March 28th Another alarm call woke me this morning for another trip to the hospital. We were in luck, Dr. Li was in residence. The front desk guided us to a different part of the hospital where I had my blood pressure checked. Check my face, my BP was slightly high, because I was trying to get Huan to not go crazy with her phone again!
I take the blame for this snap; the part of the hospital we were in has been repurposed. I think it will be only temporary while they build a new facility just outside. What you are looking at here is part of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Area.
Soon I was in to see Dr. Li who was very thorough to say the least.
Huan then did her usual and took photos of the back of me, displaying my bald patch for all to see, while I was queuing to pay and queuing to empty my arm. She also went overboard with the draining of my arm, with the blessing of the nurse. One test sample was not taken at this time, I needed to eat something and come back in two hours.
She managed to sneak another one in during my ultrasound, before the technicians told her that it wasn’t allowed. Can you see the baby Bob?
At last, I managed to take another photo. Look who is really enjoying herself watching her poor husband being prodded and poked to kingdom come and back. This was taken while we were waiting for my breakfast包子 Bāozi to digest.
Huan went off to Hulusi classes this afternoon while I cooked dinner and visited the hospital to collect my results. Am I healthy? Well, I think I am. I wouldn’t quite consider myself hale and hearty but most of the test results are fine.
March 29th The old man was late up again so the morning was wasted. I guessed Huan fancied a rest today so the afternoon was spent doing not a lot either. After dinner though I thought I really should walk to keep my feet from swelling too much. Ah, the miseries of old age eh. Photos were taken mostly to show Huan where I had been.
In case you hadn’t guessed, I was on the bridge to somewhere.
I passed the pigs we saw last week and then turned off the river back towards the road to the mansions on the hill. I found two corrals with cows in them.
These cows allowed me to touch and talk; I need Huan with me next time to see they will let me feed them too. She can provide the leaves and the camera.
After a stroll through the countryside I ended up on the road to somewhere again, it now has lane markings and even a pedestrian crossing.
I used the crossing and then after wasting some time taking photos of students doing what students do, climbing over the school walls to escape, I went off road.
Down towards the end of the irrigation channel there’s a small tunnel that we used to use to cross from one side to the other. That was stopped when they first rerouted the water and then fenced it off. Today someone was watching me from in there, can you see the eyes?
What would a walk be without a car snap? Here’s one where they have a transfer so that you can tell when the front and back door are out of alignment.
Is our nightlife scene improving? I very much doubt it, but this bar now has a ‘cocktails’ sign. Maybe I should give it a go one of these nights, if the C-in-C will allow it of course.
Approaching home, and the ladies practicing in the garden, I had time for one more photo. Here’s our pretty little island bridge, all lit up for the evening.
March 30th Wonders will never cease, I was up early again today, I had to make some more passata for today’s dinner. Being up early we were able to do one of Huan’s walk and bus routes. This one was over the kindergarten hill and back along the main road until we decided we had walked enough. Our first photo of the day is a bit psychedelic, the mantis was fairly shifting up Huan’s leg and it was all I could do to get this snap.
Huan managed to get the wee monster onto my hand and then of course, she went crazy with her phone. This is one of the results.
I don’t think you need to see the photo I took, not so soon after the last one anyway. Instead, I’ll just show where we had to stop before crossing the road and continuing on our way. The shower may have been welcome for us but t would not have done the camera much good.
Ding dong verily on high, yes, we could almost hear the bells ringing. Just look at these flowers. I’m not sure how accurate Google’s image search was but they could be Brugmansia versicolor (Angel's trumpets) and they could also be highly toxic (Long known as a powerful narcotic and psychedelic agent used in Shamanism.) Maybe the pooch knew that and that is why he was barking at us, to warn us off tasting the goodies.
This one I took for one reason only, to see if SWMBO would like the finished photo when she saw it on the computer this evening. She did. It’s a shame about the electricity wires though.
From the mountains we move on rapidly to the beach, well sort of. It wasn’t exactly a public beach and the solo resident didn’t look too welcoming.
One of the reasons we like to walk is to get the circulation going, stop my feet swelling up and all that, but another one is that we just really enjoy being our in the countryside. If you look really closely at the first picture you may even spot someone else in the countryside.
