December 19th I’m definitely on the up, Huan is still struggling a bit. No walks today, I did the cooking, we stayed in and relaxed. Mostly I was just providing moral support. On the plus side I finished binge watching Edward Woodward’s Equaliser and started watching Queen Latifah’s.
December 20th Her Majesty was still under the weather today but I did manage a solo walk after lunch. Fresh air was sorely needed! As we’ve had no photos yet I thought you needed to see something this week. Here’s an unusual view of the front of the library.
Down by the riverside the road works on the market side appear to be progressing very well, it may not be too long before things are back to normal. Something is different though, check the roofs on the stores, all the fronts have been cut off. Will they put them back on when all the work is finished? Huan thinks not but they haven’t actually disposed of the removed parts yet.
Making up the numbers I found another of those tourist posters for you.
Finding a way through the fences I went right down to the riverside, not much to see though.
No lizards or wild birds were anywhere to be seen, but I did stop and have a chat with the snowbirds that hang around outside the hotel, the lovebirds and their pals.
My last one of the day was searching for a squirrel, not my idea, just a seed planted by SWMBO. I failed, but showed her the proof of my search anyway.
Huan was on the mend when I got home. All that remained for me was to retreat to the kitchen and play duty chef again. Today’s dish was chicken noodle soup made with drumsticks, lots of vegetables, and the obligatory garlic. No complaints from either of us!
December 21st We might both be on the up and up but the weather is on the down and down! The temperature has plummeted; at least to our tender tropical butts it feels like it has. 12⁰C is not very warm at all and for our afternoon walk today both of us had long trousers and coats on. Unfortunately photo opps were even rarer than yesterday. All I got was this 向前一小步, 文明一大步 (Xiàng qián yī xiǎo bù wénmíng yī dà bù) the translation of which was nice and obvious - take a small step forward, a big step forward for civilization
December 22nd Today we are even colder, down to 10⁰C, not too cold for most of you, we know that. However, being here for over eight years now, and away from the cold of the North, we feel it! Still, exercise and fresh air was needed.
We, or should I say the boss, was looking for lizards, none were forthcoming. Do they hibernate? We did find birds and cows though.
Fame stuck for me, fleetingly of course. We happened to be walking past the school as the pupils were going back after their afternoon siesta. I was interrogated as to which country I was from, needless to say they didn’t believe I was a local. Not many of them could practice their English, which is a shame really. Some understood more than they let on but were too shy to speak.
December 23rd Shopping for the makings of a stew again, it’s not really salad dinner weather yet. On the way home we spotted a little bit of Christmas.
Struggling to find subjects we found this, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamoroll. Where would you be without us to give you some culture?
The last one of the day was to try and give you an idea about the weather. To us the tops of the mountains just appeared to ooze cold.
Our stew went down well, only to be expected as I was ‘Le Chef’!
December 24th More shopping today, this time for Christmas dinner. Huan decided that as she was still unable to find lizards I should take a photo of a snail. Normally that would be a definite ‘no’; I guess she gets bored easier than I do.
On our way towards town we spotted something going on around the town square. I should say something had been going on, it was all over when we got there.
So what was it? It was the “Wuzhishan Rainforest Paradise Cycling Challenge”, with some big name sponsors too. Yet again we missed something because it wasn’t advertised!
One of the camera people, with a security pass, was busy taking as many photos of me as he could so I decided I should reciprocate. Mind you, his was bigger than mine!
Huan decided that she had to go to one of her banks to put some money in for Pinduoduo, that meant I had to give her an early Christmas present!
A car with decals was our next photo, I rather liked the wolf. 半生已过, Bànshēng yǐguò - Half life passed, 学会沉默, xuéhuì chénmò - Learn to be silent, 凡事讨好自己 至于别人, Fánshì tǎohǎo zìjǐ zhìyú biérén - Please do everything to please yourself and others, 分心情看交情, Fēn xīnqíng kàn jiāoqing - Divide mood into friendship, 加油, jiāyóu – Come on!
The happy lady was then at it again, another bank this time but making a withdrawal and not a deposit. Surprisingly enough she is still smiling!
December 25th Christmas arrived, strange how it always comes the same time every year! Where we are though you could quite easily miss it completely; there is no such thing as the spirit of Christmas here. I do quite miss it. Would you believe we had duck again, I think that’s the third time this week! Still, we didn’t have to cook this one, we put all the vegetables in the oven and then added the pre-cooked duck before finishing it all off.
Huan, bless her little cotton socks, bought me a Christmas jumper this year. I’m not quite sure when she expects me to wear it! It is also just a little on the small side so we both ended up trying it on. She looks better than me, don’t you agree?
I’ll finish off with the message I put on my Facebook page today “Christmas is a celebration, a time for giving and not simply a day we exchange gifts. The spirit of Christmas is in the 'togetherness', it's in the thought to which you put into thinking about others, it's a selfless time, where we forgive, take stock of what's important and become 'better' versions of ourselves.” I truly believe this and I miss the ‘feeling’ more than anything else at this time of the year. Of course, I do miss all my family and friends too, that goes without saying. Huan and I wish you all a very wonderful Christmas.
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