Tuesday 9th February, 2016                     1315

Oh  boy, that’s certainly one way of adjusting the body clock! I struggled to stay awake until midnight.

So I set my alarm reasonably early for a shopping trip. Assuming the buses finish early this week I didn’t want to get caught out and stung by a taxi to get back. Travelling by bus both ways was bliss, no problems with getting a seat either way although I did see one outbound vehicle that was full on the ride in. On the way in the thought occurred to me that seeing as they ran on new years day for the first time, just maybe we have a full service anyway. I may take a ride later this evening to south gate to check it out, if I am right then I can go to town for dinners if I want. With nobody else to cater for my indolence knows no bounds!

I went into the bakery to buy some goodies but left empty handed, not a doughnut nor anything else that I like in sight, just “cake burgers” and sweet hotdogs. Fine for Asian tastes but not this one, who on earth wants the equivalent to a Cumberland sausage in a hot cross bun??? RT Mart wasn’t busy either, pity they hadn’t restocked after the pestilence destroyed their stock of my wine. They did however have three cans of Guinness so it wasn’t a complete waste of time, plus of course I bought more pork knuckles for Mum. But it got me out of the house.

The weather today is absolutely gorgeous, nudging twenty and although I needed my coat when I left, by the time I returned a light jacket would have been ample even when riding the bike. In true loony weather fashion such as we get here, I see they are predicting rain from Thursday to Sunday with a steady decline (again) in temperatures, culminating in a daytime high of zero on Sunday! How the hell can you drop twenty degrees in five days when you aren’t moving??

The washing machine has been busy since I got back yesterday. All my clothes and the towels were washed yesterday and today is the turn of Joan’s lower quilt, tomorrow is my bedding, which I must admit is long overdue. I would do it today but I don’t really have hanging space (I don’t use the outside racks in case the wind carries the washing away) but that’s down to pure laziness on my part. I don’t put my shirts in the wardrobes in the cattery because it is easier just to grab them off the hangers on the balcony in the mornings.

I am seriously considering a pizza trip to Tongling tomorrow. Yes, purely for pizza but if I go I will make it worthwhile by buying two of their biggest for freezing. I can realistically get five or six days worth of dinners from that, plus I can have a little’un while I am there. This time though I may take a bottle of wine with me (must remember to take a corkscrew) because the first time I went they didn’t even have beer. If it works out fine then it could be something I do next term once a month. The advent of the fast trains has certainly opened up a host of new possibilities.

Wednesday 10th                   1800

Fish and chips comprised dinner last night, thank heavens for proper malt vinegar from Taobao.

I was naughty and never went to bed until after four but then I had nothing to get up early for. Needless to say I never got anywhere near eight hours rest even though I managed to keep Tigger out of the bedroom.

I did though awake with a feeling. You know the feeling where you know you should be watching the pennies and it could become very important in months to come, yet you have still decided you are going to do something costly? Yes, that’s the one,. I was going for pizza. I justified it on the basis that I am on holiday and I would also end up bringing back multiple meals (In this case I think seven) with me. I was going to Tongling.

Now, this was a simple pizza run consisting of a short bike ride to the train station, a 20 min train and then a ten minute bus ride at the end. And come back. What could possibly happen?

Except this is Captain Calamity here. It was never thus before I came to China but by God I think it’s trying to tell me something.

I set out in glorious sunshine (the train display later told me it was 27C outside - and they say freezing on Friday???) and parked the bike at the train station. So far so good. First I had to buy a ticket but having looked online I knew there were plenty of seats available both ways. I started walking towards the ticket office when from behind me came either “Steve” or that thing they sometimes use to say yes, “Su Dee Wu” or something like that. I ignored the first but not the second and turned back to see who had called me,

I recognised the chap but for a moment couldn’t place where from. Then it hit me. This was the archetypal bad boy I have been actively avoiding for five years. This is the lad I had never seen sober and who also freely smoked fags on the 29 bus - in rural China that’s as bad as bad boys get. Whenever he saw me he would always acknowledge me and I would return the salute, praying he wouldn’t come and join my company, which in fairness he hasn’t done for years.

