Friday 24^th August, 2018 1845

By the standards of my travels, this summer had been going remarkably well up until yesterday, only two more short flights to take and I would really have had nothing to whinge about.

I was treating Alice to her first flight turning left at the top of the gangway instead of right and we arrived at the airport in good time. Got to the business check-in and it all went predictably, horribly wrong. They wouldn't check Alice in. Why? My autofill (which admittedly some time ago I must have input) had transposed the first letters of her Christian and surnames.

The only solution was to call Ctrip who could only cancel the ticket (at a fee of 300y) and we then had to buy a fresh one at the counter. Luckily a) the flight was still a similar price, it had shot up to treble the day before and b) I had enough money on me to pay for a new ticket whilst the waiting for the refund to appear in my account. I had visions of her flying in economy! She plaintively suggested that perhaps I should go alone and she forget it. Whilst I clearly made the error, she compounded it by not checking her details when I emailed her the e-ticket. She thought I had only sent it for her info!

All was well in the end and I was pleased that for once in China the plane (a 787) had the proper seats that turn into beds, not just bigger versions of cattle class. Alice seemed to think the plane was a cocktail bar and tried ordering a mojito! I blame my sister for that...... And to date no luggage has gone missing.

The Holiday Inn Express that is my home for the next four days is a far cry from HI in Guangzhou, a bit like going from Harrods to Lidl. But at least the a/c freezes you and the bed is comfy.

Alice and I were joined by Joanna, Roland and Angel his amah along with his son who is at that age where he thinks he knows absolutely everything and his old man and I are complete dunderheads. I suppose on the subject of “white collar boxing”and grudge matches between two so-called YouTube celebrities he is the expert, I only knew vaguely about one of the combatants and a video he posted filmed at a Japanese suicide site recently. But then, I get my news from world media, not social.

Thankfully being a weeknight none of us (me because of a tiring day) had the appetite to stay out too late, indeed after Alice went home this morning I found cigars (only a week's worth though, all he had) and later needed a siesta. My intercostal pain has now migrated from the side to the back and renders me almost useless until mid-afternoon. It will pass in time though.

So I have been sitting in the garden of the Flying Fox in Pudong (with a large Tiger) typing this. Roland can't come out to play, he is working furiously on a report involving a multi-million dollar VLCC accident (I must ask him if he gets commission!) and so it will be Joanna and her workmate (best girl in her team) who will join me for dinner here, then we shall move to the Big Bamboo for cocktails and a game of pool. Joanna seems to like me choosing them for her, trouble is, I don't know that many!