Graffitti, Lottery, Statues and Snail Mail

March 24^th Another gorgeous day but SWMBO said we would most definitely not be walking a long way today! I sneakily still got us nine kilometres though. Our route was the usual when we don’t want to go too far, up the river to the last bridge and back again and somewhere along the way I decided a few black and white photos would be a good idea. Here’s the first, which is the bridge that carries the main road through the town, third one up from our house.

This next one was Huan’s choice because there’s a woman fishing. In fact we saw a lot of fishermen today and more than one fisherwoman.

And here’s a chap who’s definitely doing better than me at snapping the birds. We stopped and had a chat with him and that is what he was doing. His camera is some kind of Canon and the lens, which is fixed, not zoom, was 600mm. I bet he can’t walk as far as us though!

And our last black and white is yours truly, on the return route, posing above his birth year, with the Chinese army below. Perhaps Hainan was a year later than China’s birthday of 1949.

We passed another snake on this side of the river, not a Green one this time, and it was dead. We saw it where they are removing the floating vegetation that comes downstream. Perhaps it came down the river dead and was hauled out with the vegetation, or perhaps they killed it when it came out alive. Anyway, you don’t need to see it.

Going back towards home we went under the bridge you saw earlier, and just as you can see in many bridges around the world, there is graffiti. Here’s a sample. Don’t ask me what it means, I haven’t got a clue.

Next up, a restaurant, one that I wonder what its future is. There have been some proposals about what kinds of food people will be allowed to eat under the new law the government is proposing. One article I saw, possibly from Shenzhen, didn’t include frogs on the allowed list and as you can probably surmise, this is a fish and frog restaurant.

Coming back home we were able to get a closer look at the posters that were being put up as we left this morning. The right hand one is encouraging you to keep your home clean, maybe people will listen, maybe they won’t. The left hand one encourages you to keep the area clean and use the recommended bins. We don’t have any such bins in our area!

And that’s our Tuesday for this week. We had planned a TV walk for this afternoon but I received a nice long Skype call from one of my brothers so I was conveniently able to forget that!

March 25^th Once again a small walk was the order of the day, with a planned TV walk in the afternoon. Our first stop was the lottery shop once again, to buy our tickets for Wednesday and Thursday and to collect Huan’s winnings from the last two days. She’s doing well, another ¥100.00 this time. Here’s the lottery terminals, not such a great photo I’m afraid, I was ducking and diving between Huan and the ticket seller.

I took us past the pet shop today, I like to pop in and say hello to the little critters.

And then we got to say hello to one of my favourite kitties. This time he, or she, condescended to be petted but would not even consider smiling for the camera.

And our last photo of the day, a little bit of Chinglish. With half the world now being under lockdown and many people in quarantine I thought it was quite apt. I believe it should have a ‘G’ at the beginning instead of the ‘Q’, thus spelling ‘Guaranteed’.

And our afternoon TV walk? I’m afraid an OAP nap claimed us today and it kept me chained down for two and a half hours! Ah well, there’s always another day.

March 26^th Today’s plan was almost identical to yesterday’s but without a visit to the lottery shop and only coming home along the riverside. Leaving our complex we passed two enormous chickens strutting about behind the restaurant. I don’t know if any of you are aware, but chickens can be quite tame and unafraid of humans, Huan told me she used to play with them when she was small. These two will of course end up in the restaurant pot. I got a good head and shoulders of one of them, he really was huge!

On our way along the main street we passed a handful of musicians and singers, usually in trios, two musicians and one singer. One lady told us they were doing 京剧, (Jīngjù), Beijing Opera. We saw one group using a violin and an 二胡, (Èrhú) but most of the others were using the Èrhú and the中阮, (zhōngruǎn). In this photo the Èrhú is on the left and the zhōngruǎn on the right.

Next up is Huan blatantly disregarding all social distancing rules and hanging on this chap’s arm. Luckily for me, both he and his wife were unmoved by all the fuss!

We returned home along the riverside but strangely there were no saxophone players out today. We saw some dancers and singers aplenty, maybe even some of Huan’s singing groups but we couldn’t tell for sure. They were packing up to go home for lunch as we passed by.

No stopping for shopping today, there’s a poem in there somewhere! After lunch I managed to avoid an OAP nap today while Huan succumbed on the sofa. Still, we did both manage to do our TV walk. It’s one of those things that is very easy to put off for another day but if you actually get down to doing it, it’s over in no time.

We’ve still had no news on if and when Huan’s singing and dancing will start again. Schools will be starting next month so perhaps the OAP school will start then too. The other singing group is more difficult as it was in another residential compound. Now, all around Wuzhishan, only the people who live in compounds are allowed in. As for the dancing in the evenings, their dance teacher has gone up north with her husband and may or may not be down again at the end of the year. Her husband has a severe case of diabetes and may need amputation, at least according to what Huan tells me. Maybe someone else will step up as the leader, we’ll wait and see.

