Tuesday 30^th October, 2018 1245

Well so much for only having two guests to be my guinea pigs!

Last night it was only supposed to be Alice and Stephanie. Annie and Eli were judging the singing competition, or so everyone thought. Accordingly, I kept to the plan (I was convinced it was completely misguided) of making curry filled Yorkshires followed by something more mainstream – coffee cake.

Just before I was ready to serve Stephanie received a text from Eli saying he was on the way! What??? He was supposed to have been at the contest fifteen minutes already and it didn't finish until 1930!

I had made three individual Yorkshires (how can you “fill” one that is not completely enclosed?) and now we were about to become four. A dilemma. It must be said that Eli did offer to go and buy some dumplings for his evening meal and ordinarily my meals consist of plenty to feed the entire campus but occasionally (as last night) they are individually prepared.

I said I wasn't hungry anyway so never actually had anything. I hadn't felt 100% all day and I was very, very dubious about the coupling of Yorkies and curry. It would have been a crime to have told him to buy baozi and then eaten just a mouthful from my own plate. It turned out the contest was postponed at the last minute and nobody thought to tell me, had they done so it would have been simplicity itself to whip up another pud.

Annie wasn't following suit thank God. Her mother is visiting from America and is an anti-smoking fanatic (wise move to come to China then!) and I am not allowed to meet her.

With some trepidation I handed out the filled puds and do you know what? The plates were all but licked dry! I even forgot to put the yoghurt in the curry. Success. I managed to salvage a crumb of coffee cake before it all disappeared (I wasn't completely heartless, a portion was allocated to be taken to Annie) and I need to say that despite all the faffing it took, it was really quite nice, next stop chocolate cake!

Before the guests arrived I had been experiencing VPN trouble. When that happens I am up a creek. Facebook I can live without but I cannot live without my email (Google – blocked in China) or my UK telly. YouTube is handy as well when I run out of British TV to watch. After much perseverance I did connect to LA which at least restored my email for a while but that was also disconnected after a time. The Peace Corps contingent later confirmed all VPNs were down China-wide as the entire P/Corps network were reporting being cut off.

I've been there before, usually just before the CCP annual congress but that finished six days ago. I have no idea why the 2 million-strong internet army had suddenly decided to play “whack-a-mole” again with VPNs but they had. Kevin changed his provider again, he is a butterfly, then complained to me he had made a mistake as the new one was hellishly slow. I have stuck with mine for eight years and so far they have always come through, for after dinner and everyone left I even managed to connect to the UK for a while. Today getting connected takes a while but I am online and have been watching BBC and ITV. I don't ask for much.

As always, once one meal is over my attention turns to the next one. Chicken a la King and rice next week or salmon with (another first) Dauphinoise potatoes? At least it gives me an interest. And improves my culinary skills.

Friday 26^th October, 2018 1715

Ok, so I have calmed down a bit since Wednesday. The email remains in my drafts, unsent. I felt it best to see what happened before throwing my weight around. I may still end up doing so but early this morning Janet texted to tell me my classes next Thursday would be in 402.

I asked if they had fixed the computer and she said yes. I am highly doubtful as to the veracity of the reply and fully expect to be disappointed and angered but I need to wait and see. If indeed it has been repaired then it begs the question, “Why didn't they do it last year?”

Last night (no idea how it came about but it was probably because she had never had one I made) Annie came for a flying bite to eat between her office hours and English corner. Long time readers know how I abhor both the former and it basically gave her thirty-five minutes to get something to eat. Accordingly I had sworn her to an exact ETA and promised dinner would be ready then.

The gourmet delight? Burger and chips! Now it has to be said that it is now two years since I last used the air fryer to make chips and I had forgotten how long it takes so the chips weren't the best, although she still ate them, soggyish as they were!

She asked after one mouthful where I got the patties from. I told her I made them an hour previously and I'm not sure she entirely believed me. I noticed she wasn't eating the chips with the hamburger and commented. She said no way, she wanted to finish the burger first! I think I have another fan of basically easy things to make.

Next Monday Alice has no afternoon classes and wondered if I could make a dish she had seen in a short video. It is more a breakfast than anything else, made from oats, banana, raisins, almonds, coconut etc (the idea revolts me) so I agreed she could come and help create it. That changed once she found out Annie and Eli are judging The Voice and won't come so it has been delayed a week. Instead, I will try and make coffee cake. Never attempted it before but it was requested by the Mercans. I'll give it a shot, along with something completely bizarre I saw online, giant Yorkshire pudding filled with curry.

