Wednesday 7th September, 2016               1350

I may as well have stayed in bed. The good thing I suppose is that I will definitely sleep early tonight in preparation for my five o’clock “early heave out” following today’s “day’s slack” (said expressions intended purely for my OC readers!).

I woke up this morning with a really painful left bum/leg, presumably a combination of the legacy from the busted pelvis, the fact that since that time I have walked little and lately I have been walking aplenty. My word was it painful and, anxious not to give the school any grounds for concern (remember I am on probation for a month), I popped a pill and prayed it not only worked but took effect before I had to go and meet Harriett.

At least it had taken the edge off by the time I left home to link up with her, although I still had a trace of a limp and my speed was reduced from my normal dead slow ahead to “do we have to walk so fast?” mode. I did feel obliged to explain to her what was happening but assured her it was simply my inactivity over the past eighteen months which was at fault - and if truth be known that’s probably right because pain aside, getting around is starting to become noticeably slightly easier by the day.

Anyway we got a taxi to yet another bank. I could have saved us all the trouble of being refused an account yet again but speaking up would have been pointless because what on earth would a foreigner know? The way I see it, different branches of banks are still going to have to abide by certain rules set by the government so shopping around in the hope of finding a lax one is futile, as proved to be the case this morning.

The two other new teachers could open an account because their old residence permit was still in date at the time. Mine expired six weeks ago, I remained on a permit to stay and am now on a working visa issued in Hong Kong. I cannot have an account until the school converts my visa into a residence permit. Simple. For me at least. I’m glad I’m not footing the taxi bills.

Apparently payday may well be tomorrow (great if it is because the weekend was a worry otherwise) and so I suggested some options as to how to pay me: 1. Give me cash. We don’t pay in cash. 2. Pay Harriett in her account and she can then give me the cash. No we can’t do that- no explanation as to why. 3. Pay the salary into my Construction Bank account in Chizhou.

The latter has been agreed for this month only. Fine by me because with me not being in Chizhou, each withdrawal from an ATM costs me 6y a pop, although I will minimise the cost to me by taking the whole lot in two large transactions. By next month I have to have the permit or I am illegal here anyway so either Bank of China will be my new bank or prison my new home. I can only pray they manage to sort it out in a timely manner so I can at least access it in time for the weekend and so that I can repay Joan as soon as I know the bill for my pocket watch. It’s the least I can do considering she is otherwise cramming hard for upcoming vital exams and took time out to help me.

Anyway we came back after a fruitless ninety minutes, after which I went shopping. This time I managed to find tins of tomato paste (puree) which are twice the price of that in Chizhou but still no sign of pasta. I did though find American hot dogs so decided to have hot dogs for my dinner tonight.

I even found some hot dog rolls labelled “milk bread” in the bakery although I had misgivings about buying them. Ketchup and a small onion completed my shopping. On my return I thought I had better taste the buns to check. My doubts were well-founded - they taste like cake. Haha! Dinner tonight will now be hot dog sausages, onion and ketchup! That bread making machine I haven’t used for three years? Well it’s coming out of mothballs here!

As for the washing machine, come next week I will be pushing hard because I now have the vestige of a dhobi rash in my groin area. The only other time in my life I had that was as a teenage deck cadet and it has to be purely down to the washer not draining fully and leaving soap in the rinse. I have enough health conditions to manage without getting entirely preventable ones.

This morning they commenced re-concreting the access road to where I live. I do hope they have the sense when they get to my entrance to terminate one section right there and letting the new bit dry so that when they do the other I still have an escape other than using the pavement. That’s fine for skinny people but with the metal anti-thief cages on the windows for me to do it I have to proceed crabwise clinging to the metal bars. I wouldn’t put it past me to end up calf-deep in wet cement and I only have one set of footwear here at present.