Thursday 8th June, 2017                      1615

Well I have to say that last night the boiler reached the red zone and I blew off some steam. Everyone has problems even if they are Bill Gates but plenty of people have birds of a feather to discuss them with should they choose. I don’t. My own problems are hardly significant (although I think it is human nature to “big up” your own) and the catalyst was the situation someone in my family is in. I shall not elaborate, for those concerned are facing it stoically, philosophically and with incredible resolve. I on the other hand can but rage from afar at the unfairness and wonder how I would behave were I in that situation. I suspect I would go one of two ways - self pity or more likely outright fury but of course we none of us know. Anyway, with a complete lack of intelligible communication available to me, I vented online to a trusted and valued audience who have mostly completely ignored me (for which I am grateful) and the one person who did respond was terribly kind. As always.

So today I learnt Alice will not accompany me on my travels (or even travails, given my history of planning trips!) this summer as she has now secured three “tutors” plus she is still working at Doubletree by Hilton in Wuhu. By tutors, my incisive brain deduced she actually meant tutees, although the only time I have ever heard students/pupils referred to as such before was when I was accused of being one by my online TEFL teacher.

So although I shall have no company with me, which makes me a little sad, on the bright side it means I have fewer concerns over the cost of the tour. I would still of course prefer to have a companion although certainly I will not be short of those in Shenyang or Shanghai. I may even be able to fit in a third city before I return to Lanzhou if I am lucky. I only hope Joan will finally be free next summer - I am determined to have a holiday to remember, regardless of wherever it is.

Last night for the first time we had Chizhou rain. I think it may have done for the last of my surviving mint seedlings. I always thought mint was indestructible but that is proving to be not the case with the seeds available from here. It didn’t last long and drained away once over but I wouldn’t have been pleased to have been caught in it.

Today there was no water until 1500 which meant I didn’t dare bake the bread pudding as I couldn’t wash my hands before or after (I squish it by hand) and so I decided today is a dirty day and hope that this doesn’t occur on a day in the future when I may be travelling. As always, instead of checking the recipe on the internet, I forgot an ingredient. Admittedly optional, but I neglected to add sultanas! Nobody to blame but myself, however it will taste the same.

I am running out of kitchen  store cupboard items now but am not replacing them due to my campaign of saving money for the holidays. I am hoping to replenish in City Store in Pudong, which is basically Santa’s grotto for someone like me. I spent 2,000y there the summer after I arrived in Chizhou! Five kilogrammes of cheddar rather bumped the bill up though.

At least I can now start my PriceWatch on flights with only myself to worry about. It really annoys me that train prices remain stable year-round yet flight prices are mercurial and it is an art to try to gauge when tickets have bottomed out. I reckon I could play the stock market now. You would think that buying a seat the day before or on the day of a flight would get you a rock bottom price just because they want to put bums in seats but here the converse is true, the cost goes sky high!

I am now awaiting a call from Elizabeth. I sent a text asking where she was these days and she replied with Kunshan but she is at work and will call me when she has finished. A 20 minute train ride from Shanghai so maybe I can add her to the menagerie of girls who will join Captain Orange and myself in the Big Bamboo in Pudong!