Tan then went out and I let the kids play at home while I tried a siesta but didn't manage one till 3-5pm, but it did the trick. Haiwei called to see if I wanted to eat, so I said yep and went downstairs to get the bike. Tan hadn't wanted the kids to go out earlier in the day due to the extreme heat, but during my sleep the clouds had gathered and washed away much of it. Downstairs we saw that the rain that had fallen was starting to dry, and it was much much cooler. So we were a bit surprised as as soon as we were out of the gate it bloody deluged on us. Even turning back wouldn't have helped so we sped along down the road until we turned left and were able to start beating the cloud. It was quite fun until we had to turn right again and got our second deluging. After dropping off the kids, I got a third deluging during the one minute ride to Haiwei's office. It didn't help that I couldn't get the bike up the curb as it was so slippy. Any last dry bits of me became soaked as I struggled to eventually mount the curb and find too-late shelter under a tree. I did dry off the seat and cover it with its elasticated plastic bag that I had put on my head for the journey from Waipo's. I must have looked like a right plonker.
Going for a meal with Haiwei means meeting up for tea first and conversations with other bosses, and phone calls to see who else is coming. This time after the tea we went to pick up a couple of his clients from the north of China. I'd expected them to be in one of the better hotels but they were in rather a cheap one, the sort that also offers rooms by the hour, and there are many "massage" establishments in the same area too.
Anyway, they seemed nice enough and we drove to the new beef place I went to last week with Uncle Yellow. They both had a small bottle of "medicine alcohol" while I was given the choice between Blue Ribbon and Snowflake beer. I chose the latter due to 2.5% and better taste. They weren't that talkative at first but the "medicine" eventually had its effect and they were all quite jovial by the end.
We dropped them off and then went back to the office for more tea with another boss before Haiwei suggested going for bbq. I first called Jiuma, who was out with the kids, and she said not to pick them up as they were having fun in the guang chang, but she'd call me later. So, with this "permission", Haiwei got on the back of my dian dong che and we drove to the usual bbq place by the guang chang. I could barely eat or drink, and called Jiuma to find out where the kids were. She said not to worry again, so I didn't and forced down a beer and some nice pork.
Finally Jiuma called and I picked up the kids from the traffic lights. They'd had fun and she'd had fun taking them out and assuming some responsibility. Both of them managed to eat some bbq and we stayed another half an hour till well gone 11pm. I called Tan to see if she wanted me to bring some back but she was out already at the place I'd watched football yesterday. So the kids and I rode there for some snails and fried sweet corn with Huang Xiaoyuan, A Ni, and A Xia. It was good to see Tan back on speaking terms with A Ni, and not as the result of me inviting her. Showered, the kids fell asleep quickly at midnight, when Tan got back moaning about a tummy ache and blaming the snails.
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| Tucking in after a hard evening's bouncy castling |
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