical.

Thursday 27^th June, 2019 1430

Yesterday I had a “medical” problem. Nothing really serious but I could have done without it. With my UTI proving annoyingly persistent I have been treating it with low dosages of antibiotics, I read that the medical profession does this for six months at a time. And it works most of the time!

But yesterday, before I left for work, I wanted to pee every two minutes, even after I had just had one. Clearly that was a concern because I needed to take two buses, one for about forty minutes, the other twenty, thankfully at lunchtime the journeys are shorter than early morning.

When the first bus stopped I was in dire need. I knew there was a public toilet above the Five Streams terminus but I also knew I wasn't going to make it! I found a side road leading to a covered car park and ducked down it. To my chagrin, there was someone there, quite why he was washing his hair using a bucket I know not but I found a quiet spot between cars and up against a wall and proceeded to go about relieving the pressure before I “leaked”. As it was raining I had an umbrella and hid behind that too.

Mateyboy decided to challenge me but there was no way I could have stopped even if he was police – and he wasn't wearing any kind of uniform. With him shouting and screaming at my back, I finished, zipped up and went to leave but I had to pass him. How do you explain you had no choice to an irate native who doesn't speak English? You don't. Instead he was treated to some choice Anglo-Saxon expletives and I in return was regaled by presumably suitable Chinese versions hurled at my disappearing back! As it turned out, I learnt on my return trip when I had the same problem, the public toilet is now cordoned off and workmen are beavering away in there so I would have been in real trouble anyway. I did find a very helpful restaurant though who took pity on me – I will be sure to go there in the fullness of time, it looked quite nice.

And at work, the recalcitrant monitor from tomorrow afternoon's class (the solitary no-show last week) never materialised so he's either out of luck or sensible because he can't speak English.

I was also told that the four boys from yesterday's class couldn't come as their dancing teacher had co-opted them for rehearsals! Could they come another day? No way! I have eight students left to test tomorrow and then I am finished on east campus for good. And what right did the dancing teacher have to absent them from MY class??? I informed the messenger they would receive zero marks.

Guess what? The last four students to present for testing were said boys! Probably better they had stayed away as they were awful but I relented and gave them all the lowest pass mark! I was just so pleased at achieving a small but significant victory. Many times in China I have been incensed when it is always my class that the Communist Party meeting is scheduled for or the form teacher decides to get students to run errands. I don't do it to them and I object to them doing it to me without so much as a by your leave.

As for tomorrow's party, I have realised I won't be able to go anyway. Annie's brownies will use nearly all of my stock of sugar and butter. Sugar isn't a problem, it's available locally, however butter needs a trip to BHG. It would stick in my craw to be the only one attending with no food while Annie takes chocolate delights!

And really annoying is that she wants to come at 2030 tonight to be taught how to bake them! I need to get up at 0630 tomorrow!

Tuesday 25^th June, 2019 2230

Yes, it's late but I am really trying to adjust the body clock to waking up after five in the morning and going to bed at nine at night.

I sent a text to the errant student from Friday requesting they attend their exam tomorrow towards the end of the lunch break but have had no reply. Further investigation shows it is probably a boy, the class monitor and he doesn't speak a word of English! To be fair, that's fine by me, English is not required for them but what I will not do is sit around for four hours this Friday for a no-show. The tragedy is, had he presented himself last week and done absolutely nothing I would have given him the lowest possible pass mark, the strategy I have had to adopt during three years on east campus. Ah well.....

Monday night's dinner was dreadful.

I have prepared hundreds of meals in China and not all of them have been resounding successes but nonetheless they were edible. How can you screw up a ham salad???? Buy a piece of pork that even after curing, boiling and roasting with honey still comes out like shoe leather. I'm not even sure the feral cats would eat it if I chuck it outside. I was mortified. I was gratified to learn from Alice's friend Lillith, a French major, that Nordine's cooking is far more disgusting!

