Tuesday 16^th January, 2018 1945

Welcome to those of you who made the transition! I really didn't wish to do this but the only other option was to keep the old site running while people accessed photos from me on my Shutterfly site whilst being unable to post any of their own. Not that anyone ever does!

Last night by my standards I pigged out. Utterly glorious. Fish fingers, mash and peas! Ok so they weren't Capt Birdseye by any stretch and the “peas” here are actually beans that need an hour of boiling before they soften, but a perfect example of scoffing food – simple, plain but bloody lovely, along with the likes of corned beef hash and poached egg. Does anyone else like that? Soft poached of course....

Today I went from the sublime to the ridiculous. Instead of going to bed in the wee hours and waking post-ten, I went to bed in the early small hours and woke up before dawn! I thought it was merely to pump ship but in no way, shape or form was I able to drift off again so I gave up and made a coffee in the dark.

Well if you are going to be up early, surely you should do something?

So I did. I decided to go to the supermarket with some western produce and see what they had, along with checking out if they were stocking cheese again.

Oh yes, they still have brie and camembert (are there REALLY enough French people here to justify that???) and there was a solitary bag of pre-grated cheddar. I mean really, I am lazy but who the hell can't grate their own cheese? Oh, sorry, it's not grated, they use Mercan here so it is shredded!

I did though spend 150\ on pasta sauces, a couple of tins of REAL peas and a tin of salmon. You only ever see tuna, never red salmon so I thought I would try it out, expensive as it was, it might be a stock item for my baguettes when confined to Peili campus all Thursdays next term. Still haven't had my timetable yet from the little campus, which reminds me I must nudge Janet. Never again will I need to order pasta on the internet, as always they did have that. I would like to actually investigate what they have in their booze section but like so many Chinese supermarkets they have myriad double-glazing saleswomen types keeping their beady eyes focussed atop folded arms, simply waiting to pounce on an unsuspecting moth of a customer and try to persuade them to buy something they have no interest in. Yes I could still browse but it would be at the expense of upsetting the entire shop because one attempt I can handle, subsequent ones are treated to a broadside. And then I lose my interest anyway!

Afterwards I went for a plastic steak before heading back. I hate living in crowded cities. Shanghai I could handle even though it embodies everything I loathe, because I could buy anything I wanted and go to restaurants serving any cuisine I wanted. Except notably, pork pies which are unobtainable anywhere in the Middle Kingdom.

Here there are all the disadvantages of a capital city and none of the advantages. Chizhou was much smaller and offered more, at least for me – and the bus drivers all knew me so I always got a seat.

And with the students having disappeared I thought the buses would be less crowded but they weren't. I had to resort to my method of travelling 3 stops onwards to the end to catch the next one back, ensuring a seat.

Well Hallelujah! The bus I was on WAS the next one back! I was about to get up and disembark when I noticed people getting on at the front. A lot of people. Not wishing to forfeit my seat above the heater, I decided to wait until challenged to pay my fare back. I never was, so I saved 1\!!

Life can be so exciting!