I know the time but I did have a nap this afternoon and as getting a bus to town is great now I am riding two kilometres to the terminus, coming back at weekends is not good at all seeing as I have to stand so tomorrow I am going nowhere.
I never realised it was so long since I posted.
Ok, so trying to keep it in chronological order, I collected my watch on Tuesday. To my horror the chap had completely replaced the gubbins inside and initially I worried if the price was going to be more than the watch was worth (I got it, a Bulova, doing online surveys). How much was it? Forty yuan or £4!!!! Unbelievable. I left happy.
That evening when I left the business street there was a police car parked with its blues flashing. Not an unfamiliar sight down there and hasn’t been for at least a year because they are discouraging the street food vendors from taking trade away from the restaurants that pay taxes and rent. That wasn’t what caught my attention, it was live music out in the open being performed by a girl on a zither and a band with guitar, drums etc. Yes it was Chinese but it sounded good so I parked the bike, lit a cigar and sat back. A girl was dispensing leaflets to passers-by (pointless me getting one) and I wondered if they were doing a concert and were advertising. I wish I knew for I would have gone.
Joan has deserted me of late, she has a job with a classmate recruiting students who have to decide on their second foreign language (sophomores) and they can elect to take French (well all the boys will pick that now Juliette is on the scene), Korean or Japanese. Joan needs to convince them to take Japanese. From what I can gather between the two of them they have recruited one each. Could there be such a thing as the Juliette Factor?
Can’t recall which day it was but I made my pork cottage pie and struggled to find a student to come, seeing as all mine had evening classes but eventually got the nod from Flora, one of my old three year students who is back for another two years to boost her diploma to a BA. Anyway, as usual I made two baking dishes and stuffed one in the freezer for another day, after all there were only four of us. One should be enough, yes? The two piggies Kevin and Ollivier are gone. Plus I had also made a big bread pudding, mainly with the idea of giving Flora a takeaway for her roommates, which she did.
To my surprise, we each ate a quarter of the baking dish of pie, an even bigger surprise was that I did too. I actually felt guilty about not cooking the second dish but salved my conscience with the fact they had plenty of bread pudding.
I have also, since Bus Plan B came into effect, had problems with two bus drivers, one male the other female and both on the same day. I went to the terminus, parked up and went to knock on the bus door. Spotting it said No 6 on the side I was confused and so went to the front to look at the illuminated sign. It was blank. Miseryguts behind the wheel looked at me and I made the Chinese sign for six (clenched fist with thumb and pinkie extended upward) and used body language to ask the question.
From inside his cab he batted me away as you would a fly and stupidly I thought perhaps he was taking a crafty break - the only bus that goes there is the 29 - and so went to the next bus. The other driver, being helpful, pointed across the road to the official stop. Well yes, they may have a stop there 30 yards away but seeing as you are parked where I can leave my bike why should I go and wait in the heat when you are in plain sight and sitting behind the wheel?
So, a bit moody, I started walking only to for the first driver to halt at the stop for a millisecond and then piss off. I don’t run for buses any more and so went back to Mr Nice Bus Driver and sat in the back of his one. When I came back it was a woman driver and she stopped the bus just short of the ramp to the terminus compound. I had two heavy shopping bags and indicated she should carry on, after all there is no official bus stop and surely she knew that as a foreigner I belong to the university.
Bloody hell, did she give me some lip after parking up! You would have thought I had hijacked her vehicle! In disbelief at how precious some people can get (two in a day) I simply smiled and shouted Xi Xie (thank you) to her. If I worked to rule in my job I would have been out of here before my probation period was up five years ago.
Anyway, Andrei is cooking tonight. No idea what he is doing (God I hope it’s not something I hate!) but by chance on my ride home this evening I saw my co-teacher Anthony and was chatting with him when Dumpling came out of her dorm building with a couple of friends. Ah! You saved me a text, what are you doing tomorrow night?
So she is my partner later but her roommate told me she is sad because she has broken up with her boyfriend, another of my students. I never thought it would work as it happens, regardless of the fact he got up on stage to profess his undying love but Dumpling started crying.
You may call me all sorts of things but the fact is I can’t handle girls who are crying. I could hardly hug her to my bosom in the middle of a public place so I simply told her and her friends I didn’t like to witness it and to go, which they did. Heartless it may sound but all I wanted to do was let her cry on my shoulder and in that location it would have been reputational suicide. I hope Andrei, Juliette and I can lift her spirits in about sixteen hours time.
No comments:
Post a Comment