Monday 4th January, 2016                             2000

I must make a concerted effort to go to bed earlier - lately half the day has gone by the time I wake up!

Getting the bus to and from town today was a breeze, the student population has noticeably thinned out. It’s also not that cold presently although a little rain is expected over the next couple of days. As ,luck would have it, that rare beast, the capsicum, was sighted in RT Mart. I bought three and at 7y apiece they are expensive but I thought I might try making stuffed peppers seeing as I have never tried. I used to love them at sea with Linghams chilli sauce on top and now I have my own bottles I decided it can’t be all that hard to bake peppers with mince and rice inside them? Hopefully Joan will be here to try them because I doubt these days I can eat more than one.

When I came back, from somewhere  I found the motivation to actually do some work. I spent an hour finalising the exam marks and then another hour putting them into the computer system. I am therefore officially finished until I think the 25th February. Pity everything will close down around here probably by the end of next week. Life of course will be simple then, the only choice I will have is whether to go to town shopping or not! I doubt I will have much opportunity to test out new recipes because Taobao won’t deliver to campus when it’s empty and not only can I not decipher their notifications of arrival, I also have no idea where the multitude of different depots are without a native speaker with me.

I’m sure I will find things to occupy me, not least of all sprucing up my CV.

Tuesday 6th                     1445

I managed to get up at ten this morning so I am heading in the right direction to achieve eight o’clock on Friday morning, provided the kindergarten visit isn’t postponed.

Again I went to town shopping. Not only am I stockpiling wine (just two bottles at a time, I am not Hercules any more) ready for my suitcase to take to Nanjing (why spend three times as much when you can take tried and tasted cheap stuff?) but I also had a rethink on dinner this evening. I am going to go for eating two peppers myself so I bought another one.

Sitting here sometimes with little to do but watch YouTube films, I occasionally try to find recipes I think I may be able to make and using ingredients I either have or can get easily. They also have to be dishes I haven’t made before. Ergo, I also bought two cauliflowers. Tomorrow I will attempt cauliflower au gratin with mushrooms and bacon. Sadly the supermarket didn’t have any cheddar (I will look again tomorrow) so I may have to use the emmental I was keeping for enchiladas another day.

Anyway, leaving RT Mart I wheeled my trolley onto the down escalator, some three yards behind an old boy with a walking stick. The trolley wheels grip the furrows in the moving walkway to prevent them from moving, so I let go and fished in my pocket to make sure I had the right change for the bus back.

I was alerted to the fact that my Pirellis had lost all traction by outraged shouting coming from the elderly gent in front. Glancing down, I registered the fact that the trolley was making an inexorable bid for freedom - and a beeline for the old man.

I can’t move as quickly now as once I might but I did manage to avert disaster, catching it up and halting the trolley’s progress about a foot before the impending collision. Saying sorry and putting my hands up were quite simply not enough for the geriatric warrior, for he ranted and raved at the top of his voice, needless to say attracting curious stares from everyone in sight. I told him to calm down, he wasn’t hurt, it was not something that should have happened because the trolley was faulty - I even wished him happy new year but to no avail. He stopped his tirade only when he stepped off the escalator at the bottom, at which point I overtook him and threw a “have a nice day” sideways at him as I passed. Interestingly, although he had been in the supermarket, he hadn’t bought a thing!

As the bus neared the school I espied Richard and Andrei walking in the opposite direction. At first I thought they were out for a pleasant stroll in the cold and drizzle but then I spotted that Andrei was pushing Richard’s moped. Presumably they had wheeled it from where it was when I left (outside our accommodation) because it had failed to start. I also assume they were taking it to the bike shop for further tinkering. Despite having had it supposedly sorted after he bought the thing, it still gives problems so perhaps it wasn’t such a good buy after all. Or maybe the bike shop don’t know what they are doing.