September 1st “What shall I write? What can I say? How can I tell you how much I
miss you? The weather here has been as nice as it can be, Although it doesn't
really matter much to me For all the fun I'll have while you're so far away, It
might as well rain until September” No Jethro Tull this month, instead it’s
“Carole King” with “It Might As Well Rain Until September”. It is September of
course and it didn’t just rain until September, it’s still raining as I write
this.
However, today started off well enough, we were
able to get our daily ten kilometres in. To start with, we went across the
river to see how they are getting on with the new park. Sometimes I wish it
could just stay like this but I guess progress will mean a paved footpath.
Mind you, where they have
already landscaped it does look quite pretty.
After that, we walked down
by the riverside which, because of the rain, has become almost impossible to
walk in places. Here you can see why and also the poor workers who are cleaning
it all up before the river swells yet again.
Home for breakfast at lunch
time again, I would call it brunch but we already had our cereal before we went
out. The rain came after lunch so it was keyboard for Huan and Chinese for me
and just general lazing around doing nothing.
September 2nd It’s still raining! Today being Monday, is
shopping day of course. I thought the only photo I was going to show you was
our car, all clean in the rain. However, later in the day we had a Taobao
delivery, my guitar has arrived. Yes, I bit the bullet and decided to go for
it. Andyguitar.com is where I went next, first to learn how to tune the guitar,
quite easy with the built in tuner, apart from the lower E string, that’s a little
harder. Second was learning a couple of chords, E and A, followed by a little
strumming practice. A lot more of that has to be done before moving on to the
next stage. I had to show the world of course so a little video was made for
Facebook, here’s a screen shot.
The rest of the day was taken up with intermittent guitar practice
and Chinese practice. I was very lazy while our guests were with us last month
so I’m reviewing all the tests before moving on. It’s amazing how soon you can
forget things.
September 3rd Guess what? It’s raining, again! There are
three typhoons in the area.
They
are not near enough to worry us, but near enough to give us lots of rain!
We had to go out again today
though, shopping for an amplifier for the new guitar. I won’t be using it for
quite some time but we needed to know that the pickup in the guitar was working
correctly. What a time we had, three women, Huan, a friend she met in the store
and the sales girl. I don’t think anyone knew what was going on. Eventually we
made a choice, made sure we got all the correct bits and a nice hefty discount
and brought it home.
After lunch I unpacked my ‘new
toy’ as Huan called it and then she discovered it had two microphones included.
There was no stopping her after that! It’s a good job I won’t be needing it for
a while otherwise I would probably have to fight her for it!
I took myself off to the bedroom
and did some more guitar work. Some people will tell you that the guitar is
easy to learn, others will say the opposite. All I know is that in less than
twenty four hours I have progressed more than I did in six months in Hong Kong forty six years ago. (I was single then and
magnetically attracted to beaches, bars and the nightlife.) It will still take
a long time of course and my fingers already hurt. They say it will take four
to six weeks to develop the calluses required. No days off will be allowed, if
we have to go to Sanya to renovate our apartment there, the guitar will have to
go with us!
I also did a lot more Chinese
practice and I’m now back up to date. Isn’t it amazing what you can do when
it’s raining outside.
September 4th We had a small break in the weather today so
a quick walk was called for. Huan met ‘shop lady’ friend as we were leaving our
place so I walked behind, as a dutiful husband should! A leaf caught my
attention, but it looked a little strange. Have you ever seen a pregnant leaf
before?
Another
motorbike was next, this time a BMW 750, (I think), outside the same shop we
saw the Honda last month. There must be some rich boys in there!
Now
Huan, for some reason, decided to tell ‘shop lady’ that I still have ‘fat feet’
sometimes. You may not know it, but here in China
At the top, there is pearl barley which I have to have in a broth
tomorrow, supposedly with the rock sugar you can see at the bottom. Today I had
some of the bit in the middle, 山药 (Shānyào),
yam as you probably know it, along with some of the red fruit, 枸杞, (Gǒuqǐ), otherwise known as wolfberry, and some rock sugar in a soup. I have no idea
how anything that tastes so sweet can possibly be healthy for you! Try to
imagine a cup of tea with five or six spoonfuls of sugar in it!
We were housebound for the rest of the day again so it was keyboard
for Huan and guitar and Chinese for me. I found a new teacher, no, I’m not
‘blaming the teacher’, but I think this one starts me off better. I will end up
using many teachers I’m sure, but first I have to finish the ‘free’ course
provided by .justinguitar.com. I learnt a new chord, D, and then spent some
time trying to move between the three I have learned so far. My fingers hurt!
I’m following the advice though, little and often is the best way to practice.
September 5th The typhoon that had been moving like a
pinball between Vietnam and Hainan has finally disappeared so the weather was
reasonably OK this morning. It was ‘back to school’ day for Huan, her singing
class started again today. This meant I could go out for a walk alone. I’m not
used to it but I did manage to get my ten kilometres in and within two hours,
just. I met a few of my four legged friends, all happy to see me but one did
get a little too boisterous. I thought he was going to actually sink his teeth
into my arm. I did take a couple of photos of the scratches but they ended up
very blurred so instead I have these two photos for you today, both at the
furthest point from the house. After four years, I still love the scenery
around the town.
As you can see from the clouds,
the weather is far from perfect but at least the rain held off until I got
home, after meeting Huan on the way. My lunch was a not very tasty pearl barley
soup today; I hope Huan soon forgets this latest ‘fix Bob plan’!
