Wednesday 30th August, 2017                        1810

Well I woke up early enough this morning but bone-idleness beat me. Shopping will now be done tomorrow.

I managed to find the hotel opposite online but for some reason it says they are fully booked, as indeed do many other hotels. I never had Lanzhou down as a hotspot for tourists! I have given the phone number to Joanna, maybe she can swing something, it would certainly be more convenient to have them staying on my doorstep.

Aside from doing nothing but kill two flies, I did actually get out to source the constituents of a roast pork dinner and splashed out on a big enough lump to make a load of ham, which will be ready for Sunday night.

I was in pensive mood earlier. The euphoria of last night and the impending visits had calmed and my thoughts turned to my bucket list. God how I hate that expression! Five hours later I only have three items on it!  

Thursday 31st                 1720

Still no teaching rota as yet although I did get a text to say it would be done at the end of the week so presumably I shall know what I am at sometime tomorrow.

Today the temperature has shot up from low teens to mid 20s, meaning when I went shopping I was too hot in my fleece. The flat is too cool to gauge what it’s like outside before dressing. I went and had a curry (having abandoned any notion of cooking tonight). That was a palaver in itself. It’s a standard dish in Dico’s but the girl kept wittering on in Chinese and inevitably I failed to understand. Until that is, a delivery courier came over and showed me a beaker. She was asking if I wanted a drink! I didn’t because I had my hip flask but I pointed out to the lass that had she mimed putting a cup to her mouth and drinking, anyone in the world would be able to comprehend!  And then I spent 300y on food in BHG. Well, a litre of milk and a pack of bacon to be precise! The bulk was wine, toothbrushes and a new attendance book for school.

Incidentally, the potatoes I bought downtown the other day worked fine as roasties last night.

When I returned in a taxi security stopped the car. The driver asked out of the window the reason why and the guard approached, saw me in it and immediately waved us through! Of course! Students are still returning so although it’s the first time I have witnessed it here, evidently they are no different to Chizhou on that front. I do think it unfair though when some of them have a lot of luggage to hump.

I went to check the mail room later. I have heard construction work occurring since I returned but had no idea what they were doing. They have completely demolished an entire administration block and the engineering factory the students used to make bits in. God knows what will be erected instead.