Ups & Downs & Round the Mountains, Stag Night, Socks & Shoes

January 4^th What a great day for a walk, let’s celebrate it and go to the landfill! That sounds terrible doesn’t it? Actually the landfill walk is a very pleasant one now that it’s been capped and no big trucks are going up and down the hill. Today, for a change, we went the reverse route, a much steeper incline but also much shorter leaving a nice long downwards incline on the way home. Our first photo has nothing to do with walking; it is in fact a job advert for a new club with all the positions listed underneath. I’m only showing you the top for two reasons, the first being that I like the art. You have to guess the second reason, answers on a postcard please.

The next photo has everything to do with the walk. I was explaining to Huan how we have to ‘snake’ going up the hill due to how steep it is. This view helped me to explain it by showing where we had come from, the bend that took us left (as you look at it) to our present position and the bend to our right where there is a retaining wall, to where we were going.

Shortly after this we reached the top, I took a photo of Huan before I reached it, she took one of me as she started to go down. PS I am usually in front; this was planned so that we could both use the camera. You may note that neither of us did very well!

Within minutes we reached the small village at the top and found a gaggle of snowbirds. I wonder if there is a correct collective noun for them. They will have walked up the same way as us but will not go down our way, it is too long.

On our way down Huan spotted this path through the woods. “Let’s go that way” she said. I did try and explain that ‘that way’ was 180º opposite to where home was and that there would be nowhere for us to go when we reached the ‘top’.

When we did get there, not too far, there were a husband and wife farming just over the fence you see in the next photo. Huan believed them when they told her there was no way out other than retracing our steps. In fact, in front of us and just down the hill was one of the filled in landfill sites. We could have been lost forever!

On our way down, Huan tried again and again to take pictures of me showing my age so finally I relented. Here is the resultant gif of me going down in the world!

A nervous mother is up next, Huan liked this one, she thought Mama was giving baby a kiss.

I let Huan take another photo of me, with the camera again and not her phone, in fact I even posed for this one.

Passing the highway on ramp we spotted this fellow selling fishing rods. Initially I thought it was an odd location until I realised that people coming down the off ramp would be coming from behind us into Wuzhishan. I guess he saves money on renting a store.

And finally here’s one from Huan’s phone. She was desperately trying to photograph what she initially thought were baby turkeys but was told by the owner that they were 珍珠鸡, zhēnzhū jī, or to you and me, guinea fowl. (I had to Google it - a large African game bird with slate-coloured, white-spotted plumage and a loud call. It is sometimes domesticated.) You can see them both in this photo but even better was the fact that all the birds were looking at Huan!

January 5th The old man didn’t wake up until nearly nine o’clock so a morning walk was out of the question. We went in the afternoon instead, heading in the normal landfill direction. “Again?” asked Huan. I told her that today we would be exploring, somewhere that we have not walked for at least three or maybe four years. First we had to pass by one of our des res’s.

Then we turned off the road and into the small village, now mostly empty. This new bit of road used to be a weighbridge before.

Why would there be a weighbridge in a little village? Well, the reason for the little village’s existence was construction, of the highway amongst other things, so there was a quarry there.

Up to this point Huan was not lost, but she thought we were heading to a reservoir that we knew. In fact we were heading for where they may or may not have been a reservoir, my memory only remembered certain things. First we took a new track just to see where it went, and found a house at the end with “no through road”.

Back we went until we found the road leading upward, this is where I started remembering things, but not what was at the top.

Huan wanted to take lots of photos of me going up hills today, I’m not sure why, so I let her go on ahead and then created Gifs when we got home. This is one of them.

The going was not easy, as I remembered there were lots of ‘hairpin bends’ which were very steep on both sides. Eventually we also ran out of ‘hard top’ and ended up on mountain paths, something I didn’t remember from previously. In retrospect, we both think that we must have turned round when we reached the end of the paved roads last time which may even have been as much as four or five years ago! These two photos show the terrain with Huan thinking we were reaching the top in the second photo.

She was wrong!