March 27^th All alone am I, ever since your goodbye, well actually, it was my goodbye. Huan had a headache last night and a runny nose this morning so I had to walk alone. I was also under explicit instructions not to tell anyone who asked that Huan was ill, only that she was resting.

Statues feature again today, this one always makes me wonder just who these people are supposed to represent. They don’t appear to have either the shapes or the features of southern, or northern Chinese. The location is also rather odd; I suspect that the main road through town used to pass by here and that the present bridge carrying the main road is newer.

And next is yet another bovine friend. As I was approaching, from a distance, because of the skin markings, I thought I was going to see a horse. It was of course a cow. Just after I walked past it gave a low moo, (see what I did there?). I turned back and, much to the surprise of a young lady walking past, it came towards me and allowed me to stroke its head.

Not much else to see today I’m afraid. Coming back I stopped off to buy some things for Huan. Like many Chinese people she likes nibbling on sunflower seeds, why, I don’t know. It’s a lot of trouble to eat nearly nothing. Anyway, I bought her a pile of them, some water melon, which she loves and I will tolerate, not very keen myself, I prefer honeydew melon. When I arrived home Huan was both pleased and feeling better.

Yet again an OAP nap was needed in the afternoon, what is happening to us? As usual, Huan was awake after an hour and I was forty five minutes later. As I joined Huan in the living room her sister called her on WeChat, today was the day they interred their mother. Knowing that the call would take a while I debated skipping the TV walk again but saw the error of my ways. So, I did it alone, in my shreddies! (If you don’t know, you can either Google or ask me.) I was safe enough as nobody can see into our living room. If anyone lived in 704 and leant right into their window they could but no tenants there equals no problem.

March 28^th It certainly appears that Wuzhishan is just about back to normal. Traffic outside our house isn’t back to pre-virus levels yet and intercity coaches are still in frequent but it is picking up. Quite a lot of people are not wearing masks but that may well be because they are scarce again. We know of at least two pharmacies that have run out of stock.

So today, another fairly lazy day, a walk around the town to buy a new USB cable for my phone and a new charger and cable for Huan’s. Some of my canine acquaintances were around, the ones that don’t actually let me get very near and then another one who decided to come and sit next to me and rest his head in my lap. Huan was too slow with the camera!

While we were out we saw the postman who told us we had mail waiting for us in the post office so we stopped there on the way round. Here’s where they keep my mail. It’s quite easy for them, I’m the only foreigner in the city.

And the mail? One was from my pension provider giving me an update along with a little booklet on managing your finances in retirement. I could have done with that twenty years ago! The letter is dated 12^th December 2019 but there is no UK postmark on the envelope. There are two Chinese postmarks, one the 27^th February and the second the 24^th March so it’s been in China at least a month. The second letter was another belated birthday card for me from one of my brothers and his wife. I have to say they didn’t send a belated card, they sent it on the 20^th January, a whole month in advance. The Chinese postmark is 13^th March so I’ve no idea where this one has been. It’s always nice to receive cards though and just in case you’ve forgotten how old I am, here it is.

My turn to cook again today, we had too many vegetables left so it was a two or three day stew again. Huan says she really enjoys them. Of course, she might just be saying that because she doesn’t have to cook for two or three days! While the stew was merrily bubbling away I made sure we both did our TV walk today. It was a bit like a competition to see who could sweat the most. I won, probably because I have a lot more lard around my middle!

March 29^th Not quite the day we’d planned, for which I take full blame. We were going to do the scenic mountain walk today, avoiding the new route we found because that is where ‘the snake’ probably went downhill from. I spent too long on FB so we were late going out. Our first photo is a choral group, I took it so we could look more closely when we got home and see if any of Huan’s cohorts were there. They weren’t, hopefully she will hear something soon. If you look closely, you can see one woman wearing a mask.

Today was a fortuitous day, as we didn’t go up the hills, we went around the river and checked the apartment complex with baps and sausages. Entry was once again allowed so we came home fully loaded.

Other than that, all I have to offer you is some pretty flowers.

March 30^th Admin day today and I made a list. Exercises, Guitar, Shave, Shower, Shopping, Guitar, Blog, Chinese. Yes, I did a solitary TV walk again this morning, Huan was busy on the keyboard. I decided I needed to do it because next month’s appears to be much harder! I had to do two guitar practices today because I was too lazy yesterday! Shopping, I’m pleased to saw, was no problem whatsoever. There were hardly any cars in the car park, hardly any customers to speak of and no shortages of anything at all. I even found dried mint leaves which I wanted for a curry side dish this week. Maybe I’ll manage to photo that for you. The rest of the admin was synchronising directories between Huan’s PC and mine.

So, that’s it, another week in paradise over, see you next time.