April 28th Something happened today, not much but at least it was something. To
avoid an ugly thumbnail though here is a photo I took on our way out for dinner
in the evening. It rather fits in with my binge watching ‘Death in
What did happen today? The workman came to remove our kitchen door framework. For ‘remove’ you can read ‘destroy’. At least that is one job out of the way.
Huan phoned Window Man who told us that the floor waterproofing would be done today and that tomorrow they would start installing the kitchen balcony windows. Nobody turned up to waterproof the floor, let’s see if anyone turns up tomorrow, for anything!
You haven’t read about lunches for a few days, that’s because we are making sandwiches at the side of the bathroom sink to avoid having to eat out all the time. We are still going out for dinner of course. On our way tonight Huan wanted this photo because we don’t usually see cicada nymph exoskeletons on plants; we usually see them on tree barks.
After walking most of the way around the town we decided on KMC. Yes, it is a fast food place based on KFC but has much more choice.
We sat somewhere different today, the view out of the window was terrible, but the interior décor was fine, even though all the books were fake.
As for our food, well Huan chose a two for the price of one, fish burger, chips and popcorn chicken bits. We each had exactly what you can see in this picture. It turned out to be far too much for the two of us to eat in one go so one bag of popcorn chicken and one bag of chips were taken home for future consumption!
April 29th Nothing happened today apart from the fact that I almost lost my temper with Window Man! Work was supposed to start today on both waterproofing of floors and installation of windows. Neither came to fruition. After a few phone calls between him and Huan in the afternoon I told Huan to send him an ultimatum. If nothing happened we would be going to the authorities to raise an official complaint. Within minutes he was in our house with a string of excuses, the most unbelievable of which was that all our windows are not here yet, some parts are still in Foshan on the mainland. I don’t believe a word. I got him to send Huan a WeChat message telling her that if the windows are not here by Sunday he will return all the money we paid him. I have no idea if that will work, unfortunately we have to wait and see again.
I don’t know about you but when I get very angry I always have a bad feeling in my stomach afterwards, I suppose you could say in my gut. I don’t like it at all. It went away slowly and by the time we went out for dinner I was fine again. We went across the river.
Then we went through an old residential area, probably old workshop housing.
Today’s choice of venue was another spicy one.
The décor included lots of spicy red colours, I wonder why.
Our choices, as usual, were more than ample for our needs.
We both had soup today, Huan’s was thick tomato soup and mine was bone broth soup. We both asked for not too spicy, Huan succeeded, I failed, tasty enough though.
Finally, we walked home along the river, very romantic it was too!
April 30th We ran away this morning, only to the hospital for my monthly bobbyfilla and to get some more of those female hormone tablets. Huan thought she would be home before nine thirty so called Window Man to let him know. Here I am prior to seeing the doctor.
And here I am seeing the doctor. We were with Dr. Shen a long time today, the administration keep changing the rules and there was some problem with my bobbyfilla. The way I understood it was that it should be weekly and not monthly. He did his usual and disappeared to talk to whoever it was and then came back and printed out what I needed.
While he was gone I took a photo of these two banners on his wall. I don’t know who they are from but they are in appreciation of Dr. Shen’s care, his ethics and his skills. Maybe I need to see about making him something similar from me.
From there it was a hop, skip and a jump to the mainline room downstairs, via the pharmacy. Huan got chatting to a neighbour at the pharmacy so forgot to take any photos there. Needless to say, she didn’t forget when it was my turn!
Huan rang Window Man again who told us that the workers would arrive at half past ten. They didn’t. However, they did turn up and wake us from our nap at two, not bad timing. They didn’t waterproof the floors today; they just did the preparatory work. I’m not complaining!
We chose to go to the newly refurbished DuoXiAi restaurant for dinner to see what changes they had made. The entranceway is now less tropical and more shopping mall. The inside is more clinical than before, the books are still fake.
We asked the staff if the menus were new and they told us that they were. The chefs then told us that they weren’t, they were the same as before. No worries, there is always a good variety of choices here and as this was our first opportunity since the window saga began we very much enjoyed it. Huan had fish, I had meat and potatoes, and we shared some rice and veg. I can see a few more meals here before our kitchen is usable again.
On the way home we passed this family where the little girl was trying to tell her grandfather something. He thought she was talking about the rain雨 (Yǔ), I realized that she in fact trying to point to a shuttlecock 羽毛球Yǔmáoqiú that was wedged into their shop sign.
So we’ve come to the end of April and I have actually managed over 200km this month. It may be only just, but it is over!
May 1st Happy workers day one and all! How many of you used to believe that this day was ‘invented’ by the Chinese? The date was in fact chosen by the ‘American Federation of Labour’. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your day off, if you had one. As for us, well we’re retired and every day is a day off. We took a bus ‘n’ walk day intending to come back along the river and avoiding any roads with hills. There’s a lovely new park where we got off the bus, I think parents wait there to collect their children from school. Spot the René Descartes.
And then down to the river we went.
Huan promptly found many things for me to photograph, here’s two of them.
Across the river we could see the muriels on the village school walls. They’re pretty good! I wonder whether or not I can get Huan to agree with putting something on our dining room wall!
And then it was Huan’s turn again, a miniature bird and another lizard.
To our surprise we found a family of egrets. We haven’t seen any for some time now and assumed that they had all flown back north. Maybe this family’s little ones are not up to the journey yet. Who knows? These are the babies.
