Sunday 5^th January, 2020 1900

Last night Adriana and Alice came for a cooking lesson. On the menu were chilli con carne with garlic bread, followed by strawberry fool. Yes, I know, it's winter and strawberries should be out of season but not in China! It's like pineapples – you can't get them in summer. I don't understand either.

Whilst neither of them have a clue about cooking anything other than perhaps a stir-fry, both nonetheless amazed me. In particular when I instructed Alice to halve the strawberries and she was prevented by me from doing so widthways rather than lengthwise and Adriana who, when whipping cream (with an electric whisk I should point out) asked every minute if it was done and while it was still the consistency of the upper reaches of a bottle of gold top milk back in the day, maybe she wanted to drink the cream instead of eat it.

Andy the cleaner came today for his last session before going home for the big holiday. He had saved his wages here for a month and I gave him a bonus for his spring festival. It was not without labour from me either, the living room table has long been my larder because the kitchen cupboards are damp in winter. My dry and tinned goods now reside on one of the office desks (behind me now), a desk which hitherto has housed all manner of crap that I never need and which has all now been shoved into spare drawers and cupboards. Actually, worth the effort, the living room now looks presentable. Except I never use it but Alice will.

Talking of that Alice, the Wuhu/Guangzhou one, having sent all my paperwork to the hotel and having received no reply or confirmation, I called the hotel. That in itself is a trial as their English is limited. I was told our booking was confirmed but I don't fully trust what I was told. It would almost be better if they simply told us we have been booted out, at least I would know. Alice fancies the Mogao caves, well she did until I told her even the fast train is 8½ hours from here. I did offer her Maiji Shan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-TUaGiw5Dc where I went two years ago if the eviction happened.

We shall see. When she comes back online I will get her to call the hotel, not only to confirm we will not be turned away but also to extend our booking from one to two nights. If not, it will be a scramble to try and get seats on trains to Tianshui. It really shouldn't be on for governments to simply take over venues at a moment's notice when people booked a month ago.

No word from Joanna yet. I said back when I first blogged about it that I didn't want to jinx it and of course it's nothing to do with me but it seems bloody strange to me that it's me it always happens to. Contingency plans are being hatched in case. The only consideration is of course money.

If she is in Malaysia in August (and I have no idea yet) then I can go and get her there if she is up for the UK still. If she isn't then I can go there for a holiday and then go on to Colombo alone before returning for my annual pilgrimage to Shanghai. I didn't particularly want to go to the UK anyway and if I discount varifocals, boxers, socks, shirts and cooking ingredients, that was more or less it. Even if I went “home” (well it's not home any more and hasn't been for a decade), business flights are now 75% dearer than they were a few months ago.

Now get this:

A multi-city business ticket from Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur to Colombo and back to Shanghai costs £1,500. Three flights, yes? A return from Shanghai to Kuala Lumpur plus a return from Kuala Lumpur to Colombo – FOUR flights – is £1,000!!!!

I honestly give up with making plans now unless I am going solo. It's not even as if I ever book a package holiday.