Managed to get up at 10.30 and grabbed a shower before going out and getting the kids some food as the lazy sods didn’t want to go out but I felt the need to. Back home and fed I chatted to Mat for a bit trying to sort out getting World of Tanks to work but we couldn’t find each other online, until he worked out that I’d downloaded the American client while in Canada, and we should be on the EU one. What? Surely that is just a config thing? But no, a new 5GB download was on the cards so maybe we’ll manage to play this evening...poxy (not proxy) shit in this day and age.
Cute baby at the beef soup place opposite ours...I think it is Lu Wen's new daughter
Took the kids out for lunch...something tells me they are getting a little bored of jiaozi
Managed to get a 1h45 wushui and got up before 6pm. I didn’t eat tea as I was going to see Uncle Yellow at 8.30pm, but before then I had loads of work. Then I had to go to Boss Zhou’s but somehow I ended at the wrong Boss Zhou. This was a little embarrassing but I made humour of it as one must, but was a little late for Uncle Yellow. Of course being late for mates here is no big deal. Uncle Yellow was there with his pisshead mate I’ve known for 10 years now, who’s now got a one year old daughter and a wife who doesn’t seem to mind them getting pissed with mates. I can only imagine they only do it for a few weeks a year while I’m around but that is quite a pompous thought. We ate great insects and pork and beef stuff...it really was the best meal I’ve had this year. They drank 22% white alcohol and I stuck to beer, though at 2.5% still gets to me. As things do sometimes happen, I ended up sitting at another table and some woman started singing to me to me in the local language.. I was really embarrassed but had to stand there and take it while of course I’m being filmed.
More nice grub(s)
My life here could be some sort of Black Mirror episode. No need for cameras on every street; everyone has one on their person and it seems at least one person has one trained on me at any one time. People almost have a real-time feed of what I am doing. The need for some privacy may be important for many but it seems a luxury I no longer have when not in a house.
Up at 10ish so no running or table tennis but not too bad. The kids still had the cereal I’d brought from my Canada Airbnb but that wasn’t that much so I took them out to the sweetcorn soup place that is one of the few places that we can all have something to eat that we like; the soup for Xixi and me, egg fried rice for them, and a sort of omelette for me. I had instructions from Tan to bring back some sour soup from the place next door but one and I duly did, with a spoonful of chilli and half a spoonful of salt.
I could have done with a siesta but managed to avoid it, mainly due to the fact that there was quite a lot of work on. I don’t even know if I’m on holiday at the moment. The Water man texted me to see if I was coming over later as I said I may be able to. Well, why not? I said it would be more like 9.30pm though due to having to play football later.
As for the kids I’d promised to take them to ping pong this evening. So I spent literally hours during the rest of the afternoon doing my expenses with some shitty new system. Bloody hell I could expense a £5 soft drink but not a £2 glass of wine. WTF?
Li Kun then called to see if we could practise Scarborough. We really should...I hired the guitar in Toronto for this, but I was already committed for today, so suggested we do it tomorrow. I did take the kids to the Golden Horse ping pang place but found it closed strangely. But the kids didn’t seem to mind too much so we just went for a ride and looked at some shen me dou you shops. Leilei got a remote control car for 55 kuai and a fidget spinner, while Xixi bought some drawing stuff for a friend at school.
While out I received a message from Huahua to say football was cancelled as there was no room on the pitches…. One would have thought they would have planned that...but who am I to judge? Actually I was quite happy with the news and was able to meet up with Water man earlier than I thought, though Tan did scold me for going out all the time (only two nights in a row and I’m on holiday...come on...). Anyway I found my way to the water man’s house and we had some good banter with fish I didn’t particularly like. Banter with mates, not the fish. I got back after midnight then chatted a little with Mat before stupidly realising it was 6am.
It was a bloody pain trying to ring the Water man's bell
With mates and fish at the Water man's house
Supposedly British beer...at 2.5% it wasn't far off what we used to drink a couple of hundred years ago....
