July 28th Today’s thumbnail is taken from the kitchen balcony as is the second photo. We were housebound waiting for our new front door installation to begin.
By lunchtime we were still waiting. Huan received a call from Window Man saying that the work would start tomorrow but that the door would be delivered to our building today. By way of an extra excuse he told us that in the Chinese calendar today was an inauspicious day to have doors changed or something like that.
In the evening Huan let me choose the venue so I chose DuoXiAi. Here she is patiently waiting after we placed our orders.
What were those orders? I had seafood fried rice, Huan had Iron Plate Jade Fat Tofu Rice and we both had a free bowl of soup. No complaints from either of us today.
Huan did point to a wee lizard on the way home but I was unsuccessful. Arriving home we found that Window Man had failed again and that the new door had not yet been delivered. Will it come tomorrow? Well Huan has bought soft drinks for the workers so I hope so!
July 29th This morning, instead of waiting in the apartment we went to Window Man’s shop, there was nobody there. Huan called Window Man who told us that the door was on the way with the workman to install it. We then went our separate ways. Huan went home to meet the workman and I went to Baijiahui to do a little shopping.
Arriving home I found that the worker had arrived and our old door had been removed. The worker had assured Huan that the new door would be fitted by the end of today.
Here he is removing the old door frame.
He then had to carry the new door in ready for installation. Notice how easy it is for him to carry. This is not the door we initially ordered, I got fed up with fighting WM and Huan.
His next job was preparing the doorway which was of course not the same size or angle.
His last job before lunch was to fit the new frame and door. He was using a laser alignment tool, something that the original builders had definitely not done. Huan’s photo is not square.
Lunch for us was egg sandwiches, much enjoyed. Huan took a nap but she had taken so many photos that I couldn’t. At least I had finished my Chinese lessons beforehand.
The worker returned to do a rough filling of all the spaces around the door frame. Window Man will be responsible for the fine details later on.
That should have been the end of the day and a trip to the burger place for us. However, Huan had decided that she would ask the worker to also install the new threshold tiling. I do wish that she would ask me sometimes. Window Man is also bad at paying his workers, they are all self employed, so Huan paid today’s worker for both jobs. Hopefully she also put the details in her messages to Window Man on her WeChat.
By now time had moved on, Huan didn’t want to go out for dinner, she was going to have dumplings at home instead. I decided to go across the road and buy crisps and coke. I left her doing some cleaning while her dumplings were cooking.
July 30th This morning Huan talked to Window Man who said that the remaining doors
would be delivered tomorrow and that fitting would start the day after. That
meant that it was time to go ahead with our new washing machine purchase. Our
first port of call was my bank to withdraw money for the machine and an extra
six thousand RMB that Huan said I owed her from my last hospital trip to
From there it was back into town and Huan’s bank to deposit her ill gotten gains!
I took a walk around the block to idle away some time.
I didn’t do a good job with this one; here is the Haier sales lady and my boss arguing the toss about prices and discounts. The government actually give substantial discounts when you return your old products. We got about 15% off our new machine.
Deal done it was back to the bakery for lunch.
We reached home just in time to beat the rain.
After our usual naps the new machine came. The installers did a good job and then after they had left I moved the machine to suit Huan better. We will need a new inlet hose though.
And then it was time to say goodbye to Little Swan, who had given eleven years of good service but was beginning to show signs of age. It was good to see the second bathroom again!
After Huan cleaned up the floors and I had scanned the paperwork that came with the new machine it was time to go out for dinner. With drizzle in the air we didn’t go too far.
We finished the day happy that some more progress had been made!
July 31st Rain stopped play this morning although it did ease off long enough for us to go out, do a little shopping and have dinner at lunch time. Part of the shopping was to buy that longer inlet hose for the new washing machine.
In that photo I am giving the thumbs up for the
Having dinner at lunch time made for a pleasant change.
Back home and after Huan had finished her nap she forgot to take a photo of me working, fitting the new inlet hose. I did catch her mopping the floor though!
Today’s sandwich was something just a little different, a jar of salted fish. It worked quite well with tomato and cucumber for both of us and some mayonnaise for me.
August 1st Window Man said the doors would arrive this morning, probably between nine and ten. We went to the market anyway!
Something fishy was going on there! We took some videos of this little fish. I went to attempt to pick it up and return it to the trader, she told me not to as it would bite me. I listened to her!