It sounds disgusting but apparently it works. Saves making rice or chapattis too. Keep reading next week to find out if it's worth trying at home.

I just went to the jing jo shop and when I went out there was an old man in difficulty. I see him most days. I guess he is tapping on for ninety or even older and he has mobility problems. Unlike most elderly people he doesn't use a stick or a zimmer frame, he uses a wheelchair! No, not sitting in it, pushing it!

He was trying to come down off the kerb onto the road and the footrests were pointing vertically downwards so the metal was catching on the road surface and he hadn't the strength to force it forward. Well I couldn't simply walk on and asked if he needed help. He indicated for me not to bother but all it needed was for me to slightly lift the front and he was on his way again. Although I felt rather good about being a Samaritan, I could not help but think that he won't be around for very much longer and he really shouldn't be wasting any of the precious time he has left struggling to move forward a foot. I ended up feeling good and then melancholic immediately after.

We have a cold area now sweeping over northern China. Further north than here they are now having snow, we on the other hand are set for highs of 15C for the foreseeable and the central heating has yet to be turned on. I'm ok though with my new heater. At times such as this, from curiosity I check the weather in Chizhou – 23C! Lucky sods...........

Wednesday 24^th October, 2018 2330

Living in China means living on sand dunes – ever-shifting, nothing what it seems and nothing can be depended upon.

After a period of stability, comes the turmoil.

Firstly, apparently a cable burnt out on Sunday afternoon resulting in the complete loss of internet. How long does it take to replace a cable? Well in this case, three days. We were offline until late this morning. I watched every programme I had downloaded on iPlayer (and there were a lot), idiotic “chickflicks” the Americans left on my computer when they were swapping amongst themselves and I was seriously considering staying in an hotel tonight. Luckily, it came back.

I think I mentioned I bought a fan heater for my campus office last week. This evening I had a text from Janet instructing me to turn it off when I leave in case of fire. Incensed (no pun intended) I responded that I did, ditto taking the kettle off “warm” mode and if it was found switched on then A.N.Other did it. That really cheered me up.

Half an hour later I was told I had been booted out of my classroom. In fairness it is the teacher training room and to be honest I couldn't care less which room I teach in within reason.

I was offered a choice between the classroom I used to have (perfect, next door to my office) or 102. My office is on the 4^th floor. I'm 62 not 26 so unless I am suddenly to become an Olympic athlete lesson breaks and cups of tea or coffee would suddenly not exist for me. 102 is out. The old classroom is great except I know damned well they haven't fixed the computer. It probably just needs a new sound card and they've only had almost a year to sort it.

The choice was teaching on the ground floor with an office on the 4^th or in a classroom with a computer I can't use.

Some readers may think I am being irrational. Neither is acceptable. If I teach down the bottom I get no tea breaks and unless I want to mount the stairs multiple times I will have nowhere to leave my laptop and belongings safe. No. If I teach upstairs I have no computer. They have had 10 months.

I am sleeping on an email to send in the morning although I have already indicated my time here may now be limited. Let me put it in context.

I came here to teach students wishing to study for Masters in Cyprus and did so for one term. Most of them were dreadful at English and although I led the horses to water I could not get many to drink. My assessment of them was later borne out by the university in Cyprus and I was vindicated. Since then I have only taught large classes of deadheads destined to become nursemaids to anklebiters. They neither need, want or have any interest in speaking English so I have no leverage discipline-wise. I could spend entire periods smashing mobile phones if I so chose, such is the interest they show in whatever I try to do. Even activities saw 85% of them not taking part.

So yes, whilst the campus has hitherto treated me well, I have been wading through purgatory as a teacher and I never started teaching to be one of those that simply delivered lectures in a monotone. I want to make a difference. The way I do that here on the little campus is by carrot and stick. Half lesson, half film. I cannot do two periods with the same class where I have to speak 99% of the time. I will not. I am better than that. But I am not so good as to be able to resurrect the dead from a cemetery of students, which is what they give me. I need a damned computer.

So I am issuing an ultimatum in the morning. Loyalty in China seems to count for nothing. It counted for nowt in Chizhou for Kevin and me, they still sacked us for being 60, they are treating him like dirt now in Huangshan and unless Janet is mangling what is supposed to be said to me (wouldn't be the first time) then it is happening to me now. I am only still here out of what seems now to be misplaced loyalty. Watch this space for updates.