Soon we were even higher and looking back, and down, we could see a long way below us, the highway. It was only then that we realised just far we had walked upwards!

Pretty soon we appeared to be running out of paths.

This next photo is where decided to turn round and retrace our steps, for the second time today.

I explored a little, unsuccessfully, to see if there was a path down to the other side of the highway. While I was doing that Huan was preparing to snap me on the way down so here’s another Gif of me ‘coming round the mountain’!

Her smugness, feeling quite happy with herself!

On our way up we had seen a track running off to the left so we thought we would have a look up there hoping there would be no more big hills. It was also somewhere we hadn’t been before.

We did have to go up, but not as much as before, and we found a reservoir.

Huan climbed us some rickety steps while I tried a track. She ended up on the reservoir and I had to backtrack yet again to join her.

You may have noticed a certain lack of water in that last picture. When I joined Huan I did notice some ominous holes at the base of the dam, very old though. Joining her up on the top I took this panorama for you, definitely not a source of water these days.

And here’s the view the other way, down into the valley.

Huan went crazy again taking lots of photos of me going down the rickety steps but I won’t show you another Gif of me. Instead I’ll show you one of her showing me how it’s supposed to be done. I do keep reminding her that I’m older and heavier than her!

As you have probably guessed, the fact that we were going down from the reservoir meant we were once again retracing our steps, for the third time today! Still, it was a great day out in the countryside, there is something special about being in the forests and mountains.

It will be a few days before we try again though, not due to any weakness on our part, more the fact that my boots have given up the ghost.

Even worse was taking my boots off, blood! Huan thought it may have been leeches again, I’m not so sure as we didn’t really walk in any damp places. When I took my right boot off a rather large burr fell out, (a prickly seed case or flower head that clings to clothing and animal fur).

Another lovely day of walking, or maybe I should say hiking, finished. It’s at times like these that I consider myself quite lucky to have Huan in my life. Not everyone likes walking, especially the distances that we do, and not many people would want to explore strange places the way that she does. It’s always good to get home though!

An added bonus of an afternoon walk is no OAP naps!

January 6^th Epiphany, #1’s birthday and time to take the Christmas decorations down so once again no morning walk. Staying in did give me an opportunity to do yesterday’s Blog post. Yesterday evening was spent on photo uploading and editing.

No afternoon walk today either, instead we had a Taobao marathon. New boots were required for this intrepid explorer so using the power of Google Translate I got down to it. Huan was doing her best on Pinduoduo where things are sometimes cheaper. We were both running into a lot of problems, we kept finding fur lined boots despite not searching for them. It must be the time of the year. Eventually we found what we think will do, cheap enough that if we get a year out of them we’ll be happy. More hiking socks were ordered too, this time not white!

For me the rest of the day was an Onslow day, Huan did go out for her evening dancing and music session. I just put antibiotic cream on both my ankles which by this evening were slightly swollen and itching like crazy! Dr. Huan assures me that it can’t have been a snake bite because I am still alive, thank heaven for small mercies.

January 7^th Huan was busy in the kitchen this morning, playing with her new electric griddle so once again no morning walk. The resultant lunch wasn’t bad although I would much prefer a sandwich maker for some good old cheese toasties.

We did get out after lunch which, when the weather is not too hot and the countryside is too far, can be a very quiet and pleasant experience. First off we set off down river to have a closer look at the steps that they are constructing to enable us to cross the dam, when it’s finished. For now I think we can call it the partially completed ‘stairway to heaven’.

Any thoughts we may have had about continuing in that direction today were dashed.

The famous ‘white birds’ gave us a slightly better opportunity today, still nowhere near what I’d like to show you but we’re getting there. This was a solitary bird just our side of the dam.

Further up river and going into town we spotted five together, in this case I thought I would show you the two cropped photos of two and three birds and then all five of them framed by some of the riverside foliage.

Cuddly canines were up next, on our way back into town, the first one being very protective of its little baby while at the same time being too tired to play.

