Wednesday 8^th January, 2020 2222

I am seriously considering finding a vet willing to put me down.

I received a text uncharacteristically early from the bank announcing that this month's pay had gone in. Normally it's after 1700 but this was lunchtime. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't penniless, I just didn't want to break into the rounded sum I still had in the bank. As it happened, for what I ended up doing I had enough in my pocket anyway but I didn't know that at the time.

Anyway, in keeping with my pathological indolence since my holidays began, I decided the dishes could wait (they've only been there since Saturday!) and as I couldn't be bothered to cook I would do something I always regret – go to Pizza Hut. So I did. Once again no wine either by the glass or bottle to be had, the beer I ordered instead initially arrived as some frosted blue confection which was immediately refused and the menu never had any huge pizzas. Not that I have any chance of eating anything bigger than “personal” but I thought it would be handy to take most home so that when Alice gets here on Friday night I could simply warm some up to feed her. Now I will need to make a nice minestrone with baguette and some sort of cake for afters for her.

Anyway, I had a normal person pizza, managed to eat half and got a doggy bag for the remainder for myself tomorrow. On exiting it happened.

It's freezing here, snow in parts and ice in others, so as I left I felt the door had locked in the open position behind me and was not springing back to close. The Chinese never close doors and on this occasion maybe I should have been more Chinese, for I swivelled back to rectify the door problem, not realising my right foot was still one step above the pavement.

The second time I have gone down like a bag of spuds in as many months but this time because I was togged up, the only damage is sore ribs in my upper right quadrant. A passing uniformed soldier, bless him, noticed and approached at the speed of sound to get me back on my feet and, dignity destroyed, I made a point of shutting that bloody door into Pizza Hut! Then I went to get my bus home. I don't know about anyone else but even as a child when I fell over the only thought in my head has always been “did anyone see??” - forget about any injuries! The huge problem these days is that if I go down now, I don't think I could actually get upright again without other people or something for me to grab on to. That worries me. I am old but not that old. I guess my goalkeeping days are over! Weinstein frame, anyone? Oh, and the doggy bag survived.

I have been getting some very helpful suggestions re my possible amended summer trip from a friend who is beleaguered and surrounded by the NSW bushfires. Far more well-travelled than me (I think maybe a hundred countries thus far) and has given me some great tips for a brief pitstop in Kuala Lumpur for an airport hotel and later, the best way to get to/from the city centre to the flight using eKspress. Having only been to the airport in transit I'd never have known about it.

Tomorrow I need to shake off my lethargy and go shopping, do the dishes and maybe even go on a (probably futile) cigar hunt. The Wang Guan drought continues. Because of course on Friday evening Alice arrives and I need to bake and cook unless I want to splash out on a restaurant, which I don't. The Tianshui trip alone is going to cost 1,500¥ and anyway, she loves my cooking.