Saturday 14th October, 2017                       1900

Alice presented herself at 1100 this morning and off we went to get the 131 bus. The only bit of luck we had all day was that not only did we arrive a minute before a bus left, it also had ample seats, most uncommon at the weekend.

The shop was a couple of stops before the train station and within sight of the Lanzhou Legend Hotel. It was not a case of “if” I bought, the alternative was an impending complete communications blackout. I have to say my preferred option was another Compaq, after all this old donkey is now well into her second decade - why change a reliable combination?

No, I was offered Lenovo (one of the world’s largest manufacturers of computers and I wasn’t averse) or Asus, whom I know nothing about but Kevin had/has one so they can’t be all that bad or he would have moaned to the rafters.

When I am forced to purchase anything the process with me is that I go in, choose, pay and get out in short order. Bugger looking at every single laptop and spending the day in-store. A salesman’s dream you may say.

I wanted the cigar ash protector for the keypad, a 1TB external drive and that was it. Oh, and it had to be set up in English instead of Chinese. Consternation. That will take one to two hours. Maybe they thought naively that I would drop the specification for expediency but that’s not an option for me.

We agreed a total price of 5,500y which was far more than I imagined but by then I had seen way higher prices on other stalls - the place was like a Silicon Market with many small shops competing for business in one. To be fair the boss (Alice’s friend) did point out if I bought in the UK it would be cheaper but the fact of the matter is this one will not live that long for me to wait until summer - if nothing else, I will end up smashing it through a window in anger.

Ok, Japanese lunch while they convert language but to show willing and to make sure my UK Visa bank card worked I insisted on paying before they went to any trouble. Debit and credit cards in China have a 6 digit PIN, the UK only 4. The two PDQ terminals they tried to take the money on both threw hissy fits and sulked. Could I get the money from the ATM? Yes but not in one day, UK cards have a daily limit and mine (never needed to increase it!) is currently 2,000y a day.

The person at the bank who could solve the PDQ problem won’t be there until Monday. By Monday I could have the cash. Oh ok, you can take the computer when it is ready later and bring the money in on Monday. 5,500 yuan!!!!

Faced with inordinate trust being placed in a complete stranger, I made a deal. I was taking Alice for lunch and when we finished I would get 2,000y from an ATM and pay that today, then I could return on my long Monday break with the rest.

By now we needed to go. At the back of my mind was what happened when the Shenyang Shags visited in Dragon Boat festival when the cooks were about to go home. I think we got to Brothers Boat at 1330. No cold beers but plenty of ice available and more importantly, a lovely lunch and the first time Alice had tried Japanese. It was what I would call “clean” food if you understand, delightfully presented and of course Alice had to take photographs which I am sure were online before we even tucked in. Better still, I have over 100y remaining on my VIP card.

So back to the shop. Not ready yet. Another 20 minutes. I wouldn’t have minded so much had there been a restaurant, bar or even coffee shop nearby to sit and wait in but the entire area is populated purely with shops selling electrical equipment - can’t even buy a can of Coke.

But the 20 minutes always became just another 20 minutes and I started pointing out elderly people to Alice and telling her they were ten years old when they came in to buy a laptop and they were still there.

Eventually, 4 hours after first agreeing to a deal, it was all ready. A quick try to see it was indeed now in English and we scarpered but with the boss now coming to my office between 1000-1200 Monday to collect the balance to save me the trouble of bussing there and back. It’s not too far anyway. And it was a taxi home. With a laptop half the weight and size and with a battery that hopefully works.

I now have the daunting task of trying to back up this one overnight (only done it once years ago so am clueless) and then tomorrow trying to turn the new one into the old one.

Talk about a wasted weekend…….