It was one of those decisions that you know you will not regret as nothing, short of being struck by lightning on a 12mph moped, could go wrong. I met some of my old friends, probably for the last time this year, and started to feel better as I sweated out what was within. Mr Happy saw me practising with some people and made it his turn. It was like a cat playing with a mouse at first, but this mouse turned. I started smashing his horribly spinny serves and sometimes they got back and he couldn't return them. It made me feel great, but it made him laugh even more - so much more he really did look like a Mr Man. Had I found his Archille's heal? Apparently not, as he challenged me to first to three games and won 3-0, but he nearly had a fit when I performed my reverse-spin-chop serve that he returned almost to the neighbouring table. Tan says that serve is illegal. She is wrong.
I was getting into my swing as I hadn't played for over a month, but not going all out on the smashes as I didn't want to kill my back a couple of days before a 12 hour plane ride. I lost 3-0 to the next bloke too, but was gaining in points and confidence. When the next bloke challenged me I was really up for it, and used my back hand smashes to great effect to win the first game by a few points. I won the second by even more and I started having dreams of victory. But then reality struck better than my ability regarding the ball and I lost the next game. So I pulled what little resources I had left and focused on the next game and reaped the benefits of a more disciplined approach of playing to my opponent's weaknesses and won. 3-1 yeah, and he wasn't even playing with his weaker hand!
After that a bloke named Zhang came up and started practising with me and I was grateful I could rest on my tiny laurels and not have to play competitively again. He'd given me his phone number last month and I'd said I'd call him to go for a beer. He mentioned it again and I said I'd call him this evening.
I got home and showered and before I knew it it was midday. I should have just bought some jiao zi and had them at home and slept for four hours but instead I walked outside to take in the sun. I called Haiwei to see if he wanted a bite to eat but he was out of town and said he'd call me back in a couple of minutes when he'd be back so I went to A Wu's office to wait. A Ni and A Da were there - A Da gave me a hug as he often does for some reason - I fear it's because he doesn't get that much affection normally. I waited for a good 10 minutes before Haiwei rang to tell me to meet him in his office in a minute. Of course when I got there two minutes later he wasn't there so I went to the supermarket to check if my gin had been delivered but unsurprisingly it hadn't.
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| The view from the lift again - it's not much but I'll miss it sorely |
I got back to the office as Haiwei arrived and of course instead of going to eat we sat down and drank tea for a bit. Eventually at 1pm we drove to a place I hadn't been to before, a couple of doors away from A Wu's massage place. There were four of us and we had a pretty decent lunch with just a few beers for Haiwei and me. When we finished I said I'd pay as I had called Haiwei and after hearing nothing of it he eventually gave way. 270 kuai was not the cheapest for four people but we were well stuffed. I was slightly saddened by the food hygiene notice that was displayed, as all such establishments apparently have to show. They had only achieved "Fair", which was the lowest of the three possible categories.
I really tried to get to sleep when I got back, and may have managed 15 minutes but for some reason it wasn't happening. I think it was my body or brain telling me I should stay awake to take in everything I could until we leave the day after tomorrow.
I was now peeling like a shedding snake after my time on the beach a couple of days ago and when I got up from my tiny nap I left a disgusting human-shaped mass of dead skin on the bed. Tan had had the good idea of me going for an oily massage to help get rid of it. She also said I'd be able to sleep there, which was appealing (haha). So I took the dian dong che at around 3.30pm and just before I arrived decided to pick up a quick can of Li Quan from the restaurant where I'd eaten just a couple of hours before. I sort of regretted it straight away as I didn't want to drink it outside looking like a wally, and didn't want to enter the massage place with it in my hand. So I stuck it in my pocket and hoped they wouldn't think I was too excited.
There were many smiles as I walked in, and I don't think it was because of my pocket, but more out of recognition that I was here again, and by myself. I explained about my exposure to the sun and that I'd like to have an oily massage in a way that had I done in the UK I'd have expected something different. I was led upstairs to a lovely room and told to wait for a bit and put on the massage pyjamas and take a shower if I wanted. That was it, my opportunity to get rid of the beer. But in fact I did manage to finish it in a few glugs in the shower and it went down better than I thought. Being typically British I crushed the can and put it back in my trouser pocket so they wouldn't know.
