Friday 2nd May, 2013                                  1930

The end of my third day of a four day May labour holiday.

I was left speechless on Wednesday when Joanna came to speak to me outside the campus supermarket. She hadn’t said she was coming back and responding to my obvious question, she replied that she had only come to deposit some paperwork and would be heading back to Nanjing again, meaning no time for dinner with me. She has though come to the sensible decision that working twelve hours a day six days a week selling massage chairs is not for her and is considering moving back here to find a job. And there was me bemoaning the fact I never had enough money to go and visit her during this break.

They have been digging up the roads here for a while in order to lay more cabling to power the aircon units being installed in all the student dorms and of course on Wednesday all the workmen cluttered off for the holiday. In true Chinese forward planning fashion they have left trenches stretching the entire width of the roads and have dug so many up (and not put signs to warn you the roads are impassable) that finding a route to get anywhere to and from my flat on the bike became reminiscent of trying to navigate Hampton Court maze. Utterly clueless.

As of today the white shirt Coco ordered online had still, after five days, not even been despatched by the vendor so she is now (from afar as they have gone travelling) trying to source one from other online retailers. Even if she does source one there is now no way I can get slits and buttonholes done by a tailor as the earliest possible arrival is tomorrow night, I have a full day Sunday and ditto Monday. If she gets one it will have to be a case of punching holes with a screwdriver. Nothing ever goes right.

I noticed from the school website that they have been spraying weed killer - they were warning people to keep their children away - due to an alien weed taking root. Goldenrod. Having never heard of it, my not being a gardener, I looked it up. It appears western gardeners cultivate it as a beautiful flower but patently here it is reviled as a weed. I must mention this to my students to garner their opinions!

On Wednesday I went to the cash point to get some money. Remember the bank helping me to get the emoney refunded by the opticians? The money came straight out of my account and the emoney still sits in the e-account malevolently daring me to try to get it back. Another job for Coco next time she goes to town. If you can’t do anything with it then what the hell is the point of it?

The season of ants and worms seems to be upon us again too. Each year at about this time, in the early morning when the dew is still hanging around, you witness worms that have decided to cross the road in the night. They never make it. Either the sun comes and bakes them to death or more likely, they are besieged by thousands of the tiniest ants I have ever seen. It is quite something to observe a comparatively colossal worm writhing futilely whilst being slowly executed by creatures not much bigger than a pinhead.

On Thursday I decided to ride to town. The weather has been lovely and I needed animal food. I took my usual route (the safe one) via the lake and within ten minutes regretted it. There must have been ten brides and grooms complete with their convoys of five or six cars there parked up for the wedding photos. It was gridlock and even on a bike I couldn’t get through - that’s never happened before. Needless to say, the return journey was by the longer, more dangerous number 29 bus route but which was indubitably the quicker way. Being Mayday the supermarket was mobbed but what really annoyed me was that dozens of people were sitting on the bollards at the top of the steps to get into RT Mart and others were standing in the gaps, meaning that to actually get into the mall you had to shout at people to move, same on the way out. Gumption is often in short supply here.

However, as I was about to turn into the RT Mart e-bike parking area on arrival I was passing a white car which was stationary at the side of the road. Without doubt it was in the charge of a woman who, if she isn’t, should be registered blind. When I was level with her front wing (and thus perhaps a yard from her head) she suddenly pulled out from the kerb. I could do nothing  except continue and hope she saw me in time to brake. She didn’t, nor did I manage to clear the front of the car either before she hit my bike. Had I been thrown off the bike it was a certainty I would have had another sojourn in the number one people’s hospital because I would have landed on my left side. That shoulder will never function correctly so God knows what damage would have occurred, therefore all I could do was stop the bike as it went over. She finally realised I was there when the bike had a 45 degree port list and my left foot was on the deck. Not being particularly amused by this incident, in addition to letting fly with a string of invective, I also put the power on so as to extricate the bike.

Considering the bike was at an angle and to do anything else would probably have resulted in my dropping it (and if I am to remain here another year as my last one no way am I buying a new one this summer and can do without damage) it seemed the right thing to do. She got out of the car and was treated to some less than complimentary remarks and do you know what? All that concerned her was the car! As it happens, the 280y I spent buying expensive replacement Yvonne-proof bullbars had been worth it. Her lower front bumper had caught on a bracket for the fold down footrest, the outcome being that I ripped the bumper away from the car body. Well, good! Sadly I suspect rather than confessing her sin to hubby back home she will spin a tale about a crazy laowei but at least it cost her money. As for the bike? Not a mark.

I hope my foray to town tomorrow will be less eventful.