Sunday 30th June, 2013                   1200

Yesterday was perfect for a run to town especially as the power was going to be off all day, during which I managed to find a suitable bag to use for hand luggage and also afterwards for my school bag. I really have to throw my expensive leather one away as due to the cats it now looks incredibly tatty. On enquiring as to the price of said bag I thought I was told 400y and immediately said too expensive. Although this was in east street where bartering is de rigeur, there was no way on earth I could chip the price down to 100y which was more the price I had imagined. I made as if to leave and the woman hastened to put me right - it wasn’t 400y but 40y (£4)!!! I was so pleased I simply handed over the money without even trying to haggle.

I should have stayed in town longer for when I came back and took Pepsi to the sweet pork place there wasn’t a breath of air and I just sat and melted. It was the same at the campus shops so because I was tired after getting up early to ensure I showered before the shutdown (although annoyingly I could have slept later because for the first time in history the water stayed on) I laid on my bed and managed to doze until there was light again. However whilst at the shops I discovered my pocket watch had stopped. Damned annoying and especially so seeing as the batteries in my four other watches have all run out. I may give it to Kevin to take to his watch repairer, it should be an easy enough job but I went and bought yet another watch. It set me back the princely sum of 27y and once Kevin removed three links it fitted perfectly.

I also bought some pork mince and potatoes. Maybe tomorrow I will have a crack at making my own burgers and chips. I found a recipe/method for  producing home made oven chips, which if it works will be terrific.

I also discussed with Kevin when he would move downtown so that Joanna could move into his campus flat. Initially he said 12th July because two of his students will be staying in his town place, that caused mild panic because I know Joanna’s dormitory block will be sealed by then, so after discussions between him and his students it was agreed she could move in next weekend and he will sleep downtown on his camp bed. Great. Except when I told Joanna she said she will have gone home by then! More panic then because she must be here at the latest the 12th as I am leaving myself for Hefei on the 13th and the cats will need looking after. All is now resolved as she will return in time plus we will move her gear into Kevin’s in the coming week. Her exams conclude on Thursday so hopefully I will finally get to obtain some sterling from the bank. It is certainly a whole lot less stressful staying here! Packing will be the easy part - I need to freeze enough cat meals to last a fortnight (and in individual meal sizes as she has no idea how much to give them) and get Pepsi to the vets for her “holiday in a cage” among a myriad of other things, another of which is lugging all my coins to Sonya. I wonder if I have 1,000y yet?

Ok, shower time and then I am off for my summer haircut if my young friend YoYo is working today.

Monday 1st July, 2013      0200

Yes, I know it’s late!

I went for my haircut and my suspicions were confirmed. YoYo is not a hairdresser as far as I can tell. She washes hair and dries it. This became apparent when her bluff was called this afternoon and I walked in. I may not speak the lingo but I know when someone is trying to get someone to rescue them so I demanded she gave me my haircut. She didn’t make a complete pig’s ear of it but there were steps on the tumblehomes and she never even touched the top before she started to undo the gown. Whoa! This has got to last two months, I want it short! Really short. Now I am a believer in the fact everyone learning something has to have guinea pigs and certainly at sea on Scottish ships there was an expression that the only difference between a good and a bad haircut was two weeks so I wanted to give her every opportunity.

She wouldn’t attack my barnet further despite my exhortations and one of the lads came and tidied me up. Next time I will go to Barry Manilow!!

This evening I did in fact try my hand at burgers and chips for Kevin and me. First time for both so it was always a case of if it goes wrong we pop out for fried rice. Sadly every burger recipe I looked at either listed ingredients I can’t get unless I shop online (or not at all) or they conflicted, such as egg yolk v whole egg, breadcrumbs or not etc. in the end I guessed and we sucked it and saw. I now know next time to only use one egg and also include breadcrumbs but the result was pork chilli burgers which could never in a million years be described as round or beautiful but which to our deprived palates tasted - without blowing any trumpets - bloody good. The chips, surprisingly seeing as they were oven chips fashioned from spuds I bought yesterday, were…..well…… CHIPS! They only took two hours to cook in the little oven! An awful lot of faffing about for something in the UK you just take out of bags and whack in the oven but after three years it was a success. And of course unlike the UK these burgers were guaranteed to be free of any horsemeat! And before anyone makes comment about dog meat, not a chance as it’s more expensive than pork.

That’s me for now, I am hoping to go and see Sonya with my coins during the quiet lunch period if I wake up early enough - I just hope the forecasters are right for once.