Somehow got up at 10.15am and did some boring chores like washing clothes before it got too hot to bother. Lunch was the familiar boiled egg and yoghurt, with maybe a few nuts from the wedding last week. I was trying hard to get a siesta and almost dozing when Ling Ming pinged me to let me know we were nearly out of electricity. So the last 200 kuai must have lasted only 10 days or so. Not dreadful when you consider that's three A/Cs on around 18 hours a day (or more when the boys forget to turn them off), but still not that cheap either. So I sent a red packet of 200 kuai again and within seconds he'd topped us up.
Then, half an hour later he called me to let me know someone would deliver my tea table shortly and it would be 50-60 kuai delivery fee, which for here felt a bit steep but whatever. Hang on, Tan just told me on Sunday that the tea table would be delivered on Tuesday...oh of course why would I take anything at face value? Lucky I didn't have any plans for today I suppose...but who plans anything anyway? I noticed my voice had become deeper and I'd started coughing so feared I caught something. I certainly hadn't caught a siesta, and now wouldn't for sure.
Ling Ming pinged me to tell me the bloke would be here in 5 minutes, and indeed he was bang on just as I'd put on a top. He just told me in a matter-of-fact that it was bloody heavy (I don't think we really have a word for "bloody" here but we should do). He'd also brought the wooden stool I'd nearly forgotten about, plus a small metal box containing a few sachets of tea that had been gifted me 10+ years ago, which seemed rather unnecessary. I'm so glad we're on the first floor, which is the lowest living quarter, but it still took a few minutes to get the heavy bastard up the stairs and into the living room. It had suffered a little, and had a couple of scars, but it was generally good to go. I scanned the bloke's Weixin QR code and eventually it worked and I paid the 60 kuai. It was great to be reunited but the reality of what to do with it was starting to dawn on me.
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| Return of Running Dog |
Yesterday I'd pinged a mate I'd met in November 2019. Well not exactly a mate but he is a friend of Si Si, and I'd been out with him for one meal back then and we'd sort of maintained contact. I'd pinged him because I'd promised I would, and would be happy to have a bite to eat with him if he wanted but of course yesterday was not going to happen due to the football. So of course he said to meet up today instead. But it was getting on for 6pm and I'd heard nothing. Again, this was a totally Pingguo experience; I should never have expected to meet up until I'd heard the name of the place we were going to. I was hungry so started pecking at a few wedding nuts but A Wu called a few minutes later to say he had just been exercising and we were to go to Boss Zhou's place to eat. Interestingly, he said we wouldn't be drinking as we have been doing too much of that recently. I totally agreed and was happy to have somewhere to eat and not drink.
Well I did have the last naughty beer in the fridge as it's basically a soft drink here, and was cold and fizzy. Then drove there and met him as he was trying to call me to ask where I was. Indeed the meal was beer-free, and very nice too with a mixture of wives and kids. I particularly liked the grasshoppers and can't wait till they become part of a western staple diet. But then, almost 30 minutes into the meal, three boxes of beer were delivered, and Boss Zhou brought out a "special" bottle of baijiu and poured glasses for himself, A Wu, and me. It's literally the worst tasting drink in the world after milk, but I do like Boss Zhou so did my best to down a tiny mouthful. I nearly heaved and immediately had to wash it down with a glass of 2.8% "Struggle" beer. I struggled with the baijiu much more than the beer, but Boss Zhou saw that and poured the rest of my glass into a small jug they would use for the rest of the evening.
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| I learnt a new word: 蚱蜢 |
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| Struggle beer? |
At about 8pm the mate who said he'd invite me for a meal this evening got in touch to ask me to go for bbq. Damn, I should know his name really. It's not 天上白云 as is his Weixin but I'd better find out soon. So I said I could meet him some time after 9pm on the dian dong che but he said not to use that and he'd come and pick me up as there were traffic police. I've heard this so many times, and still half the people on bikes don't wear helmets. I bet the boys don't either even though I've repeated there's a 50 kuai fine if you get caught. A very big "if". Then he asked me if I wanted to invite Si Si and Zhang Hongping (aka Wu Ge), and I said sure, but he said I should ask them to come along. So I pinged Si Si and she said she'd just been invited out already. No problem, maybe later, sure. But at least she'd told me how she refers to him: 刘哥 (Liu ge). I told Liu ge I'd drop off the dian dong che at home then he could pick me up which would be a reasonable compromise, but he then suggested meeting up tomorrow when Si Si was available. I was totally fine with that, and suspect maybe he fancies her...well I won't try too hard to be a matchmaker but if I can help why not?
I'd already told A Wu I'd have to leave soon after 9pm, and by then I'd been cai ma'd out by many people plus the young chap that calls me by 您, the equivalent of "vous" in French. I've told him in no uncertain terms he should call me 你 ("tu") but he doesn't want to. He's almost the only person here who does that and I really don't like it. Even in French "vous" is becoming less prevalent in my experience. Didn't we used to use "thou" in English for "tu" before we effectively got rid of it except for prayers?
So I left at 9.30pm and decided I should go to the supermarket to stock up on eggs (something that's not so expected anymore in the UK), and passed by Huang's seafood place. I thought he hadn't seen me but a minute later I got a video call from him chastising me for not stopping off.... I explained I needed to do some shopping before they closed, which was true, and said I'd be back in a few minutes. Indeed, after dumping the shopping (with more quail eggs), I necked a quick cola and popped down the 100 yards or so to his place. He was in fine fettle of course but not wankered at least so I spent a good hour with him and some mates chatting and doing the occasional cai ma. It was another genuinely good evening, with Huang again stretching my Chinese, and me commenting positively on China and his wife hulahooping. As random as it was fun, the other blokes had to leave around 11.30pm and I was flagging so left too and actually got to bed before 1am.
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