Tuesday 22nd August, 2017                                1515

What a difference a day makes! Yesterday I was wondering if the airconditioning in the taxi taking me to Hefei airport could do a better job of keeping me cool in 30C, this morning when I got up I had to put my fan heater on!

Summers certainly don’t appear to hang around that long in Lanzhou, according to the web for the foreseeable future, daily highs of 15C. Uncharacteristically, the internet says there will be light rain most of the week, more than I saw here in one stretch during the entire past year.

I had intended to go shopping today but lethargy won the argument and I shall go tomorrow. I’m almost out of coffee (ok, so I only drink one mug a day when I get up so a big jar lasts a couple of months) but I do have some sachets pilfered from hotels in my suitcase. Luckily I have a pack of bacon in the freezer so will buy eggs and potatoes and have chips for my dinner. When I woke up, unusually, I pined for a western breakfast. Normally I am not hungry so hotel living has changed that, doubtless though, temporarily.

I have a covering of about an eighth of an inch on dust on the windowsill in my study where I left a window cracked and I have a load of white dust and debris on my fridge/freezer and the windowsill in the bathroom. I can see where it comes from in the dining room, the plaster degrades but I am damned if I can see the source of it in the bathroom because the ceiling is panelled.

I took the time to calculate the mileage travelled on my adventures over the last four weeks. I have not taken into consideration the excursions we took on the bus with the school, just the distances between each city. Incredibly, without once leaving China, I covered 15818km/9828miles - a round trip from Lanzhou to my hometown of Marlow is 15660km/9730miles!!!!

Wednesday 23rd                          1345

So much for going to purchase essentials today. It rained in the night, stopped by the time I got up but started again when I was ready to shower and go out. I will have to hope it’s dry tomorrow.

However, it gave me a good excuse to bake a loaf of bread so I can crack open the cheese and those pickled onions for my dinner!

I feel a little like Neighbourhood Watch this afternoon. Earlier I heard an odd sound and looked out to see what had happened. A BMW X1 had reversed into and demolished a stone bench. There are four benches around a square stone table on the pavement, the old people often sit there in dry weather, chatting or playing mahjong, Chinese chess etc. Two females, the passenger got out to survey the damage then got back in and they left. I wonder whether they will report it to the school. I wrote down the registration just in case. Now I am wondering if I should say something. It’s difficult to guess what reaction I would get from the school - would I be seen as a troublemaker?