I did though go into full porky-pie mode earlier in the evening. Knowing that Annie's radar was on full alert for a set-up (especially as that idiot Eli had fuelled it by saying it was a secret) I was happy when she arrived before everyone else. I excused myself for not preparing dessert (little did I know what I had made was awful, hopefully to be redeemed with lasagne and apple pie next week!) and said it was because of the party.

“Yeah, what party? Everyone keeps telling me it's a secret!”

“You don't know?”

“No!”

“Oh, it's Delia's (a dean) birthday, maybe they never told you because they know you talk often with her and might have ruined the surprise”.

I think she swallowed it because then she was panicking because she hadn't bought a birthday card.

I have to confess she handled the surprise itself very well. Better than me, for when called upon to give a short speech which ended in my saying I would miss her I started to choke at the end. And indeed I will miss her, in nine years here the only other colleague I miss is Kevin. The others have been mere acquaintances.

Flight prices this year in China are astronomical. Well, they are if you want to sit up front. They just aren't coming down as expected nearer the day in question. No idea about economy but I suspect the same holds true. I would fly economy if Lanzhou airport had somewhere to get a proper drink and the damned airlines served a beer on flights of three hours.

So today the choice was trying to book an entire rail compartment both ways for £700 or business class flights for £850. Twenty-four hours each way or under three hours. I am now skint but we will travel more swiftly.

I am happy to report that I heard from Mulan, who will definitely be joining us for an evening in Shanghai. Loyal readers will recall she gave up her Chinese new year's day and her siblings looked after me when I broke my pelvis in Chizhou four years ago. She is now (I assume happily) married and her daughter is five months old. Considering the travails she had in school and indeed her shitty younger life, I am happy to know she has found her place. And I will never forget her and her brother and sisters' kindness for tending to me when I could not walk.

Anyway, a couple of hours work left this week. Bloody Annie (a pain to the end!) has been invited to a teachers party on Peili campus on Friday. I haven't and although I may be expected to go I may just not do so, protocol and all that. However, all the invitees have been asked to bring one dish.

I think Annie can just about prepare a pot noodle if pushed, so she asked for help. I am going to show her how to make brownies (and wash the pots afterwards!!) so she can say she actually made them even if I paid for the ingredients.

Saturday 22^nd June, 2019 1400

What did I say?

Week one of two of examinations done. “Examinations” is used very loosely in this case, nobody fails (unless they don't turn up) and they were given the question two months ago!

Unlike the tests I give to English majors, which are more thorough and time-consuming for obvious reasons, it came to pass that I (or rather the students) was/were whipping through the candidates at a rate of knots.

Hence the first class on Wednesday afternoon were allowed to go over the specified number of entrants (which had been set at 50% plus one) and from memory out of 47 in the class I am left with eleven to do next week. And I still finished well within the allotted time. Class two took the Mickey and yes, they are the smallest class at 39 pupils, I ended up testing them all. Wednesday next week will be a day when the commuting takes three times as long as the work!

Friday morning broke the back of that class and the afternoon one, unbelievably and to my intense annoyance, saw the entire class of 47 come – except one girl! Having decided to press on and take all-comers, only to find myself one short was a no-no. If she thinks I am going to finish around 1100 next Friday and then wait around until 1430 just for her then she has another think coming! She will be told to come during lunch on Wednesday or morning break on Friday. Absolutely no reason she cannot, she will be free and it will take less than five minutes. And then starts my short, nine-week summer holiday!

Annie is currently in Chengdu for yet more Peace Corps training, returning tomorrow. I find it incredible they insist on this because on 2^nd August she will leave, having completed her two-year “prison sentence” never to return. Waste of money is the phrase that springs to mind and a damned inconvenience to her, as she is in exam mode here she has to make up the sessions she misses.

On Monday instead of English corner because it is over for the term (not that I go often, nor intend to much even when I am teaching them next year), her students want to throw Annie a party. Quite an accolade for a girl who completely abhors teaching! She must have done something right.

