Saturday 22nd April, 2017                                           1600

A glorious day today, my guess is 20C, enough so that a short sleeved shirt was ample for my little trip to the cave market before buying alcohol and fruit. Yes, I’m still eating fruit even though I’m not keen on most of it.

I originally went to the cave with three requirements. A backscratcher to take and leave in my office at work, a new small saucepan and a can-opener. First however, I stumbled across the “Woolworths Pick’n’Mix” shop and couldn’t resist buying 10y of assorted sweets, none of which I have a clue as to what they taste like.

The tin-opener proved problematic. The first shop I tried never had one but they did have a backscratcher. Not exactly what I wanted as it has a brush on one end and is a bit too bendy for my liking but for 15y it will do. I tried several other stalls and at each one I had to draw a picture of what I wanted but they all kept trying to flog me bottle openers. It became clear nobody had anything to open my tinned tomatoes but the last shop did have small saucepans so I bought one. Only cost 25y and not bad quality either. Given that I bought four large mandarins afterwards at the fruit stall for 20y I’d say the pan was a bargain.

The opener I will have to get from BHG. My old one has lost its grip. The new pan is for boiling vegetables. I already had one but tonight I am having breaded fish and chips. Shallow frying the fish in a frying pan has not thus far produced good results so I am going to attempt deep frying it. The old pan has a slightly larger aperture so that one was nominated to hold the oil. I must curb my instincts to pour the oil away tomorrow or it becomes an expensive way of cooking. I suppose I really ought to invest in a deep fat fryer then I could do the chips at the same time.  The one thing I mustn’t do is forget the saucepan is on the hob or heaven help me.

I was looking at Taobao yesterday and composing a shopping list for Molly. I haven’t ordered much for a while so I thought one order would do for this month and also May. No food, just teabags, Halls and tartare sauce but a toasted sandwich maker and a USB lead. The USB lead is double headed so finally I may be able to back up my laptop to the external drive. Kevin finally found one for me because I couldn’t. sometime after the summer I must buy another laptop, somewhat smaller and lighter and with a battery life of more than two minutes. The one I am using has to be a decade old now and whilst it has served me well, it isn’t capable of running new programmes that have replaced what I am using and I find that one by one, support for my applications is being withdrawn.

The sandwich maker? Well it’s one of those gadgets most people have got, used for a week and then never again. I had one in the UK and I have to say it was utilised on a regular basis, especially when I was pushed for time. For under a tenner I will find it most useful but it will cost me a fortune in cheese!

It is actually quite annoying to have a week off unexpectedly. I would love to have used the time to travel somewhere but what with the Shenyang Soaks arriving next month and my plans for the summer, I really need to marshal as much money as I can.

I suppose I could start to tackle the floors in here. It’s a question of enthusiasm. I don’t have any.