From The Residents Of The Infirmary!

January 7^th Recovery is slow, but today definitely feels better than yesterday! The weather had taken a turn for the worse though so we just walked through town; our destination was the picture framing shop. On our last visit the lady had told us that mirrors could be made to measure. Her husband was in charge today and told us that we had got the wrong edge of the stick; they could only frame mirrors if we brought them in. That meant double the work so the job was yet again postponed for another day.

This is an old friend. Nine years ago he used to bound up to me and then jump up for some fuss. Now, poor old fellow, it takes him all his time to get on his feet but he still tries. As for me, well I took some time off my feet! Huan thought it would be a good idea to take a photo of the ‘two old men’. PS The face mask is there to protect others; I had a throat problem this morning.

And that was it for today; we headed home for lunch and naps.

January 8^th We are not back to 100% yet and I’m not sure when we will be! Consequently we had a small ‘town and river’ walk with our only aim being to look into some other bathroom shops on the off chance someone may have decent mirrors for sale. Huan, being the shameless hussy that she is will talk to anyone if there is a photo in it. This chap was looking for seeds to take home with him. The seeds were for a plant that closes its leaves when you touch it, not a bug eating plant though. The third photo is me trying to take a video of it!

When we got to the riverside Huan fancied going down one level so we parted ways. I was still feeling fragile so preferred to stay under the shade of the trees. Here she goes!

Of course being higher and further away I was bound to spot an egret today wasn’t I? He was eating a fish and I managed a video for Madame so she was quite happy.

Huan did try too; she still thinks our phones are better than they really are. I do like the scene she captured though even if the bird is very small.

School repairs are moving at pace; I doubt that this wall will fall down again!

Walking on ‘Market Street’ it looks very much as though everything will be back to normal this coming weekend. The third photo is a screen shot of a video someone sent us this afternoon. It was taken a month ago and supposedly was on the TV. I think it was more than likely just on the internet, whatever it was, we never knew anything about it.

Sometimes we find chickens in the bushes, they are always very nervous about getting too near to us. I guess if they are taken out of the bushes before bedtime it means that they are probably headed for the pot! I do like to see them though.

Now then, who is old like me and remembers the song “Teach Your Children”? It was made famous by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young even though it was originally written by Nash for the Hollies. Anyway, look at this next photo, it shows the shopping trolleys in the snacks shop, the small ones are child sized. Is this teaching them well? I hardly think so.

Our last photo was taken because I was bored with nothing to see really today. This is a view of the river through the trees of the new Little Island car park.

Both the oldies needed a nap today, Huan slept longer than usual too. Perhaps she has caught the lurgy, we will have to wait and see, hopefully not though. Today was my turn to cook for a change, it’s been a while. Today’s recipe was chicken curry and as I had been unable to find any ready made powders or pastes locally I was trying one from Taobao.

If you’re in China I can heartily recommend it. In fact if you’re not in China and you can get it then I would still say go for it. I used two heaped teaspoons, very heaped, and it was perfect for the two of us. I added some coconut milk to mine and it turned out very ‘Asian’, yummy. There are no photographs, for the usual reason, no white rice.

January 9^th I took advantage of the slow recovery and Huan’s possible descent into lurgyville to have an admin day. Lots of scanning and filing was done plus a fair bit of Taobao surfing.

January 10^th Our morning was spent indoors, seems to be our normal routine these days. After lunch I promised Huan a countryside walk, it has been quite a few days. I did have to let her decide the route though, she was definitely deteriorating! The weather was strange today as well, very hazy, something to do with being surrounded by mountains on nearly all sides.

The walk was still pleasant though, especially after not having enough fresh air and exercise in recent days. Here we are walking downriver towards the Mansions on the Hill.

Huan found our first creatures for a while too. She actually found two dragonflies but by the time I was prepared for the first one it had disappeared. This is the second one.

At the steps to the mansions the undergrowth has been cut back considerably so they were much easier to access. Of course betel nut trees have increased making it look more majestic somehow. It is still over one hundred and ten steps to the top though.

Old beady eyes did it again just a few minutes after we had passed the mansions!

It was my turn then and I found a row of chickens sitting on a wall. I sneaked up as craftily as I could to avoid them all skittering away before I could snap a shot. This one is OK though, you can see all their faces.

Nearing the village we found another little chick. It didn’t want to move out of our way, it was in the middle of the road. Initially we thought that it might have something wrong with it but when we tried to pick it up to move it; it kept running away from us. We left hoping it would be fine.

Here’s yet another little birdie for you, weren’t we lucky today.

Loads of birds were next, geese and chickens. We thought that they wanted to see us but it seems that they belonged to this little lad. Huan was trying to get him to call the geese in this picture.

The little boy overtook me as we went further into the village and dived into a big blue box outside his house to produce a goat, well a kid really. This goat’s name is 旺财, Wàng cái which translates as Lucky. It appears to be a common name for Hainanese pets.

Much further on as we approached the town to do a little shopping we spotted three village girls who had obviously spotted something themselves. What they had seen we were just a little too late to see, a snake! Here they are all trying to explain for me how long it was. In the second photo I had just made Huan jump by telling her that the snake had appeared at her feet. She was not amused! I was though and so were the girls.

