Monday 4th September, 2017                 1950

Oh dear. I really did sleep late today! I awoke well after noon to note three missed calls from Foreign Affairs. She wants to take me to the police station on Wednesday to apply for another years residence permit. Slightly worryingly, she said she had to pick up my new Chinese ID tomorrow. Mind you, I assume had there been a problem with it we would have known long ago.

Deciding to leave the ham to cure longer, I planned to go out in the early evening and see if Wu Mart had any bread flour. Last term, what with teaching full days, I got into the habit of taking a sandwich with me and want to be prepared. The idea was that I would find somewhere to grab dinner afterwards.

The supermarket is but one bus stop from here but instead of taking the B1 I heeded advice given ie to exercise my gammy hip. With some trepidation I set off, taking more of an amble than a hike. Certainly by the time I arrived my gait had a noticeable limp but I made it. Pity there was no bread flour! What flour they did have was in 15kg sacks! Sod that. I did buy some Hobnob type biscuits though.

I was in no hurry, days on end doing nothing mean when I go out I often make it last and so as I went to exit (the supermarket is in the basement of a shopping complex) I espied a small bakery. Being a sucker for a doughnut, I went in for a look. No doughnuts (plenty of delicious looking pastries but 7 years of disappointing experience tells me they will taste appallingly) but on the way out I spotted two of what I have never seen in Lanzhou - baguettes!

Ok, a bit expensive at 12y but crusty outside and soft inside. I had to have one. That of course cancelled eating out! My first thought was cheese and onion but I had no onion and didn’t want to go back downstairs. I thought I might be lucky and come across a vegetable stall on the way back.

Out I came, happy as Larry and immediately became aware of a line of fruit stalls in the road running along the side of the complex. Bound to get an onion down there! Christ, there is a whole new world of stalls in the labyrinth! I got a really nice onion (sounds an odd thing to say but often produce here is soft and rotting) and then decided to investigate further.

Things on offer ranged from every type of nut and fruit to street food such as crispy scorpions, roast pig snouts, filled pancakes etc. I was almost tempted to buy myself a snack but the siren call of the baguette was too overpowering.

Eventually I exited the area and limped back to the jing jo shop and home. It sounds daft to be excited about something as mundane as a baguette but remember, during WW2 the sight of an orange would affect people greatly because there weren’t any - baguettes are my oranges. All the way home I mentally debated what to have. Stick with the original idea? Buy some luncheon meat and a tomato? By the time I got home the die was cast.

To hell with carbohydrates and cholesterol. Nope, I am going to have a bacon and fried egg filled delight! In fact the bacon is defrosting while I type this.

For sure I shall be doing a lot more walking if Janet rosters me for complete days again, and I know what my lunchboxes will be!