Sunday 16^th December, 2018 1545

I know of no reason why I should still be amazed at the capacity the young have for sleep, although I cannot recall a time when I myself regularly stayed abed for nine hours or more. Yet Alice, without fail, manages to shove eleven or twelve hours under the covers every time she is here.

Not long after she surfaced I received a telephone call from an unknown number and the caller only spoke Chinese. It is almost a daily occurrence here to receive unsolicited calls trying to sell one a car, house, internet data and so forth and my response, depending on my mood, is to either simply hang up or demand they speak English, the latter usually means they hang up.

I was somewhat surprised to receive a text two minutes later from the same phone, in Chinese of course, and asked Alice what it said. “Your delivery has arrived”.

That was rather perplexing for the simple reason I never give my phone number when ordering online here. Their calls and texts announcing arrival are always, as this morning, in Chinese. Alice orders my Taobao stuff on her account and thus gets notification. The only thing I have ordered is the ham for Christmas and I know full well I provided Alice's number, not mine.

Doubting myself, I got Alice to call, wondering if I had erred and the ham, which is not due until Tuesday, had arrived early. But no, apparently it was beer. The courier couldn't wait and was leaving it at the photocopying shop. Thinking perhaps someone had sent me a can of Guinness or two I asked Alice to go and collect it because the shop doesn't speak English either.

And therein lies the mystery of the day.

To my surprise she staggered back with not a couple of cans but a case of twenty-four large tins of Suntory beer. Not a clue on the label as to who had sent it, no sender's number and of course having been ordered online, not even a clue as to where my donor is based. No chance of doing a Sherlock.

I may find out sometime who my benefactor is – I have sent emails to possible suspects – and don't get me wrong, it is very welcome indeed!

Having made a roast last night (oh yes, remember the “not four potatoes” comment? After I last posted I got a text saying “I am sooooo hungry! I just finished CET6” so good job I ignored her) I couldn't be bothered to go to much effort for myself this evening. I thought I might pop around the corner for some barbecue stuff but then decided as I had spotted some dhal I had forgotten about, I could make a carrot and lentil soup, bake my own bread and then use what's left as one course for tomorrow. Every excuse not to have to make a dessert and just buy ice creams instead! If the dhal has not gone off......