Sunday 16th April, 2017              1100

On Friday lunch break I did indeed sally forth for lunch. However I made the fateful mistake of going to McDonald’s. Not that I go there a lot, the best thing to eat there is the breakfast and at other times I always leave wondering “why did I do that”?

Yesterday I woke up with an upset stomach (Big Mac-itis?) and a sore neck where presumably I had slept in an odd position. Because of this I felt listless all day and never once set foot outside. In the evening my stomach ache had abated sufficiently for me to think about eating. I had experimented with another loaf of bread, guessing with quantities and although it turned out a little doughy it was soft and certainly edible so I had a couple of soft-boiled eggs with bread and butter.

At midnight I retired and on regaining consciousness this morning, found my neck to be even more painful than yesterday. Now I am worrying that the school bus tomorrow morning will be the old one driven by the madman. If it is (and the nice, safe, bigger bus was only seen once last week) then the journey to work promises to be pure agony. Apart from the driver’s less than smooth progression in traffic, the breathtaking speeds and last minute braking the damned vehicle is hideously uncomfortable. By the time it reaches me to collect me I am invariably consigned to the fold down bench seat at the back. Every bump sees me part company with the seat and almost crack my head on the roof. No, I am not relishing the prospect.

I waited yesterday for news that war had broken out between Trump and Kim after the “momentous event” but having heard nothing I assumed the world was wrong. This morning I learnt Kim did indeed launch a missile but embarrassingly it exploded shortly after launch. Were it not so serious (given the unpredictability of  Trump, who I regard as the more dangerous of the pair) I might have guffawed. I wonder how many North Korean scientists were executed over that?

I re-potted the mint yesterday. I’m not sure if I am a born gardener and even less sure that I haven’t killed them all. Time will tell and people have said mint is indestructible. In my hands??

My papers are all completed and  ready to give to Molly tomorrow to post. Rather a complicated set of forms but I reckon I haven’t omitted anything or made any mistakes. If that is the case then in three weeks I will officially become a pensioner.

Talking of which, I was idly searching hotels for the summer (well you can only watch so many back to back, hour and three quarters episodes of Morse!) and searched for Hilton group hotels. I also like Holiday Inn here in China but I don’t have any reward points with them whereas I do with Hilton. I spotted amongst the “rates” options that there was a “senior” rate. Hmmm. I wonder? Retirement age here is 60 so just maybe in China if you are that age you can get a discount? No, it’s 65. Maybe someone should point this out to Hilton.

Of course, any travelling in the summer is subject to remaining here and we still await the Party Secretary’s pronouncement in that respect.