I am ambivalent over the hot dogs. The frankfurters were genuine enough and I had the right mustard but annoyingly the rolls were on the small side and not that soft. To be fair, I had two and was stuffed, Anna polished her two off in short order and then proceeded to eat another two before she declared herself full! I’m not sure I will be making them again in the near future although I suppose I will have to at some point seeing as the only thing I like French’s with is a hot dog!
Yet again last night my good intentions of having an early night went by the board. It was nothing to do with Anna because we watched a film, she pestered me for a little while for meanings of phrases and then left to go and do some homework in her dormitory. The problem last night lay in the fact it was quite cold outside and so the walk with Pepsi woke me up, particularly so as I sought out Mum to see whether she had whelped yet. She hadn’t, but I don’t think it will be long before there are little bodies crying under the stairs in block one again. I have a 10kg sack of Pedigree biscuits which Pepsi is not keen on, so will take daily rations down to her. At least this time she isn’t doing it in the spring festival, as she did earlier this year.
I still felt a bit “urgh” this morning but once class had finished I just felt tired which is an improvement. I was going to doze this afternoon but have cancelled that now in favour of boiling my latest ham. It’s bubbling away gently at present and I may well roast it in honey and later tonight try ham, egg and chips. I have been wracking my brains all day trying to think of something new to come up with for next week’s western Wednesday and finally have an idea. It’s an expensive one and I won’t blog about it until after the event because if I can get the stuff in time I want it to be a surprise to the others. It’s also a bit of a cheat!
Tonight definitely has to be an early one. I have no choice but to go shopping tomorrow or the animals will starve. And that means a McBreakfast of course.
Tuesday 11th 1515
Siesta starts in about ten minutes. The ham was nothing short of an unmitigated disaster. Thank God Anna was busy and refused my offer of dinner for instead of ham, egg and chips I ended up with boiled spuds, peas and luncheon meat. I have no idea what cut of pork it was that looked so convincingly like fillet but the consistency was similar to an HR rated Goodyear tyre. It wasn’t, however, wasted. My first thought on finding it unfit for human consumption was that it would do for Pepsi tonight.
That was until I took her out for her late night run last night. I didn’t need to go in search of Mum to find her. She had, as I indicated yesterday was imminent, given birth. I could hear the little mewls outside the building. Moving the parked bicycles inside out of the way (and leaving them moved so as she had ingress and egress without hindrance through the night) I bent down to see how she was. With no lights under the stairs it was impossible to see anything but her and some vague shapes so I judged from the sound there were at least three babies. I knew where the failed ham was destined.
So this morning I rose earlyish and went for my breakfast, shopped and got back before noon - I would have been earlier but lately I seem to have had a spate of bad luck in boarding buses both to and from town that have stopped at the station mid-trip to get washed. Taking Pepsi out, I also took the meat and went to visit the new mother, remembering to take my camera. No wonder I couldn’t ascertain how many pups she had whelped, they are all either black or black and white, notwithstanding that she herself is brown as you can see from the picture. I know exactly who the father is, he was a fixture for a week or so and then disappeared never to be seen again, presumably as he knew she was up the duff. Child maintenance isn’t a Chinese thing for humans, let alone dogs! For now at least, all seems well under the stairs and tonight I will open the 10kg bag of Pedigree biscuits Pepsi spurns and take a meal every night so Mum doesn’t have to forage. She is such a good natured mutt that although I didn’t try, I think she would have let me pick up her babies had I been able to bend low enough.
After that I went to the new office for an ale and of course I had my camera so took a couple of pictures of the new “business street” (actually a small estate) just as the students started flocking for their lunch. My office is on the left of one of the snaps with all the small red stools outside. The development has certainly dented the revenue for the campus shops - for starters I don’t use them any more as the food choices are far superior on the occasions I want to eat Chinese fare. If the campus shopkeepers did cave in and pay the increased rents I reckon they will be regretting doing so by now. Just a pity the business street will close for spring festival, it would have been handy for me.
As for next Wednesday, I may need a plan B. Yvonne tells me that delivery of what I need “should” be in ten or fifteen days. It will do for the next one if that’s the case but now it is back to the drawing board for something simple that appears to be complicated.
As for the siesta? That went the way of so many early nights and won’t be happening. On the plus side if I do conk out early tonight I could always go for another breakfast tomorrow!
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