Sunday 6th November, 2016                          1730

How to be driven bonkers and neglect everything else? Have an internet problem!

Definitely up there near the top of the saga list I have had in China but one which, notwithstanding my limited ability, I can’t help but try to fix myself whilst waiting for help. With Kevin’s help I managed to factory reset the router but to no avail. He made loads of suggestions but cancelled them all when I mentioned POP tarts. Apparently the system is very fast. It doesn’t feel like it to me!

So I am still using upstairs. They must have gone to bed really early last night and I thought perhaps they had rumbled my piggy-backing on their router. I prayed they wouldn’t change their password and make me have to go to the hotel today. I was in luck, they switched on just after eleven this morning and I have been downloading anything and everything I can since.

I also thought I would take the time to jot down some topics in the news for class tomorrow but there were slim pickings indeed. At least, for stories that would interest Chinese students  or even that they would understand. I went through the whole gamut - BBC, Telegraph, Mirror, Mail, China Daily etc and came up with nothing I would be happy to try and get them talking about. I mean, one of the “news” stories was “Katie Price Shares Adorable Video of Daughter With Dirty Hands After Playing In Mud”. What??????? And loads of stuff is conveniently “caught” on camera by someone perfectly placed with their iPhone at the precise time something shocking/horrifying/adorable/hilarious/awesome is about to happen. Really??

The one story that I really did want to read myself (May in the Telegraph on UK’s EU exit) was now concealed in the new Telegraph innovation “premium” so I could only read the beginning. Does anyone actually subscribe to these online papers?

I know I have given his book Triangle Trade a plug here before but for those who enjoy Travelogues, Geoff is currently blogging about both his seafaring days and also his latter-day travels, mainly in the Far East. Well worth a read - and unlike me, he knows how to position the pictures so they aren’t all together at the end! I enjoy his stories and I am sure many of you would also.

https://silverfox175.com/

The workmen came in a truck earlier to start removing the heaps of earth and carbon fibre (at least I hope it was that rather than asbestos!) left over from the pipe renewal. All these guys have at some point trampled their hobnailed trainers through my flat and they are all extremely curious about what western men get up to. This afternoon I was startled to look up in the middle of preparing the cooking for my roast dinner to find three faces peering at me through the window to see what I was doing! I am quite used to such things now, I can’t take a carrier bag of shopping anywhere and put it down without someone poking around inside to see what the laowei has bought. I wonder what they would think if I did likewise?

That’ll do for now, still a few OAP download hours left but does anyone else get the feeling tomorrow’s blog will be about how they couldn’t get me connected yet again?