On a brighter note, Marlow Monday went well, the beef bootleather I made a stew from turned out to be melt in your mouth after five hours on the hob (suet dumplings were awful as the Atora was out of date though!) and amazingly the whole mandarin cake was edible. Last night Annie brought Jody, her Chinese teacher, for pasta bolognese and tomorrow evening Annie is popping in for a burger and chips. Well, I need to dust off the old air-fryer again to try and make chips.

I won't be investing in a new deep fat one if I will ultimately be moving on, now will I?

Saturday 20^th October, 2018 1815

Pizza Hut breakfasts are palling now. Don't get me wrong, I could have my version of a full English every day if there were proper bangers and bread that didn't taste like Madeira cake. If I go again in a fortnight when I am back at work I may just give the ham and cheese pannini another chance. The first and only time I tried it, it was cold and the cheese wasn't melted.

Having mentioned to Brenda that I would like to find out whether white spirit or something else would remove the glue stains on the flooring outside my bathroom after the recent works (and not wanting to attempt to scrape it off in case I damaged the faux woodwork), she said the workmen would call on me sometime.

I work all day Thursday and Friday so I am gone before 0700 and return around 1800 so my guess was that I would get a most unwelcome wake up at the weekend. But at about 1930 on Thursday, just as I had finished eating my sausage roll, there was an insistent knocking on my door. Slightly riled because I had made it plain to the last workman that a simple “rat-a-tat-tat” and wait was the done thing, I rose to answer the door.

Now, when I am home relaxing I am sans culottes, sans clogs, hence the need for a heater. I am not relaxed unless I feel comfortable. The workmen have seen me in such a state of deshabille in the past when they got me out of bed so there was no need to make myself “presentable”.

I opened the door fully prepared to remonstrate regarding the knocking method, only to find two uniformed policemen at my door.

I am unsure whether it was I who was more surprised at this or the two coppers at being confronted by a half-dressed laowei. I suspect the latter to be more true. They refused to arrest me despite my offering my wrists for handcuffing and in the end I had to help them with their “routine” check. They had a clipboard with what I assume were the details of every resident in the block and despite since asking, I have been unable to ascertain the exact purpose of this check. I can only assume it is to ensure Big Brother has the correct details of who lives where. It became comedic when they started flipping sheets on the clipboard, all in Chinese asking me if this was me and in frustration I said “Oh just give it here!”, located my name and number and told them this was me. They asked if I was the only one here and I resisted the temptation to call a fictitious “darling” out from the bedroom.

Odd though, Annie and Eli on campus never had it and previously the only experience I have had was in the cheap Chizhou hotel, at which time I assumed they were looking for whores. The funny thing is, police knocking on my door here holds absolutely no terrors, for unlike the UK, not only do I have nothing to hide, nobody here who may have been murdered or killed in an accident is related to me.

They left and I closed the door, only to have it knocked on the moment I sat down to continue watching Killing Eve again. I shan't type the expletives that were on the tip of my tongue to vent at the police as I reopened the door, they evaporated when it turned out to be a workman who had come to inspect the flooring!

They would return the next day, Friday. I was at pains to make clear that I would not be home until Liu (six) that day, using a sweeping arm gesture to indicate I would be across the river on the east side of the city prior to then. I reckon he understood.

Yesterday, and mindful of what happened last Friday afternoon, I took my books to my office once morning classes were over and after lunch went down to my last class of the week – in fact my last for two weeks. No students to head me off at the pass, so I burst into my classroom only to be confronted by a packed house, this time populated by teachers, about a hundred of them! I retreated hastily and went to the classroom opposite. At least I had my books.

And guess what? Because of that bloody meeting the school bus sat and sat, waiting for others. It was a rainy afternoon and I was not happy. I had done the right thing by telling the workman I would not be home until six and now I wasn't going to be home even then. I won't complain about the bus being late but I CAN about nobody telling me it will be, at least then I can make the decision as to whether I want to take public transport instead of waiting forty minutes before finding out I will be late. We finally set off in the height of the rush hour at 1740.

I was greeted on arrival home at 1840 by the poor sod who had waited in the cold for me to get home. I shouldn't have but I did feel guilty. I wish he had accepted my offer of a coffee, tea or beer but he didn't. Instead he got straight down to work removing the residue. By scraping!!! I could have done that!!

Winter is here now. Today is freezing. I am so glad I bought that new heater because my study is toasty.

