Tuesday 10th January, 2017                         1610

Last night I abrogated all my hosting duties and let Alice take the bus alone to meet Suzy and (I think) Sheila in town. No need for me to cook except for myself (egg and chips!) and of course the apple pie, which was emblazoned with her name on the top.

Apparently they went to the Whistling Street (don’t ask because I have no idea) and then went for the local speciality, beef noodles. Alice was quite enamoured with her food although I must say a bowl of noodles in water with a few scraps of beef leaves me rather unimpressed, however Alice found this particular offering was mouthwatering. Maybe I have been going to the wrong places.

I wasn’t expecting her back before 2230 but she returned a lot earlier than that. When she saw the pie she threw her arms around me in an uncharacteristic manner and gave me a hug. I must make more apple pies in future……..

Today no sightseeing was planned (and it’s sodding cold outside) so I suggested we go supermarket shopping so I could make the lasagne she wants. I gave her a breakfast of toast and strawberry jam (loaf baked last night) and then off we went on the BRT. I was going to take her to the fast food place in the underground at the BRT stop (the place where it seems no matter what you have it costs 11y) but then I though why not take her for lunch - after all, it had been nearly two hours since breakfast and for a skinny girl she can certainly pack the food away - at the Chinese place I used to use when I first came here and stayed in the hotel.

No, let’s go shopping first, I’m not hungry yet, we can go after.
So you’re not hungry now but you will be in 20 minutes?
Yes.

I know, I don’t understand either.

Of course after shopping (during which I bought Lux soap as I have come to realise Dove does absolutely nothing for my dry skin) she was miraculously able to eat lunch. I meanwhile wasn’t in the slightest bit hungry but of course the sun is over the yardarm and it doesn’t matter which time zone, a beer is always welcome and I hadn’t been to that restaurant since I took Suzy and Sheila. I was given a great welcome and Alice made a passable job of almost finishing what looked like a very tasty dish of fried pork and veg atop steamed rice. Had she ordered sweet pork I may have had a nibble but I didn’t want to ruin my appetite for the lasagne - it costs a fortune to make here, not to mention the effort involved in making it.

And so we are now back home and the sauce is bubbling while she who said she doesn’t need a nap is snoozing away in the other room. Tomorrow I thought we could go to my teaching campus to get my monthly cigars (I was paid last night), take her for a Japanese lunch and in the evening liberate the pork that has been curing for a week and turn it into ham for our dinner. I also might make bread pudding on Thursday so she can take a load with her on the train on Friday night to save her having to exist on pot noodles for over a day. Somehow I think after our flights to and from Zhangye she is perhaps regretting  a little bit that she never booked flights from Hefei. At least now she knows there are better options.