But now, stood before me, was the bad boy either impersonating one or actually being a policeman! Oh yes, his current duties are train station stop and search and seeing as I saw him again when I got back I reckon it’s his proper job. Fair play to a lad who really had no prospects aside from labouring when I first met him and I wish him well.

Then bugger me, when I got into the station and up to the 2nd floor, had a swift smoke (had to be quick as my train was leaving soon) and went to go through the gate I noticed a new concession, a shop flogging drinks, books, snacks etc and behind the counter was a familiar face. At first I thought it was one of my old students but then the penny dropped. She used to work in MeiLLe  café on campus and was Kevin’s favourite. I had no time other than to acknowledge that I had seen her before I had to hurry through the gate.

There may be a lot of things about China that are not right but certainly the high speed trains don’t figure in that equation. They are run with teutonic efficiency and timing and if you aren’t on board by the departure time then tough. These trains really do put the UK rail network to shame, if only they could introduce the old style dining cars (and the same food) we used to have in the 60s and 70s then everything would be perfect. In fact I would never fly.

I have no idea where Amy got the idea the 2 and 21 buses both went to where I wanted to go because I never saw a 21 the entire time I was there but the 2 got me right where I wanted to be, Papa John’s. I didn’t bother with Tesco after the last time. Anyway Joan is getting me cheddar.

Trying to order three huge pizzas with two of them undercooked proved a task too far even with a waitress who spoke English so I settled for three fully cooked ones. It won’t harm them because I must say the inner crust when eating in the restaurant itself does seem a trifle doughy and further reheating eradicates that. Two young couples sat opposite me and their faces when just one monster pizza was set before me were a treat to behold. I felt compelled to use body language to inform them that no, I wasn’t eating all of it, I would be taking some away.

Two glasses of red wine later I left with my doggy bag, or to be more accurate, doggy sack. Jesus, two and a half of their big pizzas weigh a ton. Bus back to the station and then go and buy a ticket. The place was familiar, I have been to Tongling often enough to recognise it but still I had to look to see where to get my ticket - they are normally not inside the terminals for the obvious reason you have to show said ticket to get in. Ah! There we go! A huge sign with loads of Chinese but in large English “SELL TICKET”.

I queued like a good boy and in true western fashion made a couple of pushers-in get to the back of the queue. This was familiar territory indeed, I even remembered the ramp and platform the staff use to get into the office and on which I rested my pizzas. Finally I was served. I handed over my passport and 20y (the train ticket is 18.5y) and I was somewhat taken aback by the fact the woman not only never looked at my passport but also never gave me any change, not only that, the ticket was four times bigger than usual.

I confess that I am not the quickest of thinkers on my feet, especially after a few libations, and often need between five minutes and an hour to work out what I should have said in a confrontation I wasn’t expecting. It took until my pizzas emerged the other side of the security scanner to twig what had happened. I had just bought a bloody bus ticket! Shit.

Ok, so it would take ninety instead of twenty minutes to get back and both the train and bus stations are adjacent so what the hell? Until I discovered the next bus to Chizhou was not for another hour! Right, that’s it! I went back to get my money refunded, thankfully those I kicked to the back of the queue had since departed and I went upstairs where you buy the train tickets. I got a ticket which gave me nine minutes before departure. Hells bells! I got to the platform as it pulled in - they only stop for three minutes.

And now I am home cooking some meat for Mum. My chest freezer is unbelievably not big enough to take the pizza boxes horizontally and I have had to empty all the gel packs and old frozen bagels from the small freezer to take the overspill - one good thing to come of it is that I discovered a meat pie I never knew I still had - and now I know I badly need to defrost the chest freezer if I am going to do another pizza run, which I surely will but hopefully with Joan next time.

And now at 1840 I feel absolutely exhausted so the bedding waits once again. Maybe tomorrow if I can manage an uneventful trip to RT Mart. I’m not quite sure what I would have to blog and moan about if everything went right all the time!