Wednesday 17^th October, 2018 1500

Monday's meal was a bit of a curate's egg. The chilli was very nice but as I managed to break the garlic press halfway through getting set for making garlic bread, there were a few lumpy bits – I'm not that patient when it comes to chopping! It was tasty and it all disappeared nonetheless.

The lemon meringue pie was an even bigger disaster than the first time I attempted it. I never blind-baked the casing enough which resulted in a soggy bottom and I am on the verge of giving up with trying to separate egg yolks and whites! Using the shell never worked again (and fishing yellow bits out never retrieved the situation) so having looked online, if I ever attempt it again I shall try the hand method, if that fails then the final resort will be the empty plastic bottle suction system.

Eli is proving to be a fussy eater. Doesn't like tomatoes for starters (although he ate my cottage pie the week before – with tomatoes) and now we learn he doesn't like chilli. I have stated that this ain't no restaurant, he's paying nothing for whatever he eats and I am not producing tomato and chilli-free meals just for one person. He had to nip out and buy himself some baozi (steamed buns) from around the corner and oddly had those with some rice and loads of my garlic bread!

I emailed Janet yesterday to enquire about the internship work experience week, the art week and when my classes finish this term. She will tell me face to face about the last two but informed me I have no classes next week as all of them will be despatched to kindergartens to get a taste of what is to come. Lovely, twelve days off and not enough money to take off somewhere for a break!

Annie went to Chengdu last night for some Peace Corps seminar, bigwigs from the States are over. The Corps generously provided a flight ticket to get to Chengdu (for one day) and told her she should take the train back, that takes ages. As a result she will miss five classes which, guess what, they expect her to make them up! I long ago learnt that unless it is a weekend make-up for an extended holiday, the students like catching up even less than the teacher involved and advised her of the correct way to do it. Consult each class and ask if they wish to make the class up and when the inevitable negative answer comes back, do a deal that if they are asked by the school they should confirm they have done/will be doing so! Whether she will follow the advice or not I have no way of knowing. I still have a class to examine from last term but nobody has asked me for any marks so that's now history as far as I am concerned!

Anyway, the Corps booked her a flight with Chengdu Air when there was a slightly earlier China Eastern one available. China Eastern left more or less on time but hers ended up leaving two and a half hours late! She finally took off well after 2300 so she wasn't happy and of course will be knackered for the seminar with a lengthy train journey to look forward to as well.

Time's up. I need to shower then make sausage rolls for tonight and to take to school on Friday. I haven't been to Pizza Hut for breakfast for a few weeks so that's the plan for tomorrow.

Saturday 13^th October, 2018 1900

Friday being my back-to-back teaching day, is one I prefer not to need to go out at lunchtime. Accordingly, I normally take my own lunch with me, often I make sausage rolls for the purpose.

When I finished the morning classes I left my books in the classroom, I would need them after lunch. When the time came, a student poked her head out of the classroom opposite “my” room and told me we were in there because they were having a meeting in my normal classroom. She tried to prevent me going into the right room but I told her I needed to retrieve my books.

Thinking the meeting was a teachers' one, I opened the door without knocking, confident they wouldn't have started yet. I only needed five seconds to get my stuff, after all.

To my surprise the room was full of students and four staff members on the dais, everyone standing to attention. Nobody even glanced at me as they all stood stock still and a second later the Chinese national anthem started! Now it was MY turn to stand still! I thought that as the Communist Party secretary was chairing, it was a CCP meeting – hence the anthem. Mortified, I waited for the finish and then asked for my books. They looked but couldn't find them. I left and, wondering if I was going potty, went to my office to make sure I hadn't after all taken them there. I hadn't.

I wasn't too concerned about the lack of a course book, I know the lessons by heart but my little black book contains precisely what I have done with each class so I don't repeat myself. I was particularly miffed as I had left them neatly on the desk on the stage and it should have been obvious I was expecting to come back for them. At break time the meeting was still cloistered so I went for a smoke, safe in the knowledge that as the secretary comes on the school bus (he lives in a high-rise near me) the meeting would end before five and I could then turn the place upside down to find my books. On my return to the class however, my books and pen were mysteriously at the teacher's station!

Getting on the school bus it transpired the secretary was the only other passenger. Thinking I had perhaps inadvertently committed a heinous breach of protocol earlier I thought it wise to head off any censure at the pass. “Thank you for finding my books” I said, “I knew I wasn't crazy!”The secretary smiled and brandished a school-made booklet, gaily telling me the meeting had been to finalise arrangements for the school table tennis tournament!!! From what I could gather, Mr Secretary is 2^nd seed out of rather a number of contestants. I am not on the naughty step.