So, the plan (hopefully it will work) is for Alice and I to have dinner with her as usual. I have long promised to introduce them to Heinz salad cream (seems to be a very British thing as they have never encountered it) I am doing a simple ham, cheese, egg and potato salad and no dessert. I have pork curing in the fridge which will be ready to boil on Monday afternoon and that's the last of my Prague Instacure until I buy more next term.

Annie will think that with nothing to do after dinner, she can relax a little longer and maybe even have a few glasses of vino. Wrong. The story will be that Dean Delia wants me to go and find out who I am teaching next, collect the new course books and she wants Annie there to offer up any “advice” she may have about the students – didn't she receive the email?

Tomorrow I will bake bread pudding and lemon drizzle cake for Alice to take hidden in a bag and by all accounts the students have bought snacks and decorations too.

Thankfully she doesn't read this blog, she doesn't even access the news.

Tuesday 11^th June, 2019 1200

The dim sum and goulash turned out fine. I am finding the beef I get from BHG is far superior to the boot leather they sell on the Muslim stall around the corner, the supermarket stuff so far every time has been nice and tender.

Once the girls left, because Alice had confirmed the dates she will definitely be free in summer (she hopes to be accepted for two volunteering stints in rural Gansu – good for the CV), I searched for Shanghai hotels. Where I like to be is not well served by my preferred chains (Marriott would be ideal but costs an arm and a leg) so I was drawn to the serviced apartments I have stayed at before.

But then I looked at the Ramada Plaza, which was slightly cheaper and offers western options for breakfast (not that I'm ever up in time when I stay in Shanghai!) and ended up booking for a week in August. Pointless even considering executive lounge access because I would never be there either for the free drinks in the evenings. Even better, because I'm a “Genius” with Booking.com I was given a 10% discount. Location is perfect, it's opposite the Marriott and close to my preferred street in Pudong – easy walking to the Flying Fox Irish pub.

Now I just need Joan to let me know A) if we can visit her for a couple of days beforehand and B) where the hell she will be. If she's not receiving visitors then we fly to PVG, if we are then I have no choice but to use the trains. However, with the savings on flying I reckon I will get Alice to book an entire soft sleeper compartment just for the two of us, still cheaper than by air and privacy guaranteed. With a 24 hour journey or thereabouts, I will be sure to roast some chicken legs, make bread pudding etc so there will be no need to resort to pot noodles or worse – train catering. Even the Chinese don't eat THAT! It does make me nostalgic for the 70s in the UK when there were dining cars and freshly cooked meals, albeit for a price.

Not the summer holiday I had envisaged but money is King. I have plans for next year instead.

Janet sent me a text this morning to let me know my Friday afternoon class is cancelled due to the CET exam. As the test itself takes place on Saturday I can only assume it's to allow some last minute swotting. I think I have only actually seen that particular class five times all term! I don't care, it just means two hours work in the morning and at noon I can come home. What it does mean though is that the bloody internet will be turned off all day on Saturday. I need to download as much iPlayer content as I can beforehand so I have plenty to watch!

Sunday 16^th 1100

I had a slight panic on Friday night. The VPN and the internet failed at about 2230. Nothing unusual in that, it's a regular occurrence, disconnecting and reconnecting normally works and if that fails, a reboot for both laptop and router invariably restore service.

So I ended up with a restart but that triggered an automatic update (which I thought was from Windows but turned out to be Asus) and on restart it presented a screen adjusting BIOS – I have never seen that before. And on completion I still had no internet. The CET blackout always commences shortly after 0800 so I worried that the update, once I discovered it wasn't a Windows one, had buggered up my computer. Considering I lost Windows completely on the previous laptop when I did it, there was no way I was going to attempt a system reset. I hoped I would have access Saturday morning but I didn't. I had no idea if my set was knackered or not and had to wait until 1730 when to my relief I was back online. I had visions of having to go back to the computer shop today to get it fixed.