That little old lady was, like many others, working out in the fields. I have to say that they are a mostly happy bunch of people, I always pass the time of day and they always respond with a smile and a greeting in return. Not all things are grown in the sun though, some are under shaded nets. Whether they are for ornamental or medicinal use, we have no idea.
Unusual for village life, the little white dog came straight o me and jumped up, that made the other, slightly nervous one, approach me too. She seems quite interested in the camera.
More plants for you, and this time I am even less sure about Google. According to the all knowing omniscient member of the internet world these are Markhamia stipulata.
After twelve kilometres we decided to take a bus home, and then make up the three hours and the extra kilometres from the bus stop to the house. Here is the Minister of Transport, in partnership with the Minister of Finance, paying for us to go on the bus. You may remember that she has to scan the card once for each Yuan (RMB). She seemed to be there a long time, she told me that the driver had told her to stop after she had paid enough but she insisted on paying more because it is nearly the end of the month. The next passenger did exactly the same thing. You have to use each month’s allowance within the month, and you have to scan for each currency unit. Would it nor be better to scan once per trip and make the cards open ended?
By the time w reached home we had walked for three and a quarter hours and covered thirteen and a third kilometres. OAP naps were required after lunch. As I mentioned at the beginning of today’s post, I was the duty chef today, this was dinner. I cheated a little and used store bought meatballs, the cheese was not goat’s, it was cow’s. I used rice instead of noodles.
March 31st Always a special day, our Mam was born on this day. Despite the fact that she is no longer with us, I always greet her on this day. In fact she and Dad are my phone lock screen wallpaper so I chat to them both quite a lot. Not forgetting Huan, who is the home screen and of course, being just a little bit doolally, myself, I am never lonely, always someone to talk to!
Friday is either stay in and watch Taskmaster or go out and watch it later, as Huan is busy with her hulusi classes. Today I went out to stock up on sausages and buy the weekend’s chicken. On the way I passed a sidecar combo, you know I quite fancy them from previous posts. I am not so sure of this one though, it is electric and looks a little too small.
After dropping the ladies off I went down the main street, and as I passed by the local small stadium I noticed that the door was open. There were people cleaning inside and someone told me to go away, photographs are not allowed. I had already taken the shots so I went away.
Shopping finished, chicken and sausages in hand, I went home via the little island, got to think of those kilometres you know. I spotted in front of me, running from the irrigation canal to a tree on the other side of the path, a small Squirrel. Google research narrows it down to either Tamiops swinhoei or Tamiops maritimus; I think it is probably the former. However, getting a photo of it was not so easy and none of the results are very clear.
It was shopping again after dinner for me, getting the carrots for tomorrow’s potato salad, and of course getting in those kilometres before the end of the month. This month, for the first time in quite a long time, I have reached over 250km; in fact the grand total is 260.55km. During my travels I also think I found out what is going on along the riverside. I will take the boss with me in the morning and we will check and report back with photos.
April 1st Did you get caught out today? I didn’t, mostly because Huan doesn’t know a great deal about it, and I always forget to try and get one over her.
I told her that this morning our first job was to visit the town square where I would be able to show her what is happening with the riverside, and more besides. Our little city is going to look a great deal different when everything is finished.
Did you know that gooseberry bush was 19th-century slang for pubic hair, and from this comes the saying that babies are "born under a gooseberry bush". I didn’t either; I learned it while trying to find out what these are. In Chinese they are called 酸果 (Suān guǒ) which simply translates into ‘sour fruit’! Here they make a sour fish soup with them.
Despite my protestations that we now had enough photos for the day, SWMBO decreed that we should walk the long way home, looking for lizards. Here are two, each one shown twice, once with tail visible and once cropped even further.
Even though I will never be able to ride one, I still like to see motorbikes. The first one may or may not be Chinese; the second one definitely is, but just look at the name under the seat!
Finally for today, one of our most common birds, often found underneath the overhangs of many of the shop fronts, invariably with nests tucked away in the corner somewhere. Because of their colouring it is very rare that I am able to get a snap like this one where you can even see its eyes, (with a little bit of editing of course.)
April 2nd Today was another bus and walk day with Huan using her OAP bus pass and putting enough money in the machine to let the driver retire! We got off the bus on the outskirts and headed towards Nansheng, first along the main road, and then along the road towards the highway, and towards pointy mountain.
