Thursday 25^th January, 2018 2115

This post is coming from the ancient Chinese capital of Xian, right? Nothing went wrong and my journey went without a hitch of course. We are sitting enjoying free cocktails in the executive lounge having dined on a sumptuous all you can eat buffet.

You know me better than that!

Full of the joys of winter (spring left me years ago) I leapt (or rather, creaked) my way out of bed late morning, ripped the bedding off and put it in the wash, the idea being on our return we will have clean sheets.

I made a coffee, turned on the laptop and phone and once the phone had warmed up, two messages popped up.

You just know what's coming next......

Last night here we had about an inch of snow (heavy by Lanzhou standards) but which this morning appeared trivial. I should have known my Journey Jynx would appear cackling and rubbing its hands with unbounded glee.

Oh yes, Steve, sorry, we had heavy snow here and my parents forbade me to leave the house today, it's too dangerous.

I confess I wasn't exactly enthralled reading that. Considering the hours and trouble it took to actually book the hotel, here I was now faced with cancelling it. Sometimes I wonder why on earth I bother making intricate plans because they always come crashing down around my ears.

She needed to know quickly if she should rebook the train tickets otherwise she would lose the money she had paid to get to Xian. Of course, if you look hard enough you can always find some consolation when things go base over apex. Not a lot, but there are crumbs of comfort to be had if you try.

The hotel, had I been able to book online (remember I was locked out of my account), would have been advance payment with no refund. I had paid no deposit when the hotel booked it for me so I was allowed to do so. Joan altered the tickets, costing an extra 90\ for the privilege, I in the meantime never stood an earthly of getting to the ticket office in time to change my ticket to Xian, ergo I forfeited 231\ and someone had extra room next to them. So far, 321\ loss.

We decided to reschedule for exactly a week later. When I rebooked the hotel on the website myself, I managed to save 100\ on the original price, except now if I cancel I will lose 1300\.

Then there was panic for me to get another train ticket as next week's are selling out fast. My only two options were to arrive and wait five hours in the station for her or get there a quarter of an hour before but I needed to do it today, tomorrow was too chancy. I spent this evening commuting in the freezing cold and even then fate still had something in store.

Nobody spoke English but I had written clearly what I wanted (writing 1^st Class together with the price and the correct money folded in my passport still always has them pulling up 2^nd Class prices and happened this time as well) and when I had gotten through to them they showed me the screen. I had used the American way, 2/1/18 as they do and sure enough the screen showed 01/02/18 – the English way! Great.

I got my ticket, left the counter and checked it. It was for the 18^th February! I am guessing the 01 referred to the number of tickets and the year wasn't depicted on the screen at all! Jesus! Of course, I now had to go to the back of the queue and wait all over again. By the time I was done I was about to rip out their turnstiles.

But it is done now and despite the waste of time and money, financially mitigated to 221\, there is another – not so small – comfort. Whereas this week we were going today and she was returning home on the Monday morning early, I laid the guilt on thick (over 21 and being told what to do by her parents) and albeit it will be a week late, I will have an extra day with her as she will leave on the Tuesday, and thankfully she couldn't get the early train as she had booked for this Monday.

It is nonetheless infuriating when your bags are packed only to have to call the whole thing off at the eleventh hour.

And I have to make my bed later.......