Thursday 2nd March, 2017                                 0130

Well what can be the most mundane thing to continually blog about? Housework? Cooking? Well I hate the former and yes I do blog about the latter. Supermarket shopping? I like to think that though I mention it I rarely go into that much detail.

I have to say though that on this occasion I am going to offer a little more on supermarket shopping at BHG. Now, in China it is fatal to look as if you are searching for something because the under-employed staff are eagle-eyed and will pounce on you and try to get you to buy beauty products if you are looking for Lux soap or 10kg of rice when you are looking for pasta.

Ditto the wine section. If I drank one bottle of plonk a week then sure, I could afford to splash out on a mid-priced wine but I drink a bottle every night so when I find a really cheap one that I can actually drink then I stick to that. Well a fortnight ago my 14.5y (£1.60 at the Brexit exchange rate) choice dried up and so I found myself looking for the next cheapest which turned out to cost 18y. Annoyed at the extra cost and not knowing whether it was even potable, I bought half a dozen bottles.

It was in fact tastier than the previous purchases and so made me feel better about the increased cost. Last week I went in and headed straight for the pink labels at 18y. You have to do that before the ladies pounce and try to get you to buy more expensive stuff. Or at least that’s what I have thought for the past six and a half years.

One girl collared me and was most insistent I buy a particular wine priced at 33y. In the past she had merely looked on as I bought the 14.5y stuff and taken those stupid “hang round” tags they place over the necks of the bottles. So this was unusual behaviour.

And when I say insistent, I MEAN insistent. Using my body language I indicated that my choice cost sher bah kwai and hers san sher san kwai. She waved her arms and I twigged. Special offer, normally 33y but I could buy two for the price of one. After confirming I would pay 33y for two bottles I agreed. This girl obviously studied me for weeks because I always buy 6 bottles and she produced a half case box! I watched the checkout till like a hawk and sure enough, I had bought more expensive wine cheaper.

Well I went back today and looked for the same wine but of course I can’t tell if the offer is still on - there’s no 2 4 1 sign of course and I stood there looking lost hoping she would appear. And she did after a minute, presumably she had been doing something else. She never even asked, just got a box of wine! And I have to say, it tastes even nicer than the 18y stuff. They must be on a bonus to push such items from time to time but I will certainly listen to her in future.  Normally I wave them aside if what I want is available. It makes me wonder if I have missed deals on Femme Fresh and blackhead removal products in the past though!

I did intend to go to bed earlier tonight but sadly I am wading through 9 hours of OJ Simpson and I fell asleep in my chair before the end of episode two so am now wide awake.

Anyway earlier I had a text from Georgina. Haven’t heard from her in two years. She was one of my 3 year students, the classes I hated because they were deadheads. She was one of two students out of the hundreds of 3 year pupils I taught that really stood out, the sort that made the class and if she was absent there really was no class.

It turns out she took further education to elevate her diploma to a BA and then - get this - studied for her Masters in Cardiff! We were chatting about how she had been to Glasgow, Oban and Inverness while she was there. As always, there was a reason for contacting me, she is now in Beijing and has joined a startup company that wants to go into the recruitment business for ESL teachers. They aren’t in business yet but she wanted opinions. I won’t go into it but I see serious flaws in the plan and outlined them, It could be good if they get it right but it is a very competitive market here and they have to offer something different.

But hey, it really gives you a lift to hear from a former student who has done well for themselves, especially when you had them they were in the bottom stream!