The director was busy today, first with children and a cat.
And then she moved on to Ethiopian coffee. The lady that you saw
before is still in
Her next shot was me with a parcel of puppies which she would not let me take home with me.
It was briefly my turn to catch the crowds.
Soon it was back to the director, first with lilies and their stems, which are used in cooking although we know not how. She followed that with my foot and a puppy.
Before we reached home I had another turn with various stages of life. Those stages were not necessarily of the same life, I am no lepidopterist.
On our way home, being quite early we passed by Window Man’s shop. He told us, again, that the doors were on the way and work would start today.
In the evening, with the sky looking troublesome again, we stayed local for dinner.
We ordered, and I mentioned to Huan that the price seemed very cheap. My dinner appeared first, Huan’s never appeared at all.
It turned out that there had been a mix up, Huan’s had not been ordered hence the cheap price. She ordered again, two dishes because she thought one would not be enough. This was her first dish, Qing Bu Liang, which would probably have been enough.
I forgot to take a snap of her second dish, fried cauliflower and cabbage. Huan had an express delivery so we walked down to the gate passing Window Man’s shop on the way. I just happened to mention that nothing happened today and then I left him and Huan in discussion. His wife, who has recently returned from the mainland, could see that I was an unhappy teddy bear. Maybe she will be able to put pressure on him although somehow I doubt it. WM told SWMBO that tomorrow (again), work would begin. She told him that we would not be staying in and that if he managed to get the doors he would have to leave them outside our apartment.
August 2nd Today’s trip was bus #2, then Lizard Alley to the bank. Money is needed by me for the upcoming week. Lizard Alley gave us one whose tail I almost touched!
On the way we had wonderful views.
At one stage I was walking on the road and Huan was on the path. When I decided to rejoin her I held on to a lamppost and inadvertently lifted the joining sleeve. Look what was underneath! Does anyone know what the little white pieces in the photo are?
At the bank I tried to photograph this insect on the glass and through the glass.
The last two photos of the morning are a little garden and then a lot of rain!
Needless to say, there was no sign of any doors anywhere when we got home. Later in the afternoon Huan got a call from Window Man asking if we were in because the doors would were about to be delivered to our building. We went out for dinner.
We decided to have the red cabbage burger for a change. This is the picture and the special offer. However, the special offer is only available to ‘members’.
This is how it looked on our plates. Our burgers did have all the layers shown in the photograph, just not quite in the same quantity and proportion. It was nice though.
Back home again, there was no sign of any doors, again! I told Huan not to call Window Man because we would be busy ourselves tomorrow anyway.
August 3rd Today was another admin day, not for Huan but for me. It was time to top up my daily female hormone medication and to have my monthly dose of bobbyfilla! Being a Monday morning the queues were a little longer but not too bad.
Before seeing the doctor I had the usual BP measurement.
Dr. Shen was downstairs today so we were in to see him very quickly. In the first photo I am showing him my hormone bottle and in the second one showing him that I cannot read Chinese!
Next stop was to separate me from some of my money.
This month Huan forgot to take a snap of me collecting the medication. Instead here I am going to the new building where the needle room has moved to.
I took a snap of the view from where I was sitting and Huan took a couple outside.
Soon I was off, having once again forgotten my book, bored to tears.
There were no naps today; I had to visit another hospital in the afternoon for my annual driving eye test. I failed! My right eye has been rather weepy and a little sore for a few days and seeing out of it alone was not good. Back to the first hospital we went for another consultation with another doctor. I was told that I have 'dry eye' and to minimise my screen time a bit. Eye drops were provided; let’s hope that in a day or three, I will have recovered enough to pass the test. You may be surprised to see no photos, SWMBO forgot, no complaints from me.
Before dinner there was a lot more admin for me in the form of editing and printing for Yú. At the same time I gave her a decanter and some small glasses for Zhaode. Space will be needed in one of our cabinets when we get rid of another one.
Finally it was dinner time, nearby so that I would have enough time to finish not only this post but also my Chinese lessons. I thought I had ordered chicken hearts, I was wrong; I had innards from a pig instead. I ate some and swapped some with Huan for some of her soft pork.
So another week comes to a close and still our house is still not the home it used to be. We have now been in this state for one hundred and thirty six days! It’s getting very tedious. Hopefully by next week we will have some good news, stay tuned for further details. Bye for now!
