Wednesday 27th August, 2014               1920

I will start this but there is no way it will be finished or posted tonight.

I had my pie Monday night and am pretty certain that I used the convector function seeing as the elements never glowed red even on full heat. The instructions are in Chinese, as are the symbols by the dials. I do believe I either need one of my students to translate or spend a bit of time mucking about. Notwithstanding, the pie heated nicely and it could well be a great alternative to singeing the top of a lasagne, although with a cottage pie that’s exactly what you want.


Yesterday morning once again I woke up wondering where I was - my own bed - and never (again) had a decent night’s sleep. I got up but felt so lifeless that despite the fact I could have been ready to leave, left and got to Anqing by eleven, I didn’t. Instead I saw myself on a bus which should have got me there for about two. No problem because I couldn’t check in until then anyway.

The bus never went the way it did last time, of that I’m sure. We never saw a highway until nigh on the end of the journey and he stopped absolutely everywhere including in the middle of nowhere to pick people up so there were people standing. I am sure that is illegal on coaches even here. The funny thing was, the only seat unoccupied even with people standing was the one next to me because nobody presumably wanted to sit next to the fat foreigner. Fine by me! Early on in the journey a woman sat on the other side to me hawked up and spat on the floor of the bus. Nobody said a word other than me muttering “disgusting”. when we stopped at one of the many we made though, she hawked up and went to spit but this time the engine was idling so the driver (and presumably the owner) heard it and went mad. He made the woman go to the door and spit on the road. She never tried it again.

About two minutes away from Anqing bus station we suddenly ground to a halt and I looked up to see three lanes completely stopped. My first thought was that there had been an accident. Then I saw a man in civilian clothes waving his arms and gesticulating for all the traffic to stop. Hmmm, I thought, maybe someone is lying in the road injured and he is preventing them getting run over, good for him.

However, every time a taxi or bus tried to squeeze through he ran over and stopped them. Something wasn’t quite right. Precisely what was revealed moments later. It was raining at the time and yet this chap peeled off his shirt and commenced pacing from side to side of our carriageway swinging it in a circular motion above his head. The guy was either high on drugs or more likely, bonkers. Realising that this is China I concluded nobody was going to simply run him over as he deserved, nor were they going to confront him even though he had no weapon. A part of me wanted to get off the bus, thump him and drag him onto the pavement but I sat like everyone else.

Then a policeman on an e-bike arrived (wearing flip flops!) and I thought “Great, he will be arrested and the enormous jam behind us will be released”. Oh no. Yvonne later told me (she and her friend were stuck in a taxi coming to meet me much further back on the same road) that he was probably a traffic policeman and they can’t arrest anyone! What?? I did ask what they did with drunk drivers or dangerous ones but she seemed to think that they would still have to call for different coppers to actually make the arrest. God knows. Anyway, while the policeman was calling for back up on his walkie talkie, a taxi driver plucked up enough courage to go, which led to others doing the same. Before we could actually move I saw a rubbernecker on an e-bike on the opposite carriageway, clearly engrossed in the debacle on our side, veer into the central fence barrier and come a cropper. Plonker.

As we crawled past the half naked culprit who was causing mayhem I saw him from three feet away and his eyes were manic and staring. Definitely a candidate for a mental institution.

As Yvonne and  friend were also delayed, I went to a little restaurant in the station to wait and have a drink. When they did arrive I was introduced to Yen. Yvonne’s name is Yao (or maybe Yar) Yen so they both have the same given name. She studies maths at Anhui normal university in Hefei  and became friends with Yvonne in senior high school. Nice girl who was embarrassed by her lack of English, which was purely because since going to uni she stopped practising.

We went to get me into the Anqing International Hotel where I learnt there was no lobby bar, no minibar and no mini fridge as advertised. Seems to be the norm lately and I am beginning to think it is not the hotels telling porkies but the booking site. It’s bloody annoying but for one night it didn’t really matter. The room though was one of the best I have had in China and certainly the best for the price I paid - free actually but had I been paying it would have been 228y (£23). Couldn’t fault the room at all so no fridge notwithstanding, that will be the hotel I use in Anqing if I go in future.

Yen has a summer job at a restaurant with some outlandish English name like All Love Comes Here, which was where Yvonne wanted us to eat. Yen went ahead and we got there at about six-thirty after I had browsed around Carrefour close by. New restaurant, very popular and it has to be said some of the food is terrific. We had Yen as our waitress and the menu was in pictures on what I believe is an I-pad. Of the three dishes we ordered the huge prawns was the best but I discovered other dishes that on the next occasion will be ordered. Idiot here never forgot to take his camera to Anqing but he did forget to take it out of his case so sadly there are no pictures.

But. Remember I said my travels were probably but not definitely over now? Well Yvonne is considering coming back a few days early so depending on her, I suggested if she is (she thought 7th September) I would return to Anqing the night before, we could go to the same place to eat and then travel back together the next day. I can leave my bike at the station and have her on campus ten minutes after the bus arrives. She is though not only a woman but also Chinese so I am not going to book the hotel until I get a definite yes.

For now though I need a good rest. This holidaying lark takes it out of you especially when you are flitting from place to place all the time. I was so tired I decided to leave Pepsi to languish another night in prison but when I got back I felt so guilty I rode all the way back after dropping my suitcase to go and get her. She went potty! I’m glad I did because the joy she showed when she could get on her own bed instead of having to sleep on the bottom of a cage was incredible.

Before I go, has anyone got any ideas as to how to deal with a Chinese hornets nest? Apparently we have one by our building and they have caused quite a few fatalities in China (they are not the usual type). If I could locate a flame thrower I would use it but I doubt the wisdom of smashing it with a stick and having no protective clothing to wear. Smoking it would be problematic too.

Well, despite what I said I have rambled on enough to actually get this online so goodnight for now. I need an early one followed by a late morning.