The rain did return in the
afternoon so it was more keyboard for Huan as well as collecting some kind of
leafy green vegetable from her garden for tonight’s fish dinner. For me it was more
guitar of course. Why do my fingers appear to be so much fatter than they were
when I was younger? My ring finger also seems to lean towards my middle finger
so I think I might need a small piece of apparatus to help with my finger
strengthening exercises. Of course, Huan can use it too to help with her finger
strength for chords etc. I didn’t forget my Chinese either, even used the
flashcards again today.
September 6th The weather has definitely improved! However,
we decided to stick to going around the river and not venture further afield. Not
a great deal to report, no photos were taken, instead I filmed three videos.
One was of a butterfly, one was of a dog, and one was of ‘Gentleman Bob’. Huan
had decided that although it was a nice day, she wouldn’t be needing her
Japanese hat. However, it became a little too warm for her so I graciously
handed over my shirt to use instead. Here’s a screenshot.
Just the usual for the rest of the
day, keyboard and singing for Huan, guitar and Chinese for me. At the moment
Huan has a recording on her WeChat from the singing teacher so she sounds a
great deal like ‘Hyacinth’ a lot. I’m not quite as bad as ‘Emmett’ yet!
September 7th Aren’t we the lucky ones, yet another nice
morning. It was boots on today and a trip to the countryside, staying on the
roads and paths though because Huan didn’t have her ‘off road’ shoes on. She
did keep nagging me to make a video of this, or that, or the other, so I ended
up making one. At the beginning I said it would be a little video, it ended up
being fifty two minutes. If you want to see it in full, you can watch it here:
- https://youtu.be/_B9hPoLvaWg
I’ll just add a couple
of screenshots in here. We filmed a butterfly yesterday and lo and behold
another one today. This one decided to settle on Huan for a while.
The
second one is just to give you an idea of how pretty it can be on some of our
walks. We are lucky in that we have forests, mountains and country lanes like
this.
We got home just as it felt as
though the rain was starting but, as soon as we were indoors, the sun came out
again. It did rain again later, but we can cope with that.
Huan seemed a bit worn out so I
volunteered to do the ‘full English’, today being Saturday. Normally, I would
have to fight but today she gave in immediately, a sure sign that she is not
100%. At least she enjoyed it, even commented on the taste. “Lard, my dear” I
said, “not oil”. If you don’t use lard for your fry-ups I seriously recommend
that you try, it makes for a much better tasting breakfast all round.
My guitar practice today was
abysmal, brain and fingers did not appear to want to work together. In
retrospect, my posture may have been wrong; I think I had my fretting elbow on
my knee.
September 8th Today we were blessed yet again with nice
weather for walking but couldn’t go too far as we were expecting a Taobao
delivery. Some more ‘sofa pants’ were arriving for me, this time 4XL instead of
5XL. I suppose you could say I’ve downsized from a ‘three seater’ to a ‘two
seater’! We still had a nice long walk and met a few of our four legged
friends. I suppose I should say mine really, Huan puts up with them but it’s me
that really likes them.
Today’s photo concerns
trees. I have seen trees before, usually on the edges of forests, that are
growing at an angle to try and ‘reach for the sun’. I’m not quite so sure about
today’s. When we first saw it I thought it was some kind of strange pod but
closer examination, and trying to lift it, showed that it was indeed a tree,
not just growing at an angle, but growing completely horizontally. Perhaps it
was too exhausted to go upwards. It will be interesting to look in on it in a
few months, that is if it hasn’t been pruned by the authorities by then. It is
beginning to go across a pathway.
Lunch today was not quite the full
English, the bacon and sausage were replaced by a tin of meat, think spam or
luncheon meat. Well, we all need a little change now and then. I did the
cooking again, more healthy today, I had to use oil because we’d run out of
lard!
The sofa pants arrived after lunch
and a quick comparison between these and the last lot show the only difference
is in the label. They are still enormous!
Happy to say, I was right about my
guitar posture yesterday. That doesn’t mean I’ll be brilliant anytime soon but
at least I found the problem.
September 9th Woken up by ‘The Big Dragon’ at quarter past
four this morning. No, I know what you’re thinking, it’s not another moniker
for Huan, it’s the name of the music on my phone alarm. We were on the road
within half an hour, making for Haikou
Even
with all the usual palaver, we were finished quite early today which was just
as well because we had a detour to make on the way back. Huan’s dancing friend
was returning from Changchun
In the afternoon it was time for
the ladies to go and sign up for their keyboard lessons. What a farce that
turned out to be. The office was packed, people were being given a form to fill
in and then told that a photocopy of their ‘Hukou card’ was also needed as well
as a one inch colour photo. Much later, after a visit to the nearest little
photography shop we returned with everything needed only for Huan to be told
that she may be too late. I certainly hope not because she has been down to the
office three times in the past fortnight, each time being told to return at
another time. I have my fingers crossed for her, she will find out by the 16th
September whether she’s in or not.
By this time, we were both completely
worn out so a buffet meal was called for outside before we wearily meandered
home again. No guitar for me today, brain is just not there. They do say you
should have one day off a week, so today is the one day this week!
September 10th Huan was back to singing class today which
meant I could have gone for a walk. I didn’t, because I still felt washed out
from yesterday. Never mind, I met Huan from class and we did the weekly shop.
In the evening, as it
was ‘Teacher’s Day’, we all had to go out. Huan’s singing class were treating
their teacher. We went to the wrong place, not my fault I can assure you, I was
just following the ladies. We had a short, but very enjoyable time. No photos
were taken but, I did make a video. You can see it here: - https://youtu.be/mQXokE4mZuI
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