Alice is dismayed because her application to volunteer was turned down for the second year. She is desperate for something to put in her CV so I told her she can always say she accompanied a foreigner to Shanghai to translate for him! Not entirely a lie!

Tomorrow's meal will be spring rolls (shop bought), roast pork and crackling (the crackling by special request from Annie) and I thought I'd make a lemon tart. Considering previous attempts at sticking meringue on top resulted in failure, cream will have to do this time.

And two weeks of exams left this term. I have explained countless times I only want half the classes each week to present themselves but what's the betting at least one class will turn up en masse next week? I always look forward to finishing the exams and the term, this year though more than previously. This term has been a slog and I am hoping my enthusiasm will be rejuvenated next year by students who actually understand me.

Monday 10^th June, 2019 1330

I went to the chemist for my monthly necessities and with not being paid during August, was prepared for a slightly higher than usual expense, after all, I wanted to have enough to last until the first payday next academic year in September and leave myself not needing to buy anything out of July's salary.

I was also determined to try something else for my arthritis. The last stuff did absolutely nothing and I had decided on fish oil capsules but when I got there I decided to give the crushed seashells and prawn carapaces a shot. Pricey but what the hell, it won't destroy my insides as did diclofenac. But oh no, my 188¥ bottle was not to be! Normally I hate the women working in supermarkets and the like for trying to flog me a brand of soap I don't want or even something I don't want regardless of brand. However the intervention this time came from the girl who always “does” me and lately has ensured I get 5 for 3 and other offers on my regular items (I think I have six months supply of Metformin as a result!) and she seemed to think I would be better off buying a tub that cost 388¥! What?? Then she pointed out that rather than 60 capsules it contained 180 and at two a day would last three months. Ok, made sense. Then she stiffed me with a buy one get one half price offer! I now have six months' supply! Or so I thought. When Alice translated the label later it read two tablets twice a day so it's three months worth.

I nearly called for an ambulance when everything was rung up at the till and the total came to 906¥!! At least next month the bill should be about 10¥ and if the glucosamine hasn't worked by the time it runs out in December then it never will and nobody will be able to say I never gave it a fair crack of the whip. Wish me luck.

On Saturday we went for Alice's birthday treat. Despite my having agreed to go to Baiyin yesterday I never scaled the operation down because her mum was cooking us lunch yesterday.

Unusually for Holiday Inn, this one was difficult to find, being tucked away in a huge shopping mall and to my surprise because we didn't have a reservation (for a buffet???) we were told to leave a phone number and go elsewhere for half an hour. To be fair, well within that time they called to say they now had a table.

Annie had expressed reservations about the place, having read online reviews that were not complimentary. I pointed out they were all Chinese authors and in fact for us, it was a good sign – plenty of western stuff! And there was, it was little different to other hotels in the chain I have been to in China and we all (yes, me too) ate heartily. I confined myself to sashimi and prawns though – no vegetables – and some desserts later.

One huge black mark though. 168¥ per head if you paid via Wechat, if you used cash it was 228¥!!! I thought it outrageous, especially given that it was plastered all over the BBC earlier this week:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-china-blog-48552907

If you read it, I am the one person who does not have Wechat!

Luckily Alice had enough in her account to cover it and I handed the cash to her but it did leave a nasty taste.

On Sunday morning we took a taxi to the long distance bus station and while the other two went to get the tickets I remained outdoors for a last smoke. Two minutes later I was besieged by shouts from various uniformed personnel indicating smoking in the open air was prohibited! My back well and truly up, I went near the street, only to still be hounded a foot further away! By way of protest, I ensured they could see me blowing the smoke back across the line. I could have just gone into the building and sparked up in an alcove and probably not been spotted.

Alice's mum made a load of dumplings (which were actually very good) and some cold dishes, the only one of which I tried was deep fried aubergine coated in egg batter. I was more concerned with showing willing and finishing the dumplings I had been apportioned, especially seeing as I was still full from Saturday night. I managed it.

