Saturday 27^th June, 2020 1525

Time for a moan.

Yesterday I went for a haircut, what I call my summer holiday or “Shanghai” haircut. With five or six weeks to go before I hopefully travel, I won't look completely bald as it will have grown back a bit. That's the problem with white hair, when it's really short it's invisible.

Before that I went to a nearby China Mobile shop to get a sim card for the smartphone. The woman showed me a Chinese ID card and indicated she needed mine. Well, I don't have one but I did have my passport complete with current residence permit. No. She wouldn't accept that! It hadn't been a problem in China Telecom (except their sim wouldn't work on that phone) and it certainly hadn't been a problem ten years ago in the little CM shop on Chizhou campus when I got my original sim. But she wasn't budging because her little machine couldn't scan my passport. I pointed out that she could simply type the details in the computer but to no avail. I was not best pleased.

And this morning I thought of a problem I may or may not have with not having the green light. I will be going to meet Alice on the 6^th. Since the airport is a goodly distance away I want to take the train and I don't know if I will even be allowed to buy a ticket, let alone board the train, even though it's in the same city. So it is becoming a matter of urgency to get a damned sim or I am faced with forking out 300¥ each way for a regular taxi or, if I get Jody to call the private car company, 300¥ or maybe a little more to get them to pick me up, take me and then wait to bring us both back. Given that public transport including short taxi rides would cost me a hundred yuan, I am keen to keep costs down.

So tomorrow I have one morning class and plan to go shopping at BHG as I will have no wine left after tonight but Jody searched and apparently there's another CM shop near there, which I shall try.

Tomorrow afternoon may be busy. The intention is to try and get a sim, shop, get a cab home and have it wait while I put the shopping in, then head off to Burger King for a treat and Metro to get urgent supplies of Twinings English breakfast tea bags along with goodies such as turnovers, croissants and madeira cake. If I cannot get a sim tomorrow I don't know as yet what I will do because I have classes all week and groceries have to be bought on a regular basis. I watch crime dramas all the time and criminals get “burner” phones with impunity – I can't even get one when I have the best possible ID!!! It's enough to drive a man to drink.......

Before anyone thinks “why doesn't he just put his other sim in the smartphone?” I thought of that. They are different sizes. I thought they were universal but no. If it wasn't so sunny I'd lose the will to live. And I have to buy another pillow for Alice.

I feel a fish finger dinner coming on – and what's the bets I can't buy any more tomorrow because they've run out?

On a lighter note, as regular readers will know, mosquitoes don't bite me because to them I stink. However, just one in my bedroom buzzing past my ear will waken me. Well this year I haven't seen a single one in my home. I've always used the insect screens when windows are open but it never had any effect on mozzies or flies. This year, nothing!

This must surely be because the little sods had been sneaking into the kitchen through the circular hole in a window where the extractor used to be. I got Andy to stuff an old pair of my trousers in the aperture last year (mainly to keep the cold from coming in) and it seems it was a good move.

I still get ants in the kitchen occasionally but liberal spraying kills the invaders and the smell seems to deter the others from trying for quite a while.