October 13th Today was an ‘away day’ for admin. A trip to Sanya was needed to visit the bank, a trip on which we always wonder what problems will arise. The drive was good though.
When we arrived at the bank Huan ‘took a number’ and I headed off to the intelligent counter to shortcut some of the system by brining my passbook up to date. The machine then proceeded to reject my book multiple times before eventually refusing to give it back. Now none of this was my fault, the bank’s assistant was doing his best to assist. Eventually he got hold of the key and rescued my book from inside the printer.
Rejoining the queue of people sat waiting, all having a good old gripe because; as usual business was proceeding slowly. Our turn came and we had three tasks. The first one was to inform the bank that my telephone number had changed. It took much more effort and more time than I had assumed it would. The next part was the easy part; bring my book up to date. The third part is always the most difficult, changing money. At least they have learned that there is no way I can break the annual limit, not on my pension anyway. In these days of computers we seem to have to deal with a lot more paperwork, I never really understand why. Eventually the job was done and I was left swearing at a certain orange clown under my breath. You guessed it; the rates are not very good at the moment. To quicken the speed of the queue behind me I used the ATM outside the bank to draw out the cash I required.
With the bank finished it was time for a late lunch.
As usual, on the way back, a coffee and fag stop was needed. After all, we can’t have the driver falling asleep on the way home now, can we?
Huan took windscreen photos on our way home, just to showcase our little spot of the world.
While she was buying something for her evening meal, and in the absence of any lizards I was busy taking snaps of the local flora.
The last one of the day is our final traffic light.
For dinner Huan had her two steamed dumplings and I had cola and crisps. We were a little too tired to go out for anything. Mind you, that didn’t stop Mrs Mop from still trying to work until she fell asleep on her feet!
October 14th Lots of admin days will be had for the foreseeable future while we get things sorted out and cleaned up. Today was non-stop although we did have a nap after lunch. More paint was removed from the woodwork in the living room, some running repairs were done on the sofa and a cowboy job was done on the coffee table. A new power cable was fitted behind the desk providing power to the workbox area and everything was tidied up behind there before the desks were pushed back against the wall.
Boy, were we ready to go out for dinner. I thought Huan deserved a treat today so we went to the fish restaurant in the shopping mall. Here I am snacking with chopsticks!
Our rice orders were not quite the same.
The dish we ordered came in two halves. One half was a lovely garlic based dish, mostly for me but Huan could share of course. The other half was supposed to be a not too spicy sauce. Just look at the colour and the sheer number of red peppers. Needless to say, I would not be sharing Huan’s half at all. The second shot is my pre-dinner drool!
With all the indoor admin work photos may be thin on the ground this week. Here are the flowerbeds at the traffic lights, in the evening.
October 15th Much more work was done in the house today. I started off with our new can of ‘sticky remover’. It may work but it also needs a scraper and they haven’t arrived from Taobao yet. I moved on to air conditioner maintenance. Huan was busy with the washing machine so she got no photos of me up the ladder. She did get me cleaning filters in the shower.
It was then time to try and clean my chair casters. It’s amazing how much of my silken locks were tangled up in the wheels. I did my best, in the shower again.
There was a third bout of work in the shower and that was disassembling and cleaning the shoe rack Huan was far too busy by then so I have no evidence. Just before lunch a small delivery was received, three little boxes to go in my book shelf. These are for some plumbing and electrical bits and pieces that we had no room for in the tool unit. They are cheap and cheerful and do the job quite well.
This also released my two small toolboxes, one of which was plumbing and one electrical. The small red one will go in the car and the blue one will be Huan’s new sewing box. The big box from the car, with some old assorted tools will go to Zhaode. What a lucky man he is! Cleaning out one of her old sewing boxes Huan almost committed a cardinal sin. She almost threw away one of my most prized possessions. That is despite the fact that it never actually got sewn onto any of my clothes in the last many years of ownership!
By the time we had finished everything it was time dinner, a cheap one in the town today.
October 16th There were no deliveries scheduled for this morning so I made an executive decision that we would go out for a walk. The CEO was a little lethargic so we started a little later than planned. Snowbirds are back in abundance.
As we began our walk Anthony Armstrong Jones was at it again!
I tried for the birds, not very successfully. You may notice than one has a broken leg.
The scenery and weather were on our side today.
Huan found lizards, I mean when doesn’t she?
Not long after she was pointing me in the general direction of a squirrel.
And then she was snapping me snapping the dragon boat train.
I did take the other craft as well.