Afterwards the girls dumped me in a bar (I had my laptop) and I sat drinking and watching TV while they explored Baiyin. When we finally got back home at 2015 they had been complaining of starvation for an hour so we tried a new (to me) halal restaurant that does particular noodles. With my lack of gnashers, eating noodles is a fiddly and messy affair but these were ravioli-sized squares and I was given a bowl of these with bamboo shoots. The only problem was a forest of coriander slapped on top and loads of tofu lurking in the soup. I hate both. The girls harvested the coriander and I avoided getting tofu in my spoon. Quite tasty as it happens but no chance of obtaining a cold beer (despite there being a bar next door where I could have got gin, tia maria, baileys etc but NO beer!) so I doubt I will return regardless of the proximity to my home.

Time to start cooking now. With Annie now leaving in less than a fortnight I need to make my own special dumplings and now I have my internet back to normal I am making that goulash.

Dragon Boat Festival, 2019 1320

There is an art to buying tickets when flying domestically in China.

Try to book too far in advance, unlike elsewhere, and you will pay through the nose. Here it is a war of nerves and wallet. Optimum prices are normally obtained somewhere between ten and fourteen days prior to travel.

In researching ticket prices to gauge the likely cost this year of getting to Shanghai. It's not something I can even think about finalising yet because I would also like to get to see Joan even if she can't accompany me to the bigger city. Her mother is now out of hospital and convalescing and she is caring for her, yet she has no idea if she will be in her hometown or in Hefei when the time comes.

Either of those destinations would mean a lengthy train trip, Suzhou Anhui has no airport and Hefei which does, from here would entail flights just as long – in some cases via Taiwan!

So I was investigating straightforward travel direct from here to Pudong. I was horrified to discover that business seats regardless of proximity to travel dates were being quoted at an average of 4,000¥ each way and unlike previously, never fluctuated by date. Even economy (ie no beer at the airport or aboard) were coming out at 1,000¥. At those rates even getting to the Smoke was going to involve a lengthy train ride, although for less I could actually buy all four tickets for a soft sleeper compartment and have it to myself! Actually, not a bad idea!

Now my searches for flight prices were conducted entirely on Skyscanner but I had forgotten about Trip.com (formerly Ctrip) and today I rectified that. Prices there, depending on takeoff times, are much more akin to those I expected. But this is idiotic. Why so? Because Ctrip – a Chinese firm – bought Skyscanner a few years ago and are clearly inflating prices for international passengers! I had expected uniformity. Silly me.

Alice has also become a first for me. We are off for her birthday treat tomorrow evening, on her birthday. Or so we all thought, including her. This morning she was talking to her mother regarding visiting Baiyin on Sunday. I have agreed to Holiday Inn for the meal and for me to go with the girls to Baiyin because Mum will make dumplings for lunch and someone else will foot the dinner bill. I have demanded I be left somewhere with wifi and cold beer while the others go trekking around the city.

Anyway, apparently during the conversation with mater, she informed Alice that her birthday is not in fact tomorrow but on Monday! Quite apart from the fact she never even knew her own birthday (I thought only old people and those from impoverished banana republics fell into that category), her passport as I mentioned before, shows her date of birth as 14^th July! With three birthdays (8^th & 10^th June as well) she has more than the Queen!

So I actually have a somewhat full weekend for once and you can bet your bottom dollar the girls will still expect me to cook on Monday. I'm going to try once again to cook goulash and with luck the dim sum I used to make in the UK to great acclaim. I did threaten to do it when they came here and made their own because I reckon mine are far superior. Nothing quite like proving a point!

I daren't go shopping today (national holiday) or tomorrow (weekend) so Monday is set fair to be a full day too. Dessert may have to be a shop bought cake.

There's a sodding cat nearby (feral) that for three days has been mewling constantly. It sounds more like a kitten in distress to the unfamiliar and on occasions I have seen people opening their car bonnets before driving off because the thing is caterwauling somewhere in their engine space. I have suggested that the easiest way to get it to scarper is give the ignition a quick turn but no, they have been poking around with sticks and poles. Fly spray would work too.