The masseuse sounded mortified when she saw my naked back and kept asking if it hurt when she rubbed me, but in fact it was lovely with the oil. She went rather too low on my buttocks for my comfort, not that it was not comfortable, rather it was too comfortable. Then, when she told me to move onto my back I was rather embarrassed. I had to put a few folds in the towel above my loin area so as to disguise any potential excitement that might have occurred. Whether or not she noticed anything, she went ahead professionally and did the stomach massaging and all. When the hour was up I was so comfortable and she said I could stay and sleep. I nearly did but I noticed then the globules of fatty substance beside me on the couch and realised they were rolled up bits of my skin and that this must have been coming off in her hands for the last hour. Luckily, due to the downed beer in the shower I didn't care as much as I might have, and managed half an hour of on-and-off dozing before getting my clothes on as I knew I had things to do on my penultimate Pingguo pm.
Back home I nearly fell asleep again but I knew I had to call Zhang, and then go our for my annual lads' night out at the Beihai seafood place. So at 6.15 I called Mr Zhang and he told me to meet him outside his block by the guang chang. This I did five minutes later and he got on my dian dong che and we drove to one of the evening eat places opposite Waipo's place. He wasn't exactly sure where to go as he was meeting a friend himself who wasn't answering his phone, so we sat down at a table and ordered two bottles of beer. By the time we'd finished one his mate answered the phone and explained where he was, so we quickly finished off the second bottle and paid 14 kuai for the two which I thought was quite pricey, then drove off.
As luck would have it Zhang's mate was waiting at the Beihai seafood place where I was planning on being this evening anyway. His mate was there with his son, and I found out both Zhang and his mate were northerners who had come to Pingguo in the early 90s. Interestingly, they had spent time in Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, and Pakistan among other places, and I understood they were in the railway business as engineers.
We had a nice couple of beers, but as I said I was expecting to stay on to see friends later on this evening, they didn't ask me to drink too much. In fact they both drank a glass of medicine alcohol, and it made me think of our conversation this morning when I was saying it's ok to have a couple of drinks now and again as long as you are active. He vehemently agreed but said that smoking is definitely a no-no, even though most people play table tennis better than him and smoke like chimneys. Well after speaking a few sentences of English for the mate's son, they both said they needed to go at around 8ish, so I gan bei'd and wished them so long.
A Wu had said he'd be back from Nanning before 8pm and wanted to eat with me so I rang him up and he arrived just as he answered. That was good as there was still some nice seafood on my table so he agreed with me that we should not waste it and polished the plates off. I'd called my mates and all with the exception of Lu Hai, whose phone was off, agreed to come. The night transpired to be great, just as such evenings in the past. I was happy that Jiefu could come as I hadn't seen him this year, and he also brought some cool aeriel photos of Pingguo from some drone remote-controlled aircraft.
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| Looking directly over the guang chang |
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| A 30 second exposure a bit outside of the centre of Pingguo |
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| Our block is on the left, the guang chang on the right |
Another bloke I hadn't seen this year was Boss Hu. He's now a big buddy of A Wu (thanks to my matchmaking skills from four years ago), and arrived a little the worse for wear. He kept apologising for having already had a couple but it was unnecessary. He was certainly in the spirit of things though and gan bei'd every time he was offered. I was greatly relieved when his wife arrived in a large white saloon car - not because he was going home, but because she was driving. He promised to invite us to a meal tomorrow at midday but I wasn't sure if he'd remember.
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| Uncle Yellow, A Wu, Li Kun, Peng, Chen, and Jiefu - the last men standing at well gone midnight |
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| Err...there must have been a strong magnet under the table... |
I ordered more food and the beer ordered itself and a great time was had by all. The only slight blip of the evening was at about half past midnight when I was getting a lift back home with A Wu.... My friend Huang, the seafood boss, started shouting at me about my bike and I suddenly realised I had arrived on it and had forgotten to take it back. With my tail between my legs I got out of A Wu's BMW and thanked Huang as I mounted my electric steed and drove in the direction of home.
Of course I didn't go straight home; I drove around for a good 10-15 minutes drinking in what I won't be able to do soon. I had the 30kph wind in my hair and was free of concerns just for a little bit and it felt great.
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