Tuesday 12^th February, 2019 1645

I actually woke early this morning having retired early last night. The planned Metro trip was for mid-morning but after my UK connection failed I started watching “Criminal Justice” on YouTube. All five one-hour episodes!

So I left home at 1500.

Today being (I assume) a normal day for those with normal jobs (ie not in education) traffic was light and to my relief there was no problem obtaining a trolley and I had all the time in the world to investigate the Metro.

Whilst I consider it a great leap forward (to pinch words from Mao) for Lanzhou, it is but halfway to paradise. Plenty of things they either don't have or I couldn't see, such as Bisto, Oxo, vanilla essence and parmesan (although there was fresh available but have you ever tried grating parmesan? You need biceps like thighs!) but I bought other things not on the list.

Pork breakfast sausages, frankfurters, what I hope are oven chips (soon find out), spring rolls, my “goldfish” flour that worked so well in the bread machine in Chizhou (annoyingly the smallest bag was 5kg) and a few other bits and bobs. Sadly no tonic water because you have to buy a whole case. Nothing against that, the problem was I already had about 20kgs to carry. I am not 32 any more. Guess where Alice will be coming with me when she comes back?!

Plenty of other things I never bought but wanted to but am constrained by the limited freezer space I have. One huge item was part-baked baguettes! If I only knew if I was staying here for the next three years I would buy a chest freezer tomorrow, they only cost about 1,000¥. Metro is definitely a monthly visit from now until I leave Lanzhou – proper steaks, any spice you want (I bought a big tub of ground ginger), tortillas, all manner of items that enticed me and with enough storage I could have spent a month's salary. But I didn't!

Now though, if I don't want to cook I can host a meal simply by bunging things in the oven.

One thing I did notice though, both in the taxi and in-store was my eyesight. I have in the past worn bifocals but ultimately decided I didn't really need them. Today I could hardly focus (hence maybe I missed some items I wanted). I am rather hoping the reason is because most of the day during the holiday I am sat in front of a screen. If I ultimately do need spectacles in China I am fearful.

You know the optician's chart with letters ever-decreasing in size? Well not here. They decrease in size but they are all Es – facing north, south, west and east. And I recall Kevin ordering bifocals in Chizhou and being presented with a pair of glasses with the lenses perfectly split in half with a straight line across halfway and two disparate lenses used so there was no transition, either distance or reading, instantly.

I am convinced I have “holiday eyes