We had a small lizard intermission. No they are not the same lizard. It is in fact a different tree and a different lizard. We were spoilt for choice today.
We presume that this is the birdies’ mum and dad but we really have no idea.
And then it was my turn to find a lizard that Huan missed, a very rare occurrence indeed.
Huan spotted a well camouflaged soldier in the bushes.
A new street for family entertainment has sprung up; we will have to visit sometime.
For today we just enjoyed the scenery on our side of the river.
We even took turns posing for each other.
Having walked almost seven kilometres we took another bus home. Our nap was very much enjoyed. After lunch we waited, once again, for the workers. They were due to come and complete the waterproofing. They didn’t come!
Dinner was local, buffet style, but quite nice really. Huan had sweet and sour fish, I had sweet and sour meatballs and some processed meat. We both had enough vegetables and I nicked a bit of Huan’s rice making sure I left her enough.
May 2nd With nothing planned for this morning it was nice to be able to have a relaxed walk around the market again today. Right outside our door Huan had her first find.
The market was busy but not too busy. We could still walk around easily enough; in fact even the chokepoint was navigable without too much trouble.
I have no idea what the translation is but I did like this banner.
You may wonder what I am pointing out in this photo. I am in fact being extremely mean telling the young girl that Huan likes rabbits too, but only eating them!
Huan did her usual bird finding on the walk between markets.
Dinner today was at Wallace’s Burger place, I fancied a wrap for a change.
Huan fancied a double beef burger again. The chips and popcorn chicken are mine too.
On the way home I had to take this one. I wonder if the driver is even aware of ‘Whassup?’ Budweiser or even 4 Non-Blondes.
Next door was this one which I needed Huan’s help to translate, 埃安椰鸟会, Āi ān yē niǎo huì - Aian Coconut Bird Club.
I had a chat with a little pooch whose big brother was called 锅巴肉, Guōbā ròu – Crispy pork. This one is called 二宝, Èr bǎo – Second baby.
May 3rd Here we are, Sunday morning, Window Man called from the delivery store to ask if we were in. We were, but I went out to try and buy some baps in Baijiahui and left Huan to it. There were only four baps without sugar left, so I bought them and decided to buy us a different lunch on the way home. We had two different kinds of dumplings, ten each, and a boiled egg. No photos, it’s a boring yet tasty and filling lunch.
When I got home Huan had received
another phone call from Window Man, the shipment had been delayed due to the
Mayday holiday period. Remember that this is the shipment that we have
previously told had already arrived in
Dinner was very local because rain was on the way. We both think that #1 chef must have been on holiday today because nothing tasted as it should, or indeed as it usually does.
We had to sit for quite a while after finishing because the rain had arrived!
We passed by Window Man’s shop on the way home so that I could give
him another piece of my mind. I explained that I had to go to hospital in
May 4th At half past seven this morning we had to quickly put some clothes on so that we could appear decent enough to answer the door. The waterproofing lady had arrived. Her materials had been here a day or two so someone obviously called her yesterday. Here is her preparation.
Now for her work on the kitchen,
and the result.
From there it was a quick change to the bathroom,
and here is the result of that.
The lady and her husband will come again tomorrow to check whether or not the waterproofing has dried enough for the next stage. I wish we had a woman involved with the installation of our windows, I’m sure progress would be so much faster!
That was it for today so we had a walk out for some fresh air and some lunch. Huan was on top form and found two lizards where she has never found any before. She then found a third one in a regular ‘find’ spot, she thinks this one has babies inside.
It was then my turn for some feline foolishness, a little tête-à-tête or heart-to-heart if you will. Perhaps it was a little pussy persiflage. If you look carefully you will see that the little cat is smiling because he has realised that I am just pulling his leg!
One of these two is an angel. Which one? I’ll let you decide!
Living where we do you would never expect see an electric fire I’m sure. Well, this is not really a fire; it is a fake one that gives off no heat. Mind you, I do wonder if it would make us feel a little warmer in those cooler winter months. This is set into the counter of one of our favourite restaurants where we went for lunch today.
What was that lunch? It was the grandfather of the burger, 肉夹馍, Ròu jiā mó which Google translated today as ‘Chinese hamburger’. We had a couple of dishes of cold stuff with them; those dishes were both spicier than they looked. I couldn’t wait to get stuck in!
After our usual afternoon and after the early evening rains we set out for dinner. I had promised Huan when we started all of this that I would treat her to a fish dinner when the window work started. Well at the rate Window Man is working that could be weeks so I decided to treat her tonight anyway. She is worth it after all! Here’s the restaurant and the free tea.
Huan chose the non-spicy fish in a garlic sauce.
After the fish, which was very enjoyable, it was time to partake of the free ice cream. The last time we had visited that was not an option. Granted it was two or three years ago. Huan insisted that I do the honours so that she could take photos. I didn’t do such a good job! Actually Huan’s tub was far better than mine which I did first. Unfortunately, the photo of Huan’s tub was out of focus so you will have to take my word for that.
Based on the title of last week’s post, the week we have had, and the title of this week’s post, this seems like an apt photo to finish with. That is Huan’s shoe behind to give you an idea of size.
Yet again we have been promised progress before next week. Let’s hope that this time we will be able to show you signs of it and not my ‘nineteenth nervous breakdown’. PS There are no points for naming the band and the year. Until next week then, from me and from the other one who isn’t me but who is the boss, it is bye for now, see you soon.
