San lun che to dian dong che

Although up early enough to be playing table tennis, my back was still pretty awful, so I stuffed down three sugar-filled cereal bars to accompany the medicine. With Tan and the kids all asleep, a bit later I went down to the piano place to have a little practice. I noticed two bin bags outside one of our neighbour's doors and picked them up to take down with me and our rubbish too. I then realised how unlikely such an event would be and they might be concerned about foul play or something. Even worse, maybe it wasn't rubbish, but a quick check of the empty beer cans and throwaway food confirmed it was, and I was in no mood to go back up the 14 floors to re-deliver it. I think I'll continue doing this as and when I see neighbour's rubbish, and see if it's ever reciprocated.

I hadn't realised how un-soundproofed the cubicles would be. I tried to settle down to practise Gladiolus Rag but for the first few minutes it was so hard as the sound of the piano in the next room was louder than mine. I remember reading how Tiger Woods's dad would jump and scream at him while he was practising putting as a child, in an effort to make him oblivious to distractions, so I thought I'd try that tack, but then I thought what sort of person would try to put off someone practising the piano? Anyway it was pretty bad, though better than nothing and worth the 10 kuai for well over an hour. I now know where old pianos go to die.

Awful sounds on an awful piano with awful background sounds - three awfuls do not make a right

I brought back a bite to eat for lunch and then struck on the idea of getting a dian dong che. I'd actually thought about it a couple of days ago when Li Kun mentioned you could get one for a little over 2000 kuai. 2000 kuai was the price of A Ni's back in 2006 so it seemed very, if not too, reasonable. So after lunch I took Leilei and Xixi out on a san lun che to the place where all the dian dong che shops are. Knowing me, I could have dawdled on the decision to make such a purchase for a week or so, thus devaluing it as we'd have less time to use it. I used this potential devaluation as a means to spur me into making sure if we were going to get one it would be today.

Getting Tan's breakfast didn't take long

On the san lun che to the dian dong che place

At the first place we saw a few for between 2600 and 3300 each, and said we'd have a look around. The next place was a bit more pushy, as in they offered us water and tried to speak a little English. Then I realised if I was serious about getting one the only reason I would do it would be if Chuan Chuan could use it while we were away, so I called her and asked her to come to see them too. It was well that I did as she is very slight and many of them would have been too big for her. In the end I decided I'd like one with five batteries rather than four, for the extra 15 or so km it would give to the range, but the place we were looking at didn't have many 5-batteries at a small-enough size.

To the dismay of the shopkeeper we moved next door. The one thing I didn't like about that shopkeeper was that when you asked a price she always told you the "previous" price first, before telling you the actual price. That really put me off. There wasn't much in the next place either until I spotted a couple near the front in the burning sunlight rather than in the shade. There was one style that seemed to tick most of the boxes - small enough for Chuan Chuan, big enough for me and the kids, 5-batteries, plus the bonus of foot rests for the back passenger and a remote-control locking system. Chuan Chuan eventually haggled it down to 3000 kuai and we spent the next 30 minutes waiting for the bloke to fit it with all its accoutrements, including the batteries (worth about a quarter of the complete value). And then we drove away on our new, dark blue "Li Ma" bike, simple as that.

On our maiden voyage!

...before Chuan Chuan took them out to the swimming pool...

I was a bit disappointed at the performance considering it was new, and it was only when we'd reached home that I remembered that what would have been the horn button on the right was actually the gear button - there were apparently three gears on this electric bike. The next time I used it, to take Tan to Waipo's for tea, I moved it into second and it accelerated away very nicely. Phew.

Just as I was finishing tea with the family, I got a call from Haiwei asking to come over and have a bite to eat. I wasn't hungry but as the kids were going out and so was Tan I didn't have too much to do so drove home and got picked up a moment later, to have a second tea at big sister's house, as I had a few days ago.

I got a lift back around 9ish and found the kids a bit later to take back for a little drive, just as an excuse to use the bike. We went down to the place I bought my two tea tables from and met the owner there. He was very excited to see me and gave me a hug and got Leilei to take a couple of pictures of us using his iphone (the owner's). We then sat down and all drank some Pu Er tea, which was very nice. We spent a good 15 minutes there and Leilei was very interested in the various carving of the tables and was asking how long it took to do. He's a bit less shy this year, and Xixi is noticeably more open when talking with adults, which makes it considerably easier.

Leilei modelling his favourite tea table

We then drove to the guang chang for some bbq and Haiwei also came over for a bit too. The kids actually ate more than I expected, and Haiwei and I indulged in some cai ma, which I mostly lost much to Leilei's amusement.

When I got back and had them showered I realised how much the lack of siesta had taken out of me as I dosed off with the kids at midnight only for Tan to fetch me at 1.40 with a not-too-impressed look.