August 18th Today I needed a thumbnail because we were expecting the shower door installers this morning. Here’s a picture of the mountains.
The installers turned up on time and started work. It was another husband and wife team. There appear to be many here and without exception they all seem to work well together.
They unpacked the wall mountings and began to assemble them. However, they came to a stop when they realised a part was missing. The bottom of the frame has to sit on a raised stone tile to keep the water inside the shower area. This was missing. Window Man, who should have ordered all the required parts, was informed! The couple left and said they would be back at half past two so we set out for a stroll. Huan was hugely impressed when he of the not so good eyes found both a tiny lizard and a small bug!
During our stroll I suggested to Huan that we have dinner at lunch time and sandwiches this evening. The suggestion was well received; she didn’t really want to go out twice today.
On our way home I tried for a bird, it saw me too.
Huan found a little green friend, maybe the same one. It fell on to my sandal and didn’t seem able to fly off anywhere so we helped it back onto the wall.
The missing stone was delivered after lunch by Window Man himself. He also showed Huan the bedroom and bathroom door orders!
Our happy team arrived a few minutes later, it was after four o’clock by then, and got down to work. First they did the frame part of the job.
It was not quite as easy as they thought it would be; I’m guessing because Window Man did not do such a good job of measuring. Anyway, they did what was required, got it all screwed in and then moved on to installing the glass.
It was a good job we had dinner at lunch time because by the time the team left it was after six thirty. We are under instructions not to touch anything before tomorrow afternoon, not even to sweep the floor. That might cause dust to settle on the still wet sealant. The doors, which were supposed to be frosted, arrived clear. The installation team recommended that we don’t have them frosted because it may weaken the glass. We might cover them with a film instead. Anyway, this is the not yet cleaned, finished installation.
August 19th Today started with rain and a pretty miserable sky but it did clear enough for a nice stroll to find some lunch. Today’s nature photos are not impressive, a flower and a snail.
Huan’s lunch was noodles with a bowl of free seaweed.
As for me, well I had my usual pandan bread with two fried eggs and added a piece of spam, or its equivalent, from the snack shop next door.
On the way home it was time for my good deed of the day. I stopped to chat to a furry friend. He knows me and he was on a leash. However, his master tried spraying him with some kind of medicine for an open wound and he effortlessly slipped his leash and did a runner. There was no way he was going to his master but he did come to me, silly boy!
We had our usual long naps and then our usual walk for dinner. My plan was cancelled due to the possibility of rain but we still both had fish. I’m sure you know which is mine.
August 20th Rain stopped play, all day, morning, afternoon and evening. That made me the Royal Chef for the day. Lunch was egg, sausage and tomato sandwiches. The sausages were terrible quality bought from pinduoduo because Huan had won some games. Removing the skins and frying them in lard made then infinitely better. We enjoyed lunch.
For a change I made rice pudding for dinner. We had old rice in the cupboard. Fresh milk is always in the fridge but I also found a tin of carnation in the cupboard, its expiry date was tomorrow so I added that in. Just a little honey was used instead of sugar and some nutmeg powder instead of cinnamon. I probably put too much vanilla essence in, and put it in too early. Huan had dried prunes; I had the same with some raisins and walnuts. There was enough left over for Huan to have for breakfast tomorrow. Our verdict? Yummy!
August 21st “It’s going to rain this morning and we need some stuff from the supermarket so we’d better go early.” That was Huan giving me my schedule. Unfortunately for her, I had been checking the shower doors which were not up to my impeccable standards. Trying to find the problem I somehow trapped myself in the shower.
Huan called the installers to come and let me out. Luckily, I managed to get the door back on track, still not as I think it should be, but at least I was able to escape. Our plan was the #2 bus to the other end and walk back but we missed it by seconds. We decided just to walk the opposite way instead, hoping to beat the weather.
We finished our shopping and arrived home just before the rain began. The computer forecast was spot on this morning. After lunch, which for me was a salty egg sandwich and for Huan was a thousand year old egg sandwich it was time for a nap. For some reason the nap overran and we were out until nearly three thirty. Life really needs to get back to normal!