And our last photo of the day is on the little roundabout as we get into town, a close up of the statue of three people. One day we might remember to find out who they are and let you know!

The market was our last stop, buying something for a weekend stew. Huan has now definitely come down with something; it may or may not be what I had. Unlike me she can still eat when she is under the weather, tonight’s dish was just sausages with onions, garlic, kidney beans, celery and rice. No photos required. Having cooked dinner I then got on with boiling the pork bones for a couple of hours, the vegetables will be added tomorrow.

January 11^th Well Huan just got worse and worse last night, but not in the same way that I had done. Her nose turned into Niagara Falls! I was convinced that this morning she would not want to go anywhere but, again unlike me, she sweated copious amounts through the night and was just a little better when she woke up. As it was Saturday and thus only a market walk I didn’t try to talk her out of it.

First of all though we went to see how our old loo bowls were getting on. They have been adopted by whoever looks after all the bowls in the bowl garden and are now full of life!

The market was busy but not too busy. Perhaps the last two weeks had people decide to stay at home today? All the pavements had been completed so walking in the centre of the road was also easier. I almost decided to have a bowl of chips for breakfast. What stopped me? Well I thought they looked very moreish and one bowl may not have been enough!

I spotted a turtle with its seller and I told him that the turtle wanted to give him a kiss. Huan had to have pictures so she chatted to the seller a bit more. The turtle is actually an Asian Giant Tortoise and can live for a long time. This one must be just a baby.

Why were we out today? We needed some greens for the weekend stew which we had not bought last night. We call these Harbin fat beans because that is where we first tried them. Don’t ask me what they really are, I have n idea.

Speaking of Harbin, this trader had come down from there, probably for the winter, in a minibus style of vehicle that they were using in the market today. They were not the bean sellers. We found it amusing that the ‘characters’ were wrapped up just like Harbin natives in the winter.

And that was the end of our short day out. A nice relaxing day followed, I watched the remaining episodes of “Years & Years”, a great TV series from BBC and HBO together. Not a bad watch at all. Later I finished off the stew; the invalid was very pleased with the result. We still have enough for tomorrow and maybe two breakfasts for Madame too. With only a short post to do and not many photos I needed something new to watch. Have you heard of a series called “We Are Lady Parts”, this one from Channel 4? Another interesting watch, at least I think so.

January 12^th Whatever else the microbes that invaded our house may be they are certainly strange and seem to be affecting us both in very different ways. Huan had to get up in the middle of the night to change her nightclothes, she was soaking again. When she woke up this morning her nose was at it again. I just felt a little washed out. I decided that an afternoon walk in the sun would be fine for me but that it would be best if the Chief stayed at home and had a nap.

Without a lot of photos again this week I tried my hardest but subjects were just not showing themselves. Here are a couple of views of our Little Island.

And here is an update on our ‘dam’ reconstruction. Stay tuned for more later!

You have seen mentions in our posts of Pooh Sticks which Huan and I sometimes play. Well, this is the bridge where we usually play said game, from right to left.

My route was via what we used to call the ‘no housebook’ place. We may have to change the name as the apartments on the right hand side do now have title deeds.

I was going this way, via the ‘still have no title deeds and a court case in progress’ villas and hotel on the left hand side (of the previous photo). I thought that with it being afternoon, and quiet, there was a chance that the snakes might come out to play. At least a lizard or a bird or something might appear; anything for the sleepyhead. Nothing came!

There was no countryside for me today, just town. This is our colourful roundabout, can you spot what is not really a part of it but fits in quite well.

Earlier I said ‘stay tuned for more later’, well this is later and this is more. Exactly how this will al work we still have no idea but this is the view of the dam from our side.

I took advantage of the new steps to walk back to our normal gate along the riverside.

I did see some birds on the reeds but I was unable to get a decent shot of any of them. Instead I hope that this fake bird will suffice for your needs!

PS I had my first fag of the year this afternoon, it was the last of the ones that I bought before I had my heart problem way back in 2022. Cousin Christopher will be highly impressed I’m sure. PPS There are two new packs in the drawer, bought just before New Year just in case!

January 13th Madame is still far from 100% but she was well enough to go shopping and spend money, well it is Monday I suppose. When we got in the car the temperature was showing as 10⁰C, no wonder we both felt chilly this morning. Still, it’s not Harbin so need for the heated seats and it doesn’t take long to warm up inside. Neither of us wanted to go out today so we needed a couple of photos from our shopping trip.

Back in the car I finished off listening to a new track before we got home. The Christmas songs SD card was removed last week and we had a new card put in today. It comprises a lot of novelty tracks, comedy songs and sketches and TV themes. I don’t think I have ever heard of this man before and I may well be preaching to the converted. However, if you haven’t listened to him try and find him on your favourite audio source, he is hilarious. This particular episode was all about bankers and how they get away with things. Huan wondered why I was laughing so much!

By the way, the temperature you see on the display there is not the outside value, it is the value in the car after having the heating on. As I write this we are at home in the evening and back in our dressing gowns again. Still, I daresay that our weather is far warmer than 99.9% of our reader count, most of whom will be in the throes of winter now.

So we have another sparse week of photos for you, let’s hope we can do better for next week. With a little luck the Prime Minister will have recovered and we will be back out to walking in the countryside now and then. So for now, from the infirmary, we bid you adieu!