Thursday 2nd February, 2017             1400

Sorry for the hiatus, this was due to two things: firstly it’s difficult to blether away when all you are doing is staying home and secondly I have been under the weather.

Somehow I managed to contract yet another of the seemingly endless variety of colds in China. On their own, I normally pay them scant regard and merely reach for the tissues, awaiting the inevitable paroxysms of coughing once the symptoms die down. Thankfully, the hacking has not manifested itself this time to any degree.

But worse, I became bunged up again. In large part I am to blame. I know my daily drug regimen tends towards blockages and I eat nowhere near enough fruit and vegetables. Hell, I don’t eat enough to be ABLE to have five a day! As I was feeling nauseous and had bellyache I resorted to medicine, which normally requires just one dose to clear the plumbing.

It worked inasmuch as it started to bulldoze through but the stomach ache (or stomache as one of my students once texted me) worsened. After three days of dosing myself it has eased and last night I bought some bananas and mandarins. If only bran flakes were readily available here! I could probably find just bran but the thought of eating sawdust with milk doesn’t really appeal! I really must however make a conscious effort to force myself to eat at least a little fruit each day though.

Last night I treated myself to salmon fillet baked with butter, rosemary and thyme (I don’t have dill , sadly) and screwed it up. When I served it up (it was quite a large slab costing 30y) the tapered ends were fine but towards the middle it wasn’t quite cooked. I had put it in foil whilst still frozen. Nothing wrong with that of course as long as you cook it long enough! Determined to eat at least one banana and a couple of mandarins afterwards though, I left the bulk of the salmon and indeed put it near my doorstep to give the feral cats a special treat. It wasn’t there when I got up!

I am toying with the idea of going somewhere for dinner tonight. The buses don’t seem to have been on reduced hours at all and most businesses have remained open throughout the holiday so as I haven’t really left home for a few days I think an outing will do me good. If I sit at this desk for the coming four weeks I will surely develop a DVT.

I hope I am not being premature in saying this but it looks as though the worst of the cold has passed for the winter. For some time now all I have needed outside has been my down jacket over a short-sleeved shirt, no jumper necessary. If this is indeed the case then my fears of Siberian winters here were unfounded. Whilst being a mere 300 miles south of Shenyang the climate here, although of course colder than Chizhou, is nowhere near as severe as the places nearer the sea. Maybe the proximity of the Gobi desert has an influence.

Time now to consult Google maps to see if I can find a restaurant.