She of little faith thought I was heading the wrong way but around five hundred or so metres before the highway I found the turn off I was looking for.
Soon Huan was happy, she remembered bits of scenery, as I did. We both remembered this place, it looks like a restaurant and possible a holiday place that has been run down. Spot the swings in the first photo, the second photo is the view beyond the swings.
And here is a not very clear screen shot of someone regaining their lost childhood.
Well we had sour fruit yesterday and today we went round the bush, mulberries.
Also in the garden we found some fake ‘old’ cameras, I suspect they were made of wood. The surprising thing is the movie camera does come up with a Google search.
Further on we found that beautification is in process here too.
Some places on our walk we recognised easier than others.
However, there were things we hadn’t seen before. Here is what Google turned up for this slightly corroded lion, “E-Bay Giant Mould, Scottish(?) Rampant Lion around $100.00, Etsy Antique Bronze Rampant Lion Wall Plaque $2,395.00.” Somehow I think this one is probably worth less than the cheaper of those two.
Another place we remembered was the chilli farm, today we had a little walk through the fields there. It wasn’t long before we regretted it; we were both covered in needles from the plants.
Not far down the road we found someone flying a drone. It was not a small one! In fact they told us its payload was forty kilos and they were using it to spray their betel nut trees, I presume with some king of insecticide. Needless to say, it was a DJI drone. The generator in the back of the car is being used to charge the drone batteries. They themselves are bigger than most of the hobby style drones we see people using.
Now you know those white birds that Huan is so fond of trying to get me to take pictures of? Today we found just a few more. Unfortunately they were still a long way off but you can see just how many there were.
It had been a long time since we walked this route, in fact so long that we don’t remember seeing any highway construction at all. Today we could see completed portions of it. However, it was far enough away that our walk was peaceful and pleasant. We heard fireworks in a couple of villages, in one everyone seemed to be having lunch at the same time, and in another we spotted a family on the hillside busy tomb sweeping. To learn more, you can either go to Wikipedia, or click here – https://www.chinahighlights.com/festivals/qingming-festival.htm
As for us, after eleven kilometres, and a bit, we decided to take the bus home again. Here is the view we had while Huan stood up looking for the bus, (despite us not being the only ones at the bus stop), and I sat on the kerb guzzling cold water.
By the time we walked home from our bus stop we had over twelve and a half kilometres done, and by the time we had finished lunch, we were too late for an afternoon nap. My eyes ‘fell down’ once or twice, but I managed to stay awake. Even the boss succeeded!
April 3rd Back to normal, shopping this morning which, for a change, I quite enjoyed. This was despite the fact that the well organised person that is me, having written a shopping list, then left it at home on the coffee table. Strangely enough, I still got everything!
After lunch Huan suggested a walk, I had already planned one anyway. My plan was to go and see if my bank was open yet here in Wuzhishan. On the way we passed two cats, Huan took too many photos but her lens was greasy or something. I did manage to make two pictures reasonably OK to look at. No, they are not the same cat; I guess they could be related though.
Yahoo, the bank was open! However, it will not be possible to update my passbook or to change currency for two to three months. Maybe all systems have to be proved to be in satisfactory working order first. The good thing was that the ATM worked.
Why
did I need to get money at such short notice? Tomorrow Huan is going to start
something I first gave her the money for while we were still in
Today it was my turn to spot a lizard; this one seemed to having a few problems. It moved away from me a lot but not very quickly. If I had tried hard enough I think I could have caught it.
Huan tried her best with taking phone photos today; only when we got home did she tell me that she could see on the screen they were not quite right.
So our week comes to an end with a
happy Huan, she really wasn’t expecting me to help her out with her driving,
again! Now comes the hard part, she has to pass the theory test. I have faith
in her, I know she can do it, but I’m not sure she knows just how much she will
have to study for it. “To get a driver's license in
In the meantime, I guess I will be doing a few more solo walks. Can I break the 300k mark this month? That would be the first time since before my heart operation if I do. I can just hear my sisters now “Robert!” The Minister of Health may even try to hold me back. I’ll just have to be sneaky and maybe walk twice a day.
Wishing you all a very good evening, or morning, or afternoon, whatever time you are browsing this post. Don’t forget, click to enlarge photos, comment if you like, either on the Blog post or on Facebook, I don’t mind which. See you next week!
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