Monday 4th February, 2013          1915

Chinese plumbing - you just have to love it. During the night, and without any input from me, my toilet blocked. I discovered it of course when I got up and naturally I did my best to clear it. No joy with my plunger and as matters became more urgent I decided to go and use Kevin’s. I espied a larger plunger he owns (after I had finished!) and borrowed that, also to no avail. With Chinese new year six days away the chances of my getting a maintenance man out to fix it are virtually nil.

After my shower I needed to go out for provisions and anyway Pepsi needed a stretch. In the supermarket I bought my essentials (beer & wine) and also a cheap mop for 5y. Said mop will never be used for its intended purpose but it is now a fixture here for emergencies. It took a great deal of strength and a lot of energy to do it, but now my loo is flowing freely again. this always seems to happen during the spring festival so I can only assume that because no other bugger is here all the pipes become clogged.

My Hilton bathrobe now has its own hook. Although the fit can hardly be described as generous, it is big enough certainly for me to use and will now eradicate the cold shock normally associated with emerging from the bathroom to get dressed. Bliss.

Tuesday 5th         2030

A crappy and rainy day. Thankful that I postponed my lunch with Crystal until tomorrow I lazed around until 1600 when I decided it was time to do some local shopping. Parky to say the least but I had already decided against eating at home tonight so after dropping my shop and dog back home I went to catch the bus. It was then I discovered the cost of local public transport has doubled. It now costs 2y instead of 1y to town, at least on what appear to be most of the 29 buses.

We now have spanking new ones and very nice they are too. Padded instead of plastic seats, aircon and - unless I am very much mistaken - hybrid. It pulls up at a bus stop or traffic lights and the engine cuts out. When it departs it is silent until it gets to about 15mph and the engine restarts automatically. Lovely stuff. BUT. Whilst it is heaven for me at present, once the students are back it will be a different story. Whilst both models have standing room (in China!) for 2 million people, the older models have 35 seats while the new ones only boast 21. What are the chances of even getting a sniff of somewhere to park my bum? Ok sure, students normally vacate a seat for teachers, but on the return journey?

This fleet upgrade actually made me change my itinerary. The plan had been to go to Lottemart and then KFC for dinner. They do a prawn and rice thing I want to try but as they only serve it after 1730 I haven’t had chance before. En route I got to thinking that perhaps, even though the route is quieter, with only 21 spots I could end up standing all the way home. Instead I decided to shop at the commercial centre which is near the terminus and thus the bus is usually empty and have a Korean dinner. And a very nice dinner it was too, pork and prawn spicy skewers followed by a spicy fried rice hill with cabbage and topped with a proper fried egg so the yolk ran onto the rice.

When the return bus arrived I was standing with others and with my 2y in my hand. Before embarking I failed to spot it was the old red bus and not a new light green one. My attention was diverted because the driver was a woman. Not unusual of course, but I know this lady and have been on her bus many times. In my opinion she is the best bus driver I have ever known anywhere and is one of the few people I know in China who actually drives properly. And so we had to greet each other. Before I realised I only needed to pay 1y I had put 2y into the money box. Damn.

Tomorrow Crystal (and hopefully Pam) are taking me for the prawn hotpot lunch. I shall do some more food shopping either before (preferably) or after, seeing as new year is on Sunday. With the recent spate of milder weather I had hoped Saturday night would have enabled me to ride to town but now I am not sure. I could of course if I togged up enough and I still may do. I really would like to see how the Chinese welcome the year of the snake, although knowing my luck there will be nowhere open for a beer even if I do make it!