Sunday 19^th January, 2020 Lanzhou 1900

God it's cold. But then it will also be for many of my readers except perhaps for those in Australia who have managed to ravage their country with fire and now, with relief arriving in the form of rains, floods! Maybe the Bible was based on tales from there before the British invented the country? Seriously though, I know from experience the bush recovers rapidly, not so the people who lost their homes. I do however have rather more empathy for those who lost their lives. A home seems somewhat small beer in comparison. Oz was built on a pioneering spirit just as much as Britain was when the Empire was built. Oddly, I reckon the Ockers still have it, the UK it would seem, is now populated by snowflakes or “woke” people.

What the hell is “woke”????

I have been woken up in my life by alarms, loud noises, reveille and the duty lookout calling me for my watch but I would never have described myself, once up, as being “woke”. Awake maybe but then I remember a world when you could offend people legally and if the other party didn't like it then 16 knuckles (not smashed beer glasses or knives) would decide who was “right”. Sometimes I really do despair of the West. Thankfully there is none of that load of cobblers here, they behave rudely regardless of who you are!

Anyway, Alice left last night at 1830. her train was leaving from the main station at 2045 and when I said she could stay here another hour she informed me she needed to actually collect her ticket, she had ordered and paid for it but not got it. I then said to her that being Chinese, she could use the automatic machines.

Apparently not. As a foreigner I can forget about using anything which saves time here but a Chinese national? It appears the automated dispensers are only for the bullet trains – I never knew that. So she had to go and queue at a counter and naturally, being in the upcoming swell for the biggest human migration on the planet, she was expecting (and I must concur) large numbers of people with the same idea.

So I walked her down to the bus station in Peili Square. I couldn't help but notice that this year, unlike every other year I have been in Lanzhou, there were no mice or rats in evidence.

Not that I mean it is awash with rodents, far from it, but previous run-ups to Chinese new year have seen whatever the new animal for the year is, represented by figures all around the statue of Rewi Alley and his adopted children which takes pride of place in the middle of the square. This year, nothing. Last year when I went down at midnight, nobody letting off fireworks either. I won't be taking a wander this year even if I am still awake.

Anyway, Alice left with an entire ginger cake, two huge sausage rolls, three portions of lasagne and a flask of gin and tonic, all but the last she “made” under my direction. I thought she might eat the sausage rolls en route but no, she had enough Chinese snacks for the journey, they were to take home. Maybe to brag to Mum and Dad that she made them – which technically, she did.

Now the eating habits of the Chinese have almost stopped being shocking or appalling to me after all this time but do you know what she ate for her breakfast yesterday morning? One of the sausage rolls, chilli sauce and the remains of the garlic bread from the lasagne dinner on Friday! Two hours later she went out for beef noodles for lunch and when I made her dinner of a chilli puff, she only ate a few morsels because she was full!

Anyway, she left last night at 1830 from here and will get to her parents' around 0300 tomorrow morning, two days later. Bugger that but of course, flying to Hefei and taking a fast train from there was out of the question because it's spring festival and air fares rival return prices to New York. Small wonder some poor migrant workers here resort to making 1,000 mile journeys on e-bikes that take a week between sleeps and charges for the bikes, or that some buy standing tickets for the slow trains where they must either stand for 28 hours or sit on their baggage, occasionally gaining the relief of an unoccupied seat between two stations. And people ask me why don't I travel in spring festival???

The government is now trying to promote “reverse migration” where the parents/family in the country now travel to be with their offspring in the big cities rather than vice versa. I believe fares the opposite way are lower although to work I think the saving needs to be substantial.

However, I am alone again. She was only here for eight days and as she was working on her thesis I only really saw her in the evenings for dinner and a film (perfect if you ask me!) and the rest of the time she was in the dining or living room. Suddenly though, last night the flat felt empty. So did I.

I'm used to it but it still hits.

Oh well, I think Adriana wants to come for her dinner on Tuesday and between Wednesday and the 27^th Jody wants to see me. So much for saving money, January's pay is gone and 'ere the month is out, so will be much of my savings. The Wang Guan Cigar Shortage must shoulder much of the blame. It's becoming ridiculous. The cheapest cigars you can buy and they only “release” them a couple of times a year – anyone would think they were designer or Cuban!