Singing Dinners, VIP Room, Waiting for Taobao

October 11^th Back to our normal routine today, Huan out singing and me out walking. The only slight difference was for me, no boots, they were still drying after the scrub to remove all slurry traces, no sandals, because I had changed to a new pair, they’re not ‘run in’ yet. I kept to the town and the river but with a couple of small detours, I did get my daily ten in. As I was walking by the riverside, I came across a bunch of guys trying to recover something from the depths so I paused Endomondo and checked it out. “Would it be something awful, would it be something valuable?” I wondered. Well, I guess it was valuable to somebody; it was one of the little boats that the river team use.

And that’s it for my day. Huan was out again this afternoon and when she came home was as proud as punch. The other ladies told her that her voice was dramatically improving. The evening saw her Dama dancing again, also improving. The only thing not improving is her cycling, she hasn’t been out on the bike since we bought it!

October 12^th Took the laptop to the computer shop today, what a waste of time that was. All it did was frustrate me and probably Huan with me getting worse and worse. I’ve decided that I will try and do it myself and if that fails, in the bin it will go and something to replace it will be bought. We only need it when travelling so no great rush.

October 13th Today was a non walking / Chinese / Guitar day. I decided to bite the bullet and get stuck into the laptop. It started life as a Chinese Windows 8, probably real OEM as it is an Acer Aspire but along the way, it’s been re-installed many times. If Huan has problems I need to change the software language to English to fix it, not always so easy. It had become slow and the touchpad no longer works. Well, I spent all day on it, reverting back to Windows 7 and completely removing Windows 8. It took me all day because I had to keep downloading new drivers and that resulted in multiple restarts. It is now all done, MS Office 2003 installed, Picasa and VLC Media Player. That’s all we need when we are ‘not at home’. It is faster again, however, the touchpad still doesn’t work. It may well be a hardware problem but we can live with carrying a mouse in our travelling bag! Other than that – NTR!

October 14^th Huan was off singing today so I did some more work on the laptop and somehow, don’t ask me how; I got the touchpad working again. The rest of the morning was spent copying the files that we need when we’re travelling, or should I say that I need. Seven seasons of “The Dukes Of Hazard” were also copied across, sometimes it’s good to watch a little English in the hotels.

Today being Monday, we did our shopping in the afternoon, in the rain. Eee lad, it were grand! Baijiahui, (the supermarket), was almost empty, all the locals, and the snowbirds, must have been on a siesta. Before we went though, we found this desiccated object on the shoe rack. After a lot of internet searching, we decided that it wasn’t a creature at all but a dried out fishbone that must have fallen out of our rubbish bag when Huan went out in the morning!

The rain stayed around so I tried freeing up more RAM on the laptop after dinner. I suspect I may end up replacing and increasing it. When I was done, I went to put the lid down and heard strange plastic cracking noises and the bottom cover started to come away from the keyboard side. This won’t please Huan I thought; especially if I’ve broken it completely now! Trying to sort it out I noticed a screw missing. Now bear in mind we have never opened this laptop at all. I couldn’t find anything on the office floor at all and neither could Huan. She then had a brainwave and said we should look ‘where the computer has been’. Going to the second bedroom and turning the flight bag upside down did the trick; out fell the missing screw! Big hugs and thanks to the boss! Everything seems OK again tonight; let’s hope nothing else goes wrong tomorrow.

October 15^th Up nice and early this morning, Huan was going to singing lessons again so I was out walking. My boots were back on, they had now completely dried out, but I decided on no hills, no speed and not too far. I walked out about five and a half kilometres and back the same in just less than two and a half hours so not too bad. As usual, a few pictures were taken. We had heard that there appear to be less snowbirds so far this year and this photo would appear to confirm that. There would usually be at least half a dozen or more either sitting or exercising in this area.

I took a route by the river today which shows why boots are a much better idea than sandals at times. At least it wasn’t too wet!

There’s a lot more but I’ll stick to another one of my ‘friends’. This is a strange one. Whenever we get there, he always lets me pet him but when I step away, I have to do so very quickly because he snaps at my hands. However, he will then let me come close and pet him again and then of course, I have to repeat the quick step away.

Huan came home with news of another OAP tourist trip. This was after eleven thirty and an answer was required before twelve! Yes, I know, brilliant organisational skills here. All they could tell me was “Wenchang”, nothing about what tourist site it would be and of course, nothing about which factory outlets we would be dragged to. I declined, I’m not so sure Huan was too pleased about that but I see no reason to be dragged around the mattress factory or some other such place. Strangely enough, one of our friends just went on a trip to Nanshang (see August’s Blog), and had to come back via a European ‘pots and pans’ outlet, which we previously visited on the same day as the mattress outlet.

