Football tops and football starts

Managed to be up by 11am at least, and bought a couple of portions of xiaolongbao for the umpteenth time and had all but two of one portion. I wanted to pick up a non-football-looking Pingguo Haliao top from the official shop but rain again delayed pay. During the meanwhile Awl called me, and said he'd like a dark blue Pingguo Haliao top, so I said I'd take a look. The rain stopped so I eventually got there around 2.30pm under scalding heat...it's normally cooler after a rain storm but not today. Of course I overshot the shop by 1km at least as I realised the road was turning left and I'd not seen that before. Had I had much more exposure to the sun this could have been a problem but I've not come close to getting sunburnt here for years.

Arriving at the shop I picked up the other red top in M size for Weiwei, and found a black top I really liked for myself, though the largest they had was XXL and only just about the right fit. I did find a navy blue one for Awl but annoyingly it was 349 kuai and I'm not sure the largest size would have fitted. Still, if it's a birthday present I'm more than willing to get one if they have the biggest size.

I'll get this for Awl if they have XXL

Today was the first Man City game this season after last week's Charity Shield, so I definitely wanted to watch it, and thought watching it outside would be better. But it would end at 1.30am and I had the risk of Tan locking the door again so I thought "sod it" and booked a hotel for £19. It was worth it. I'll never understand a lot about China, but the thing I'll most not understand is the hard beds. The hotel bed was so shufu I didn't even end up going out to watch the footy, only to get a chicken and duck leg to sate my appetite.

I managed to stay up only till 2.30am and welcomed the comfort for the last time in Pingguo. A tiny bit of luxury at the cost of three pints back home. And a decent well-deserved 2-0 victory at Chelsea to boot!