Today I was going to cook a roast dinner but lethargy won the day. I have planned to prepare Monday's dinner tomorrow, the chilli will reheat and lemon meringue is best from the fridge anyway. What happened was Alice arrived with my Bisto this morning (essential if you want to make pork taste like beef) and the news that before end of term all the remaining English majors will be relocated to the main campus, just as Pat's class was last term. Again they are avoiding logic, which would have been to move them after the long winter holiday.

Alice seemed really upset over no longer being able to come to Marlow Mondays, she appreciates my food far more than I realised. I pointed out that I was sure something could be sorted and anyway, it is possible they may move Annie and Eli there too so they would all have to bus it here to get fed. Time will tell.

This afternoon I went to the underground shopping market with a purpose. Firstly Stephanie has managed to break both the inherited mop and the one I bought two years ago so I needed to buy a new one. This time I got one with a spinning bucket that ejects water from the mop. It cost 100y but will certainly make floor cleaning a lot easier. Secondly, for two years I have been using the secondhand bedding that was already here. It's too small for the bed and I do like to have my own stuff so I thought it high time I rectified it. For 300y I bought one set that turned out to do the trick and so I shall return and buy another set. Tonight I have a nice “new” bed to sleep in.

oh, and Mr Jing Jo was true to his word and his shop is now awash with Wang Guan cheroots. I simply had to show faith by buying 500 of them, meaning once again I have 1600 on my windowsill.

Today was expensive.

Thursday 11^th October, 2018 1230

Ah well, it was back to work today. The morning was a bit parky and I swiftly found myself regretting the decision not to wear a jumper under my new lightweight jacket. I was not impressed either when my students told me the heating doesn't come on until next month. I had thought it was in October.

To be fair, I am fine at home, for on Tuesday I purchased a new fan heater for my home study. The old one, whilst having done sterling work for the past two years, never quite cut the mustard when it got really cold. It was 1Kw and my new one is 2Kw – powerful enough to have dried my trainers in five hours after they had been in the wash. I shall be fine in the dead of winter, especially when they turn the heating off for maintenance. That was when the old one showed its limitations. A grateful Annie now has it and I am sure her life is immeasurably more comfortable for all that. I in the meantime will have to keep a very close eye on my meter because it gobbles up units like a Chinese student at an all you can eat hotpot.

For the past few weeks I have noticed the Yellow River has been consistently the highest I have ever seen it, so high and fast-flowing in fact that islands in mid-stream will exhibit altered shapes when it recedes again. A few of the trees that once stood proudly on the upstream ends have been swept away and the pillars of the many bridges resemble the bows of ships making ten knots. For the dams further upriver to have been opened so much and for such a sustained time must mean somewhere (probably Xinjiang) has been getting ample rain – it certainly hasn't been here!

My mobility problems are now in the past with luck. I took a hike earlier to buy some kidney beans (chilli con carne next Monday methinks) and besides general lethargy from zero exercise, there was an absence of pain or limping. The reason for this recovery given that a fortnight ago my entire loins were girdled with a belt fashioned of agony? Instead of, as in the past, only resorting to medicine when under attack, I started taking a daily dose. It would seem to have to be the way of things from now on.

Other than the above there is not much else happening here, although as you will know that can and often does change rapidly.

Saturday 6^th October, 2018 1915

I had rather hoped to have plenty to ramble on about after the expedition to Xining. I don't.

Not because I have nothing to say but I have little I can say without causing offence and/or embarrassment. Suffice to say it was not the most enjoyable and was probably the most regrettable trip I have embarked on in at least a decade.

There is one part I can speak of honestly and that was the visit on Thursday night to Do Brazil, the new restaurant which has opened inside the Sofitel.

It wasn't there last year and anyway that time the focus was on the Brahmaputra Indian place, since temporarily closed and despite the owners' insistence they would return in February/March, remains so.

It is a Brazilian barbecue place. Fixed price per head, eat as much as you like (fat lot of good to me, I eat next to nothing but my companions made up for it), expensive but worth it especially with a 20% hotel resident discount.

Now here's the thing. When we entered I asked a very helpful waiter if the price included drinks. I knew wine would be excluded but as long as I could get a beer I was fine. “Yes, drinks are included but the western restaurant is next door”, he provided helpfully!