Huan was out singing with the ladies this afternoon so I took the laptop to the computer shop to get some new, and more, RAM installed. Typical Wuzhishan, “out of stock, we can get from Haikou by tomorrow afternoon”. I suppose that’s not too bad. I left the laptop with them. I’m now wondering if that was a good idea. Hopefully they will not give me one new module and leave one old one with it!

Under orders from SWMBO, I then had to visit one of the courier offices. It seems we had a delivery this morning but Huan’s phone was off, (in class), so personal collection was required. It turned out to be stuff that I ordered for both of us, but that Huan will probably not use. One was a finger strengthener and the other a finger stretcher, both supposedly good for keyboard and guitar players. So far, I’m not impressed!

October 16^th Under orders again this morning, I had to stay at home and wait for the courier companies again. Guess what? Nobody phoned before I had to leave home to meet Huan and her singing class for lunch. Her ‘summer’ teacher is leaving Wuzhishan for the ‘winter’ and moving to Sanya. He will return next ‘summer’. It may sound strange until you consider his circumstances. He had a lung transplant three years ago. In fact, before that, he never sang. Once he was on the mend he learnt how to sing, either alone or by lessons, I don’t know. He then decided that he should teach other old people to sing, free of charge. A good man, wouldn’t you say? Anyway, lunch was in here.

It’s not a rare occurrence in Chinese restaurants; most of them have separate rooms for diners and not one big place as we do. I loved the table! In fact I told Huan that when we are rich, (when the lottery win comes through); I want a table like this, even if it’s only for the two of us. “Pass the salt please dear!”

And here are two photos of the whole group. The teacher who is leaving is the one with the vest and the white hair. The second photo was taken over his head.

Guess who phoned just as dinner was coming to an end? Yes, you’re right, both of the courier companies. Obviously, they weren’t having their usual two and a half hour lunch breaks today. Arrangements were made for us to collect the items later.

So we walked home along the river, the two ladies and I. They kept gaining on me, every time I stopped to chat to a four legged fried. Mind you, the ladies only have little legs so I was soon able to catch them up again. Once home I sorted out all the photos and videos ready for sharing.

No dinner at home today; we just had some Chinese bread rolls with red bean inside them. They’re not too bad with a lovely slathering of butter! Once we’d eaten we were off out again, first stop the computer shop. A communication breakdown was experienced there, what had been agreed yesterday wasn’t what was being offered today. We’ll now have to wait another two days! At least the courier trips worked out, one was a new guitar strap, not that I’m ready to use it yet. The free one that came with the guitar was like a serrated edge against my neck! The other package was two microphone stands, one for Huan and one for me. Remember the Christmas song challenge?

Our busy day finished off with buying what we hope, as we always do, the winning lottery tickets for today and tomorrow.

October 17^th Under orders again today, and, just like yesterday, nobody came until after lunch. Never mind, I got the microphone and amplifier out and had a go through my old song books. I don’t think I disturbed the neighbours too much; at least no one came hammering on the door. After lunch, we had a visitor, one of Huan’s buddies, who needed the videos I took yesterday sending to her phone. What a palaver, again! WeChat would not allow me to send any of the files; they were all too big, even after converting them with Lightworks. QQ wouldn’t let me send them to Fish’s phone either, (that’s my name for her). QQ in English is fairly straightforward and easy to use. QQ in Chinese has so many extras, none of which I can read, and most of which the ladies have no idea about. I guess youngsters have no problem. In the end I sent the files to Huan’s QQ and she then sent them to Fish’s. Then to my amazement, Fish was able to share them on WeChat. They both think I’m a genius now because it’s sorted. I only wish I knew how!

There was one courier delivery in the afternoon, baked beans. Yes, we can’t buy them here so they get ordered online too. The second courier required another visit by us this evening so we did two jobs at one time. First, we picked up the laptop, going in one direction from the house, and then we went the other way and collected the music stand. I hope one day I will be able to use all this music related stuff. I suppose I can at least use the music stand for singing even if I never improve with the guitar.

October 18^th Up with the lark this morning, six o’clock, the street lights were still on and the traffic lights were still in flashing orange mode. I was out of the house before quarter to seven where I found that even the moon hadn’t gone to bed!

I wasn’t really sure where I was going today so I ended up down by the river, as usual. Despite the fact it was so early, or maybe because of that, the outdoor gymnasium was quite busy. I’ve never seen these in any other countries, they’re free and a brilliant idea. Mind you, I doubt they’d last long in the UK; vandals would either steal them or destroy them.

