Sunday 4^th October 2020 1800

On Saturday I treated Andy (my cleaner last year) who was desperate to come and see me, to lunch. I ordered the wrong dish. I had wanted the dry prawn hotpot but we got an even bigger plateload of, yes prawns, but also squid. Well as I eat little anyway I was only ever going to eat half a dozen prawns (they are quite big) it was fine by me. And I didn't dare try the squid in case it was rubbery – not enough teeth left now.

Andy was the archetypal student. Complaining that he eats the same thing every day on campus – beef noodles for breakfast, noodles with vegetables for lunch and rice with vegetables for dinner – he thought Christmas had come early. The dish cost 88¥ (£10) plus rice and a couple of beers. I had told him I would only order one dish due to their size but if he needed more he was welcome.

Well he asked for seconds on the rice and apart from a small takeaway did a pretty decent job of demolishing the dinner and giving the impression he hadn't eaten for a week. He also confessed to being drunk after downing half a bottle of 3% ABV beer! Rather than abandon him to public transport I took pity and took him in my taxi before coming home myself. I believe I have a fan in that one.

Jody has let me down this weekend inasmuch as I really want her to get on a chair, take the lightbulb out of the kitchen and come with me to get replacements of much higher wattage. She has gone to school each day. She did however leave me her medical card to pay for my medicines this afternoon. I will collar her later in the week. No way am I getting up on a chair because I will fall off and kill myself and trying to explain in the market that instead of one candlepower (which is all I have in my kitchen right now – I need to use a torch) I want 100W or even more so I can actually see when I want to cook during the winter.

I just wasted 50¥ on a takeaway dinner. I had intended to buy some sashimi from the restaurant around the corner but it seems they only do it in summer and the enormous prawn platter costs twice that. So, going on the photos in the menu (invariably a mistake) I opted for what looked like sweet and maybe sour pork. It was pork all right (well mostly fat and skin) but it was awful. I am hoping BK or McD are open in the morning at the station. I really fancied sashimi and I have wasabi and soy at home.

I will leave early enough so I have an hour for any health code problems to be sorted by the police and still give myself time for some grub. Maybe the outlets were closed before because of the virus but now with an estimated half a billion people travelling this holiday I am hoping they will be doing business.

The case is packed, I think I have sorted the foul stink in the flat (pretty sure it's the mop so I have it soaking in a bucket with bleach) because Jody will insist on mopping the floor the Chinese way – just using plain water. Reminds me, must buy more bleach when I get back.

So unlike Shanghai where there is never any danger whatsoever of me using an executive lounge or rising in time for breakfast (I blame Roland) I fully intend to actually have two breakfasts in the capital of Qinghai province, Xining and possibly those may be the only times I leave my room. I may just do a Greta Garbo and order room service dinners. Either way, I intend to enjoy my mini-break.