As it was 1830 and in China people eat early, go to bed early and get up at cock-crow o'clock and the only other customers in a 120 seat restaurant were a young Chinese couple (who certainly ate their money's worth) I was stunned. The whole point of this visit was to try out the Brazilian restaurant and I informed him of that. I will be charitable and put it down to him thinking we had mistaken our destination although later I did see him do the same to a western family who in contrast then went into the western restaurant.

Once seated and with a Huang He (Yellow River) ice cold pijou in front of me, I rose and helped myself from the curry buffet, one of several buffets. Nice Ruby, really spicy bhajias but given my limited appetite it precluded me from the main event, the barbecued meats.

More than ample squid, lamb, chicken wings, sweet pork and various cuts of beef were trotted out, all being declared delicious by the other two. One beef offering was described as “melt in your mouth”. I was already full after a child's portion of the curry.

The dessert section was lovely with mousse, petit-fours, cheesecakes etc and some of the chocolate offerings actually had real dark chocolate! Chocolate in China is not chocolate as we know it.

The best thing about the trip though is that it is over.

I am almost looking forward to starting work again on Thursday.

Monday 1^st October, 2018 1330

China's 69^th birthday. Also the 35^th anniversary of my Old Man departing.

No I am not maudlin, no the reason for my silence of late is not because I was in hospital or being lazy. The opposite is true.

On Friday morning during the break some students came to my office. Their class was requesting the afternoon off and wanted me to take their lesson in the third and fourth period on Saturday.

Confused, I asked if they were wishing me to come to school on a Saturday because they wanted Friday afternoon off. It was their turn to be confused. “But you will be here anyway?” they responded.

The penny dropped. National holiday (golden week) was upon us. Sure, with Chinese school holidays there is always a catch and there will be a Saturday or Sunday set aside for catching up classes in order to afford the students a longer stretch of time off by sacrificing normal leisure time. And of course I have yet again been well and truly stiffed inasmuch as my working only Thursdays and Fridays means I actually derive no benefit from long weekend holidays or even as it transpires, golden week.

It was also a case of the school not informing me and my finding out by accident from the students. But rather than, as has been the case in the past, doing one weekend day before the break and another after it, this time Thursday and Friday classes had to be taken on Saturday and Sunday! That meant I had four straight days of work and had just found out immediately before my expected weekend!

I shan't complain too much, I did after all get to go home at noon on Friday and they slotted in their missed class into the long break I would have had on Saturday morning but by hell it was a shock to the system to have to get up at five four mornings on the bounce and not get home until six!

Actually yesterday it was nearer seven because the school bus was late arriving to collect me (his only customer) because of heavy holiday traffic (or maybe he forgot about me) and to be fair I was for once glad he drove like Toad because by then I was terminally fatigued.

Since the chap came to complete the bathroom work (and I did at the time point out the bowl didn't appear to be seated correctly) it had been flushing away very slowly. He poo-poohed (no pun intended) the suggestion and so I thought it could have been one of the periodic fatbergs from the flats above which normally clear after a couple of days. It didn't and on Friday night it clogged completely.

Today is a big holiday and I never held out much hope of getting anyone out to fix it before then. I tried the plunger, which to be equitable was an inheritance from when I came here and it was not effective. I was convinced it was something the workmen had done wrong.

All credit to Brenda, no sooner had I gotten home, kicked off my shoes and sat down with a beer than there was a knock at my door. The Man With The Son was there, armed with a brand new plunger. Thinking (and indicating) that he would need more than that, I nonetheless let him in to see my loo which was not for the fainthearted. We filled it using a bucket and to my intense discomfort, he cleared the blockage!

God, did I feel a fool! I could have gone and bought a new plunger myself and done it! Ok, he gave me the new one for free and the old one is now in landfill but he must think I am totally clueless. I was however convinced it was a case of shoddy workmanship. Wrong.

Ah well, on the bright side, despite having had a hard four days, I now have no work until a week Thursday and this Wednesday I am off with Annie and Stephanie to Xining. Alice almost came but her loyalty to her roommate who isn't going home triumphed and she is staying on campus for the duration, her sister having cancelled the planned trip to Wuwei. I have already planned a nice trip for her in January, easier said than done because I want her first flight to be sitting up front and she has seen most of the cities that are affordably close and can be accessed in less than six hours by train one way and finished off with the “big adventure above the clouds”.

But I have a plan. No sightseeing involved, just wallowing in unadulterated luxury. There has to be some reward after all for being there to do my shopping online, let alone for helping me when I was injured.