And then the boss had me back on lizard duty again.
Now we come to the first Huawei photos of the day. Both of these shots were impossible with the camera, I didn’t have a wide enough lens. Switching the Huawei to wide got rid of all the annoying distractions such as hanging cables.
Nearing home we were back to the camera. Here is a view of the bridge that is now under repair. The second photo we both liked because it looks just like a piece of art. It isn’t, it is damage caused by all the debris that floated over the bridge.
I had to pose carrying a load of apples!
And then I found a solitary egret. Could he be the family scout?
At home I went on upstairs while Huan chatted with the downstairs neighbour. While she was there she spotted, and shot, a little skink. She did a good job too!
After lunch and naptime Bob was put to work again. Luckily Huan had to hold the ladder a lot so there were hardly any photos. There are no photos of the finished result either because the cheapo lamps we ordered are not really very good. Instead of using them we will be repairing our old lamps with spare parts, again ordered from Taobao because we can’t find them here.
Speaking of Taobao, when we went out last night we popped into the local furniture shop that was having a clearance sale. Huan saw a table that she liked so when we got home last night she started the transaction cancellation process. That finished sometime this afternoon so off to said furniture shop we went. The new table will be here in a few days. All that was left was dinner, which, because of the late hour and the fact that I was too tired, was another buffet.
October 17th Again there were no deliveries scheduled for this morning so we could follow our Saturday morning market routine. On our way, sans camera, the Huawei showed its worth again. Here’s another 10x lizard in the bushes.
Dafu was pleased to see me, as always.
Being the playboy that I am, or used to be anyway, I did chat up a couple of birds.
After the usual midday shenanigans, which for those of you with poor memories means lunch and naps, it was back to work for me again. This should have been a ten to fifteen minute job that ended up taking nearly two hours. I won’t bore you with the reasons why.
Because we were late it was another buffet meal this evening, fish for me.
Back home we took another, more romantic, photograph of our new lamp.
And then a surprise appeared. We had been told that the new table couldn’t be delivered today as we were going to be too late getting home. On the way home Huan got another call and I sent her on ahead while I strolled along behind her. The table was delivered.
Huan then had a practice sit.
Practice over the old cushions, now washed, were also put in place. Personally I think the new table looks fine and is neither too big nor too small. Hopefully, guests will agree.
October 18th We were confined to barracks this morning, not for anything we had done wrong, but to await the delivery and installation of our new fridge door. Eventually the young man arrived and got started with the removal of the old door.
Huan took far more pictures of the installation of the new door. I was not ‘hovering’ by the way; I was giving a little help as and when needed.
Here the technician is showing the evidence of before and after work. I am there for moral support and to support the door leaving his hand free to snap away.
Finally, after a good clean behind, the fridge was moved back into its rightful position.
After the usual midday stuff it was time for me to get to work again. This time it was the globe lamp in the living room that needed fitting. I was a tad worried after the palaver yesterday but I needn’t have worried. This took just less than half an hour.
Dinner was yet another, you guessed it, buffet meal. Huan had suggested that we start cooking again. Much as I enjoy being in the kitchen I said I would rather wait until our house is once again our home. That time can’t come soon enough but it’s not here yet.
It was the Huawei’s turn on the way home, again. He hasn’t got a name yet, Harold, Humphrey, Horace, any ideas from you guys out there. He found a cloud and the moon.
Back home it was time to test the new moon in the living room. There are three different levels of lighting to be had, all are shown here. I like the last one.
October 19th No deliveries or repairs this morning so we had a small walk. First a nice little slow motion video of the river was made for the boss.
Little
Consequently our walk was taken on the other side of the river to the one we had planned. It turned out to be better though; there was more shade for us this side, and better views.
The next stop was the supermarket, we really are getting used to shopping nearly every day and not once a week. Unusually, I found a lizard outside the shopping centre.
I was ordered to snap the same egret as earlier this week, I obeyed.
And lastly, before lunch, a lovely coconut tree against a glorious blue sky.
After the usual midday routine I had no ‘tasks’ to be carried out so I got my Chinese lessons out of the way before we set out for dinner.
Would you believe it, I found another 10x zoom lizard!
For dinner I decided it was time we had some noodles again.
Mine came with free soup and Huan’s came in soup. Both were yummy.
Yet another week comes to an end, this one with us feeling far better about how things are going. Apart from Window Man and his lackadaisical approach to business nearly everything else is just about finished. More progress photos will appear next week hopefully. See you then!