In the main the Chinese are not versed in the ways of animals and are quite unsure of how to deal with them, be it a dog defending territory or an insect which inadvertently flew into their home, so how on earth (without being crude) to explain to them in body language that the damned thing is almost certainly in season for the first time and is calling out for a good rogering??? The universal sign for “jiggy-jiggy” would probably see me branded a pervert! I am however grateful that it is only audible from my office and is nowhere near my bedroom or I would probably buy a net, capture it and take it to the vets for the chop!

Tuesday 4^th June, 2019 0900

A full week since the last entry – but it wasn't my fault, Guv!

I discovered my second batch of brownies were universally-acclaimed after Annie cut them into small cubes to give to one of her classes for performing well. Perchance, a gentleman had requested that he observe the class and during the “fun” section when the chocolate treats were distributed, he was given one as well.

The students loved them (of course, they would have you believe that the Chinese don't like sweet things but I know differently!) and the gentleman remarked how delicious it was and enquired if Annie had baked them! I am still unclear as to whether she took the credit or not but she has requested she come after we finish exams to help me make some more for her “leaving party” she wants to throw for some of the faculty. The gentleman who enjoyed the treat? The Foreign Language Department's head dean, my new boss as of next term.

Finally the weather here is starting to warm up. Until two days ago I was still using my fan heater because my flat is colder than it is outside. Handy in the height of summer (just shut all the windows and stay cool) but a real pain in the period before warmth and when the central heating is activated.

Now, the reason for the lengthy silence. It's not because little has been happening. On Saturday evening I lost all “civilised” internet connections. The VPN was blocked, meaning no access to the obvious sites (YouTube, Facebook etc) and also BBC news and television or any UK telly. Additionally, Chrome is often prevented from carrying out searches because it is owned by Google.

Luckily I had sufficient iPlayer downloads amassed to see me through that night and all day Sunday but I couldn't figure out what had prompted this latest assault by the Firewall Police. No party conferences occurring to explain it. Then I twigged. Today is the 30^th anniversary of something Beijing would prefer to forget and certainly don't want people talking about. Mystery solved. Eventually a “fix” was rolled out early yesterday evening but it also inconvenienced me in another way besides cutting off my email and viewing. In fact if I dared, I would email Xi to remonstrate!

No, yesterday I had planned to make for the first time, Hungarian goulash, having bought some paprika. I don't know about you but I can't remember every recipe I have ever cooked and certainly none that I haven't. I needed the internet to pull up the recipe. I prayed for five minutes airtime, during which I would open it and leave on screen but no matter how long I waited, my prayers went unanswered. Eventually I had no choice but to leave and go shopping and so had to resort good old bolognese. Now that I can do in my sleep and rustle up in an hour but it is annoying when Annie only has possibly four such meals left before she returns to lA (where I read mountains of rubbish are piling up downtown) so I wanted a mix of favourites and untried stuff. Ah well, she does love my garlic bread, a little consolation.

So, Friday is the dragon boat festival holiday (just teaching tomorrow this week) and Saturday is Alice's birthday. The three musketeers will go out for dinner, possibly the new Holiday Inn downtown for an all-you-can-eat buffet on the day but seeing as I shall be paying, Annie may just force me to downscale that operation. She wants the three of us to go to Baiyin (Alice's hometown) on Sunday for a day trip and is laying the guilt on me with a trowel. If I acquiesce, doubtless I will be footing the bill for either lunch or dinner, hence the possible budgetary rethink.

Speaking of Alice, this time the one in Guangzhou. Things with her Australian road traffic planner boyfriend (they met when he went there as a guest professor) seem to be moving apace with even marriage rearing it's head. She has just been granted a visa to visit him in Brisbane in the summer and he's paying for everything. Yesterday I got this Alice to ship my camcorder to her so she can record her adventures in a city I know well, Brisbane.