Dragon Boat Festival, 2019 1320

There is an art to buying tickets when flying domestically in China.

Try to book too far in advance, unlike elsewhere, and you will pay through the nose. Here it is a war of nerves and wallet. Optimum prices are normally obtained somewhere between ten and fourteen days prior to travel.

In researching ticket prices to gauge the likely cost this year of getting to Shanghai. It's not something I can even think about finalising yet because I would also like to get to see Joan even if she can't accompany me to the bigger city. Her mother is now out of hospital and convalescing and she is caring for her, yet she has no idea if she will be in her hometown or in Hefei when the time comes.

Either of those destinations would mean a lengthy train trip, Suzhou Anhui has no airport and Hefei which does, from here would entail flights just as long – in some cases via Taiwan!

So I was investigating straightforward travel direct from here to Pudong. I was horrified to discover that business seats regardless of proximity to travel dates were being quoted at an average of 4,000¥ each way and unlike previously, never fluctuated by date. Even economy (ie no beer at the airport or aboard) were coming out at 1,000¥. At those rates even getting to the Smoke was going to involve a lengthy train ride, although for less I could actually buy all four tickets for a soft sleeper compartment and have it to myself! Actually, not a bad idea!

Now my searches for flight prices were conducted entirely on Skyscanner but I had forgotten about Trip.com (formerly Ctrip) and today I rectified that. Prices there, depending on takeoff times, are much more akin to those I expected. But this is idiotic. Why so? Because Ctrip – a Chinese firm – bought Skyscanner a few years ago and are clearly inflating prices for international passengers! I had expected uniformity. Silly me.

Alice has also become a first for me. We are off for her birthday treat tomorrow evening, on her birthday. Or so we all thought, including her. This morning she was talking to her mother regarding visiting Baiyin on Sunday. I have agreed to Holiday Inn for the meal and for me to go with the girls to Baiyin because Mum will make dumplings for lunch and someone else will foot the dinner bill. I have demanded I be left somewhere with wifi and cold beer while the others go trekking around the city.

Anyway, apparently during the conversation with mater, she informed Alice that her birthday is not in fact tomorrow but on Monday! Quite apart from the fact she never even knew her own birthday (I thought only old people and those from impoverished banana republics fell into that category), her passport as I mentioned before, shows her date of birth as 14^th July! With three birthdays (8^th & 10^th June as well) she has more than the Queen!

So I actually have a somewhat full weekend for once and you can bet your bottom dollar the girls will still expect me to cook on Monday. I'm going to try once again to cook goulash and with luck the dim sum I used to make in the UK to great acclaim. I did threaten to do it when they came here and made their own because I reckon mine are far superior. Nothing quite like proving a point!

I daren't go shopping today (national holiday) or tomorrow (weekend) so Monday is set fair to be a full day too. Dessert may have to be a shop bought cake.

There's a sodding cat nearby (feral) that for three days has been mewling constantly. It sounds more like a kitten in distress to the unfamiliar and on occasions I have seen people opening their car bonnets before driving off because the thing is caterwauling somewhere in their engine space. I have suggested that the easiest way to get it to scarper is give the ignition a quick turn but no, they have been poking around with sticks and poles. Fly spray would work too.

In the main the Chinese are not versed in the ways of animals and are quite unsure of how to deal with them, be it a dog defending territory or an insect which inadvertently flew into their home, so how on earth (without being crude) to explain to them in body language that the damned thing is almost certainly in season for the first time and is calling out for a good rogering??? The universal sign for “jiggy-jiggy” would probably see me branded a pervert! I am however grateful that it is only audible from my office and is nowhere near my bedroom or I would probably buy a net, capture it and take it to the vets for the chop!