For dinner I gave Huan the choice of roast chicken or noodles. We had seen this photo on the wall of a restaurant many times, the place where I had my fried egg sandwich earlier this week, and we kept saying we should try it. Huan chose noodles so we went for it.
Ours didn’t look quite the same but I have to admit it was very tasty. I will definitely have it again in the future as I’m sure Huan will too. We were a bit late with the photo, we had already started eating. We did have one complaint though; neither of us could pick the noodles up very well with our chopsticks. I was so glad it was not only me.
August 22nd It’s market day again so off we went, sans camera because the weather looked as if it could change at any time.
In the market photo-ops were rare today; I did chat to a chicken.
And Huan found a lady burning the hair off a cows head.
And that was it apart from a chat with a new friend on the way home.
And that, dear friends, was the end of our day. Lunch became dinner with some sweet potatoes that Huan had bought and we had sandwiches for tea. There was nothing else to photograph!
August 23rd And so we faced yet another day of sky watching. We set off for a very British walk, both of us carrying our brollies. Here I was standing on the wrong side of the road while waiting for the bus, which when it turned up, was a big one, and empty.
It took a while, but when we got down to the riverside road, Huan found a lizard.
And then she found me chatting to a couple of strangers who happened to mention ‘foreigner’. It was an interesting chat with me telling them that Wuzhishan was my hometown!
“Yahoo, Huan, I found a lizard too!” It was very small though.
With not too many photos so far this week I hopped behind this sign to pose!
Just after this next photo we had a few minutes of umbrella use.
And finally, before lunch, a grasshopper joined us in the pharmacy.
Lunch was a shared Jiānbing again. When I unpacked them at home I spotted something I haven’t seen before, the writing on the bag. I will leave you to translate the words below the obvious English. There is an additional English sentence in the small print.
The rain didn’t stay long and there wasn’t very much of it. After we’d finished our lunch Huan spent her time on the phone with Window Man and the old tenant of our business, I spent the time more usefully, with a nap! Window Man said that some work would start tomorrow and that the doors would start on Tuesday. He then phoned later and asked if he could possible have a little more money in advance. Huan flat out refused him, as I had suggested. If the doors come on Tuesday and if they are installed to our satisfaction, we will pay for them. I am now in my waiting mode, once again!
More shopping was needed in the evening, loo roll mostly, so we ate across the road from the supermarket. It was another of our buffet places.
August 24th Here we are, last day of the week, I’m at home doom-scrolling on the PC, Huan is out, trying to find a way to get our rental property loo sorted out. It has been cemented over for many years and it should be the old tenant’s responsibility. Meanwhile, Window Man said he is still trying to find someone to start the work of removing old door frames and that now the new doors will arrive on Wednesday. I would cry if it wasn’t what I had expected all along.
Huan finished early enough for us to go out for dinner, planning sandwiches for tea. Sometimes we were walking in the drizzle, sometimes it was dry but we were always singing. Well, I was!
A younger me would have made a better job of this shot, both light and colour wise and also framing wise. Hope it’s OK with you guys.
I had planned a nice dinner based on something we had seen when we had been shopping, a new dish. It included loads of fish for Huan, and I would have some, a little beef for me, and Huan would have some, with veggies and pineapple. Chillies were available but we skipped them.
For those curious about the price, ¥139.00 is £15.17 at today’s rates. While we waited, Huan took some photos, me topping up my free lemon water, the staff busy in the kitchen.
Soon enough our meal arrived and while it may not look quite like the picture; it certainly looked good enough for the two of us. You can see there are just a few chillies, lot of garlic though.
Here we are both trying our beef which was absolutely amazing.
This one is a greedy me finishing off my rice with some of that pineapple and a lot of those garlic pieces. What’s left in the dish was bagged up for Huan to take home for dinner.
On our way out, as always, we walked through the amusement arcade. There was a sign with a few instructions on it, the last of which was “No photos and no videos”. I guess that meant photos or videos of people using the machines, I didn’t think they would mind me taking this little photo. I hope you will all read it and follow it religiously. PS The old man and the child are one and the same!
And there we have it, the end of another week. We don’t have many photos this week but at least we do have a new shower door! Fingers crossed for more doors before next week. As they used to say on the old gogglebox, stay tuned to this channel! See you next time.
