Tuesday 15th March, 2016                     2030

I went to get the bus to go to town this morning. Knowing I had to collect my monthly cigar supply and also shop for ingredients for tonight’s frittata, I wanted to be a little early because the cigars are near the inbound bus stop, while RT Mart is on the opposite side of the road, as is the restaurant.

Sod’s law had it that just as I walked out of south gate there was a bus picking up the students. I can’t remember the last time I ran for a bus and today was certainly going to be no exception. I started walking briskly but knowing I would never make it I  resigned myself to not being early enough to buy my cigars before going for lunch.

I watched as the doors of the vehicle closed and then to my very pleasant surprise the driver detoured to pick me up! It really does pay to be friendly sometimes!

I collected my cigars and as I crossed the road I bumped into Balance, one of my first ever students and whom I have not seen since she graduated two years ago at the same time as Joanna. When she was a freshman she wanted to marry me but even though she is now single she doesn’t want to any more! It was good to see her after two years and she has threatened to come to school to visit me soon.

Then Anthony phoned, he had spotted me when he was parking his car nearby and he didn’t know where the restaurant was. Chinese, been here as long as me and he didn’t know! Where are you? he asked. Bit silly really considering he had just seen me from his car but I agreed to wait and show him the way.

We had a nice lunch (so much so that I never ate the dinner I made tonight) and considering it was just Anthony, me, John and his wife I was taken aback when at no point was I asked for something in return. Anthony told me after we left that the lunch was purely so John could try to help me stay here in Chizhou and he and Anthony have been friends for years. I was quite touched by the gesture.

Anthony did tell me that after I had visited Prof Wang to reiterate my desire to stay, she spoke to Director Xu and Miss Yin. Apparently Director Xu told Anthony he and I were friends and soon he would take me to dinner. In the meantime he is considering whether to allow me to stay on. I am not going to pin my hopes on that but you never know. I gather that Richard will not be signing for a second year, which may boost my chances, he is not happy being somewhere where it takes seven hours each way to go and visit his girlfriend. I suspected he might not stay more than one year and he is clearly very much besotted.

After I bought the food I came straight home on the bus (and again managed a smile from the miseryguts woman driver!) and grabbed an hour’s sleep before Alice arrived to clean. It took me half an hour to prepare the dinner for the oven (my chopping is notoriously slow) and once it was cooking her roommates arrived. I showed them one of the Ice Age films and half an hour later served up the frittata. They really enjoyed it, especially with the addition of some Linghams chilli sauce - Alice even went back for seconds and I had given them huge portions to start with! There is a bit left if Joan is peckish when she comes later for a shower.

The enchiladas meanwhile have been delayed until Saturday afternoon so I can go to the English Corner on Friday. Alice’s train to Shanghai is not until 2000 so if they come at four we can watch a film, dine and she will still have plenty of time to get to the station.

Kevin’s problems meanwhile mount. Today the new fuel pump arrived, was fitted and the car still wouldn’t go. Petrol is not arriving at the engine and so now the consensus is that the computer is also at fault. They hope to have it fixed on Thursday but in the meantime Kevin had to take a bus back to his school and abandon the car at the garage. Good job he has a little money behind him. I have no desire to buy a car simply because I know I couldn’t afford one even if it didn’t break down. I have though thought of getting a motorised scooter but although their range is only limited by the petrol stations, they too suffer mechanical failure where e-bikes (limited though they are) only suffer from the occasional puncture.

Quite possibly my driving days are now over.