Also, because I was so early I was walking into the sun all the way out, which made for some interesting pictures. As always, I took far too many but I’ll let you see these two.

I was back home before nine having walked twelve kilometres in two and a quarter hours. That may not seem fast to you but it’s fast enough for me! Why was I back home so early? Why didn’t I carry on for a few more kilometres. You might think that SWMBO had something to do with me having to stay in, again, waiting for a courier delivery, again. “You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment!”

A very relaxing morning followed, lots of internet to make up for yesterday when the VPN failed. The expected delivery did come, after Huan had returned home and we had finished our lunch. My afternoon was just as lazy, I spent it browsing electric two wheelers, and three wheelers on Taobao, not that we have any intention of buying one yet. Why electric? Once you reach the age of 70, you are limited to 50cc for bikes and mopeds. Why use Taobao? All the ones in town are too small for my legs, so I was looking at these instead.

October 19^th We were supposed to be getting up at five this morning to go on another OAP trip. Yes, Huan asked and I agreed. It was free for the Chinese people and ¥100.00 for me, not bad really. Anyway, it turned out last night that the company in question said foreigners can’t go. The ladies decided that if I couldn’t go then they weren’t going either. I did try and get them to change their minds, but I failed.

We woke up to rain outside so left a little late for our shortish walk. It had to be short because we were off out for another ‘singing people dinner’ at lunch time, supposedly for another teacher who is leaving. On our way out this hole in the wall caught my eye. I wonder if it was the parent or the child who abandoned these poor cuddlies.

Dinner was fine, too much food and if I had been willing, too much alcohol. I wasn’t willing! I’m no longer a fan of large spreads and too much amber nectar, especially at lunch times. The teacher we had seen off last time was still here, he’s off to Sanya tomorrow, so this was possibly another send off for him. Everyone had a great time, they sang songs in rotation around the table. Huan sang with her neighbour but unfortunately, I was out of the room so I didn’t hear them and obviously, didn’t get a video of them. Back in the room, under pressure to sing something, I gave them an abridged version of ‘Achy Breaky Heart’, even managed to go wrong on the first verse. Still, it went down well.

Soon it was time to go home and, exactly the same as the last time, this little pooch turned up. It belongs to one of the singers and always turns up after dinner. I don’t know why. Everyone said it wanted nothing to do with ‘other humans’, only its owners so they were all very surprised when it came straight to me and even allowed me to pick it up.

Huan was brave this evening and went off on her bicycle to meet Fish down by the river. They were going for a ‘sing’ the rest of the class. I decided to give it a miss so no photos of this exciting ‘coming of age’ event. I’ll try again next time!

October 20^th Huan wanted to go ‘contra flow’ through the village on the other side of the river today. Of course, she had an ulterior motive! We had to pop into a courier company on the main road on our way back! Still, that’s the last of this latest Taobao order.

The snowbirds, although a little later than usual, can now be seen by the riverside. Here’s a couple of budding saxophone players.

There are some beautiful views on this walk; this next photo is a crop from one of them.

Next up is a building we’ve passed a few times but we have no idea what it is, or what it was. If you know, let us know in the comments.

The next one is another panorama; you know how I love them. This is actually a full 360^o one, taken just the other side of the building above.

And the last one from today’s walk? Well, remember Huan and the ants? This time it was me, but I did it on purpose. I saw the hole in the rock and poked a stick in it to see what sort of reaction I’d get. They swarmed out in all directions. Luckily for me none of them managed to get all the way up the stick to my arms.

Huan was off out singing again this afternoon at the bridge lady’s house, so called because she used to be a bridge engineer before she retired. I volunteered to make dinner so we did our bit for global warming with a ‘meatless Sunday’; well Monday’s are already meatless because they are fish days. Today it was just a simple vegetable soup, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, some kind of lettuce or cabbage, paprika, cumin, turmeric and ginger. Her Ladyship was well pleased and I enjoyed it too.

In the evening she was double busy, first off with dancing practice and secondly with singing down at the riverside again. When she left for her singing, I fitted the Nikon to her handlebars, switched it on and started the recording then gave her instructions on how to switch it off when she gets there. This is only her second real ride on her bike so I hope the video works and that it’s not too dark. If it does, I will upload it and put the URL up for you.

Postscript: - The video quality was not too bad but the quality of the cycling terrified me so I’m not going to put it up here for you. You will all tell me to keep Huan off the road until she is more experienced. I know I can’t tell Huan anything!