Wednesday 2nd September. 2015                1830

When the time came to make English breakfast for Joan and I last night, Sod’s Law simply had to state that I couldn’t find either the cinnamon or nutmeg. The cinnamon I know I lent to Kevin to bake me a fruit loaf a while back but part-way through baking we suffered a lengthy power cut so it was a disaster. He may well have returned it to me but I’m damned if I can find it. I will buy some more.

Anyway, the honour of having my first ever eggy bread went to Joan (it looked absolutely perfect) and once she was served I cooked mine. Trying to be smart, and liking a runny yolk in my poached eggs, I did them simultaneously, in the process managing to burn my own toast. It was still thoroughly enjoyable and was the first decent meal I had eaten in four days. French toast is set to become a regular thing now because the sweet Chinese bread matters not and I am annoyed with myself for not having tried making it before, given the simplicity of it.

The two newcomers left for Jiuhua mountain as anticipated yesterday and when I went to search in vain in Kevin’s old place for the cinnamon I noticed their light was off. As I guessed, they stayed overnight there and are currently on the bus back. It would seem they found the place breathtaking and I have been promised the photos in an email. If I get them I will share some of them with you. Joan and I will go for dinner with them both on Saturday so with the 29 bus becoming daily more crowded I am seriously considering the barbecue place in the commercial centre, purely because it would virtually guarantee us all a seat on the way back.

Tonight’s repast is a cop-out, I have defrosted half a  frittata I made before even going to Shanghai, it will do ok with some cucumber and tomato and won’t upset my recently recovered stomach. I may have been lazy in that respect but I have been a little adventurous. Seeing as I could still find my mixed spice I am trying something else for the first time this evening as well. In fact it’s in the oven as I type. I was sitting here a couple of days ago and remembered something my mother used to make and that I liked. The problem was, I couldn’t for the life of me remember what it was called. It took me a day to recall - bread pudding!

Now I’m not going to say it is easy to make even though it probably is but so far it has been a comedy of errors. I have no kitchen scales so all my cooking is guesswork and has been for the last five years. I think I used too much milk but hopefully that will dry out during baking. However, after I had poured it into a baking tray I suddenly realised I had omitted the beaten egg! Cue pouring it back into the plastic bowl amid much muttering before re-transferring it back to the tray. I will know in about an hour how I did. If it is successful it will be an incredibly cheap thing to knock out once in a while and will probably be popular with the students. Fingers crossed.

I went to town earlier on the bus. My phone was down to a mere 3y credit so I thought I would go past RT Mart and top up in the big China Mobile shop opposite Lotte Mart. However, I spotted one of their shops close to the next stop and went to try to put money on. I gave the guy the money and my number and his screen came up with a lot of red print. Via signs he told me he couldn’t do it. I’m sorry to appear dense but I would expect any of their outlets with a computer to be able to perform a simple top-up but it seems that’s not the case if you are foreign. Having walked back from the stop towards RT I then had to go in the opposite direction towards the big branch. I spotted another, smaller, branch though and decided to try my luck there just in case. Yes, you just know they were able to do it for me without any fuss.

On the bus back it felt strange. As I sat in my seat the aircon blew on top of my head to cool it but my right leg seemed inordinately warm. I leant down and touched the floor level heater and they were all on as well! Sometimes one has to wonder.

When I got back it looked as if my office has now reopened so I may pop in there tomorrow but I am hoping to get the body clock back in tune so I can do some more shopping in the morning. My wine is on sale at the moment, down from 12.5y to 9.5y so I want to stock up, I just hope it doesn’t mean they are going to discontinue it. That would really rain on my parade.

Nearly forgot. For some time now there has been a feral cat lurking outside our building and from the look of it hopping in and out through an open window in one of the empty ground floor flats (I shudder to think what it has left on the floor in there). This time it followed me up the stairs and tried to get in when I opened the door. I prevented it and put my stuff in the fridge. Then I went in the kitchen with the rest of my shopping. Suddenly there was the most horrendous commotion from my lot, the like of which I have never heard before. The outsider was opposite my window on the stairs and looking straight at Zorro and Pooh, who were on the windowsill. I’ll tell you what, the stranger was left in no doubt as to how welcome it was! It fled a bit sharpish.