Sunday 10th January, 2016                             1930

Antony already has crutches although if he had thought about it he could have had mine for nothing - one careful, if rather overweight owner.

Anna came with me today, the plan being to shop and then buy the tickets to Wuhu for all three of us plus a return for me and one to Hefei for her. Also I still didn’t have my return ticket from Nanjing. Due to Joan trying to alter it too many times online previously she had been locked out and so got a friend to do it. We didn’t have the order number so yesterday she couldn’t collect it. Given the time elapsed between ordering it and yesterday I asked why her friend hadn’t sent her the number. She was busy. Too busy to spend two minutes for a friend by sending a message. I became somewhat annoyed and said forget it, I will buy another ticket (yes that would have wasted 125y) because I wasn’t about to leave it to chance that we had the order number in Nanjing - visions of being stranded or spending eight hours on a bus swam before my eyes. No sir, where possible I like to be organised and travel in style if I can.

 Today however was a typical Steve day.

I sent Anna a text giving her the rough time I would come for her (1100 or shortly thereafter), advised I needed to go to the cashpoint first and then sent her one to say I was on my way, meet in five minutes. Anna is dippy at the best of times so I gave it ten minutes of freezing my backside off sitting on my bike outside her dormitory before calling her. No reply. I tried again, no response. Then a text arrived, she had just woken up, she would be with me soon. Ten minutes later I sent a hurry up message. Eventually she called me to ask me where I was.

Outside her dormitory block, obvious, surely?

Where was she?

South gate.

I failed to understand how the hell she came out of her building and not only did she not see me but I never saw her either. That is, until I discovered she never slept in her dormitory last night. Thanks for forewarning me Anna.

When I got there we had just missed a bus which left the gate and was sparsely populated but it meant we were the first ones for the next bus. Of course by the time it arrived (and remember this is me we are talking about) there were loads of students.

Most of the male drivers have started to be really kind to me, they have got to know me and usually I simply hail the bus by sticking my arm in the air, they spot me and then they halt the vehicle right by me so I can get on first. They even toot their horns when they see me passing on the bike. The women though are not so accommodating. This one stopped so far away from me the students (being fleeter of foot) were like wasps around a very sweet jam jar. I am great at cutting off my nose and seeing as they all knew I was first there I felt aggrieved. It was probably stupid of me because of course, for all the myth surrounding “loss of face” they really have no shame whatsoever in matters such as this. Oh, Anna would have happily stood all the way to town and quite possibly I would either have been given a seat or browbeaten someone to relinquish theirs, but I was so hacked off I simply said to Anna (loudly) Bleep them, come on. It drew some looks and I hope some semblance of understanding  although somehow I doubt it.

I got the bike and we went to the terminus to guarantee we both had a seat when the next vehicle departed.

I took advantage of an extra pair of hands to carry shopping and 95% of it was bottled or canned (well on target to see me through both breaks and beyond now!). When we came out I knew because it was Sunday the buses would be packed and so I crossed the road to go in the opposite direction. It was only when we sat down and Anna started to eat the “snack” I had bought her - a pizza about a foot square for God’s sake! - that she suddenly realised it was the “wrong” way.

I explained my “cheating” which alone costs me at most 1y extra but of course today with the prices doubled for the cold weather, was going to cost 4y more seeing as I was paying for two and we were breaking the journey at the station, or so I thought. For a seat I will pay. Up to the terminus by the Yangtse, off and wait for the next one back. She is in her third year here yet has never ever been there to look at the ships in summer or just to explore. It costs the same to go from terminus to terminus as it does to travel just one stop so why they don’t make the most of it bemuses me.

Anyway, we both had a seat. Then something hit me. I asked how far in advance we could buy tickets from the train station. One week, she replied. I couldn’t believe that fair enough, I hadn’t dredged that one up from the grey matter from way back but also neither she nor Alice had clicked either. It’s still eight days to when we leave for Wuhu and even were it only seven, we couldn’t buy the onward tickets for two days later.

What sort of a system not only sees a train station only being able to sell tickets a week ahead but rigidly adheres to it in advance of the world’s biggest annual human migration - spring festival??? You can buy online or in travel agents a month before (the latter charge 5y extra for each ticket) but the place you would expect - the station - oh no sir, not allowed. Someone please explain the logic behind that little gem of Chinese “culture”?

Joan’s friend had coughed up the order number for my Nanjing-Chizhou ticket finally but seeing as that was the only bloody ticket I could have got there seemed no point in alighting, dragging all the shopping up the ramp to get it and then catching another bus for 4y so we came back.

I hope Joan has enough in her bank to buy the tickets online tonight or early in the morning so we can go and collect them from the very place that isn’t allowed to sell them to us yet. Crazy?

Of course, Sod’s Law says that Joan isn’t expected here until 2200 and from what I understand the train ticket website closes at 2300. I can only hope she is staying so that she can at worst buy them in the morning.

She wasn’t intending to come to eat tonight but yesterday I told her there were two meals which needed a pair of people to eat otherwise I either had to waste most of them or keep them frozen all holiday. Actually I have enough for tonight, Monday and Tuesday but seeing as one such meal consists of individual cottage pies I can have them during the holidays myself. I don’t want to tear her away from socialising with her friends, of course not, but if she doesn’t tell me then that’s not fair. It is not as if I spring things on her and I was under the impression she would be here from Thursday past and anyway the frozen meals are leftovers from ones we had last month.

So basically all I achieved today was shopping.

Fine if that’s all you wanted to do and indeed I want to shop again tomorrow and also Tuesday but it cost 6y extra to take Anna, a lot of time and for something that could have been done tomorrow had I known.  

Ah well, it will be better tomorrow - and a bread pudding is cooking in the oven as I type!