Not long before I posted the last entry and not long before I was due to leave for town with Vivi for dinner an email arrived with a proofreading/editing job for the Guangzhou government again. This was at 1630 and the deadline for completion was 1600 yesterday, less than 24 hours notice. No problems thought I, until I saw that it was the biggest one they have given me yet - 10,000 words!
I know I am fast but I thought it would take five hours anyway. I thought I could make a start after dinner and continue in the morning and so off we went to the Sichuan restaurant. Vivi had been before with Kevin but not my four guests and they really enjoyed it, which hopefully you will see from the pictures (yes I remembered this time!). I never enjoyed it so much though because my stomach was still not right and still isn’t plus the job I had been given was in PPP format. I have no idea about them other than you can’t edit them. You can copy into Word and do it but I have no product key for mine so it’s useless. Fallrain said she would sort it but when we came back she couldn’t and of course Kevin the expert had left. In the end I managed to figure it out myself and so made a start just after eleven. By one in the morning I was pooped and finding focusing impossible so packed it in and went to bed.
Because I really wanted this particular job to be submitted perfectly (a brochure) in order for the work to keep flowing, I slept badly and fretted over finishing on time because it was taking far longer than anticipated. I had set my alarm for ten, giving six hours to complete the final two thirds but when I woke at six I couldn’t stop worrying, I couldn’t get back to sleep so eventually I got up and started again. They received it before eleven yesterday morning so hopefully my place in the job queue is now firmly cemented.
When Flora was leaving for her work in the afternoon she couldn’t get out. Her key wouldn’t work. I opened the door with mine. Then later Summer came and couldn’t open it from outside. I had the devil’s job of opening it from inside so obviously something was wrong with the lock. These doors are metal and have nine deadbolts so the last thing I need is to be trapped because the window has bars in front of it to deter burglars. At my request Summer called the number stamped outside every flat and an hour later a chap arrived and changed the whole assembly. Unbeknown to me he wasn’t a school maintenance man so I had to pay him 180y which will now take until the end of next term to get back.
Last night we had the mother of all thunderstorms. We have had plenty here during my time but this one was not only very loud but there was a strong wind to boot. It wasn’t long before the inevitable happened and the entire area was plunged into darkness, plus of course my aircon stopped. It took them two hours to restore power. For fifteen minutes and then it went off again and took another hour to be reconnected. It also blew my bike over off the main stand. Thankfully I keep candles for emergencies but I stayed up longer than I wanted as I couldn’t face a hot and sticky night and wanted to turn the aircon back on - it doesn‘t restart after a power cut.
I went to bed relatively early at eleven after we had electricity again as I had an 0600 rise this morning to get ready for an 0730 collection to go to the charity school in the mountains. It was an ordeal dragging myself out of bed but I was ready and arrived at the west gate a few minutes early for my lift. Instead of a taxi as before, the school now is using a people carrier so a teacher drove whilst Prof Wu’s son chatted to me. En route they had a phone call to stop and buy some tea eggs. The Chinese never have plain boiled eggs, they are always done in a rice machine with tea and spices in the water and they are extremely brown when finished.
I had a spur of the moment thought when we stopped and I bought six apples. The usual format for these occasions is a meet, greet, introduction by everyone followed by a question and answer session. After that it’s into a classroom where I stage some games and activities. The apples were for just before lunch. They had never seen apple bobbing before so many photos were taken and much fun was had by all. One young lad was determined to get one but had five attempts before nearly doing it, biting a slice off one in the process, so he was given that for sheer persistence. I managed to eat a few morsels of potato and some nice lightly pickled cucumber and then I was whisked back down the mountain and home.
I have to eat something tonight even though I don’t want to and so I have a steak and kidney pie defrosting. Not particularly big but I will be very pleased it I can eat it all. The girls have washed al the dishes, swept the floor and mopped it and then I got some (surprisingly) bad news. Flora and Summer have found an empty house to rent in town so as I type they are packing their things to leave - in yet another thunderstorm. I had an idea, which was that as there would now be only two girls in the bedroom they could have a camp bed apiece. Unbelievably they said they preferred the floor!
There will be no blog tomorrow as I need to shop and get pet food and get ready for leaving on Monday. I am going to Tongling for two nights and will meet Ali and despite her thinking she would be going to Beijing, Amy as well. Pepsi will be going to prison Monday morning before I take the bus there. My big holiday starts a week Monday but I am not leaving the bike parked at the station for 8 or 9 days
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