Along the riverbank where the Saturday market usually is, I spotted ‘Bigfoot’ in the distance. Today she was not on a leash and upon hearing my voice came lolloping to meet me. She then stayed ‘at heel’ all the way back to her owners, (you can see them on their phones). They showed me how she can sit and hold out her paw.

Speaking of those paws, this photo may give you an idea of how much growing she still has to do. If we understood correctly, she is now only thirteen months old.

Unusually for me, I had to go ‘out with the boys’ this evening. The ‘boys’ were from Haikou and they were here for Jake’s stag night, his wedding party will be next week. In the typical Chinese way though, Jake is already married having tied the knot in the Chinese equivalent of our Registry Office. Our evening started off with some bowling. Most of the photos I took were terrible, blame the phone, the lighting and probably the most likely culprit, the beer!

If you had been there you would have cringed at the sounds of bowling balls ‘landing’ part way down the alley. Some had never bowled before, others were terribly out of practice, but the hardest part for me, and probably them too, was that the holes in the balls were too small! To add to our difficulties the lanes probably hadn’t been polished for a long time either so we were trying with or without shoes, one even without socks. My highest score was 106, I know, it’s hopeless, but only one person got a higher score, if I remember correctly.

Later on the locals came in so I sidled down to check if they were any better than we were. The short answer is no, they weren’t. Some had realised that the ‘run and slide’ option was not going to work very well so took just a few steps, others stood in one place.

For me, not having bowled since the late 1970s apart from one or two occasions in Harbin between 2007 and 2015, I found it quite a pleasurable experience. The bowling alley itself needs to be better organised and maintained but as it appears to be the only bowling alley in Hainan, one shouldn’t complain too much.

From the bowling alley we moved on to ‘Time’ bar, somewhere Jake had been before but now renamed and under new management. Here’s the gentleman in question with yours truly, and then the remainder of the crew already showing signs of wear!

Apart from some minor contretemps, my fault I am ashamed to say, a good evening was had by all. Due to the unavailability of taxis, the ‘gang’ got a lift back to their hotel in a pick-up carrying sweet melons, although they had to sit in the cab! I walked home trying to clear my head a little. Someone, not me, guess who, yes you’re right, the Minister of Internal Security, in her infinite wisdom had not locked the door; instead she had put the dead lock on! Her phone was in the living room and she was in the bedroom so I couldn’t raise her. Not wanting to disturb the neighbours by hammering on the door, I slept on the floor outside the front door from half past three until half past five, when Huan woke up and phoned me!

January 8^th My solitary brain cell didn’t want to work this morning, it didn’t even want to wake up! However, I did manage to get up just before ten and make the coffees. My body couldn’t stomach breakfast so we still had time for our usual Saturday market walk. Nothing was jumping out at me today, none of the cooked food or snacks looked in the slightest bit inviting either. I was beginning to think, wandering about in my almost dream state that we would have no photos today when we spotted this, a lady with a bird on her head.

We couldn’t get it to walk up Huan’s arm so the lady put it on her head, for me no problem.

Tweety Pie wasn’t happy with my arm though, he had his eye on my head! Whether his owner was worried about that I can’t say but she did rescue him just before he reached the summit!

My brain asked that we not return the same way and that we not go through town where there would be noise and many people so we headed for home on the other side of the river. No more photos for today, Huan did take a couple of a lady and her dog before we crossed the river, she thought the dog liked the owner very much. Those photos are not shown because the dog was a little more than liking its owner. Maybe she didn’t realise either!

Both of us needed an OAP nap today, I’m very out of practice at beer drinking sessions! It should have been my turn to cook as well, a nice beef curry, I decided to postpone until tomorrow. I didn’t fancy slaving over a hot stove.

January 9^th Today was another exploring day, on paved roads for the most part; my new boots have not arrived yet. Our route took us down the Changhao road where the first thing we noticed was that all the fish farms and the farm restaurants on the left side of the road had been closed down and demolished.

We’ll find out why eventually, I just hope it’s not for more high rise apartment buildings! Just after the highway exit ramp we turned down this road, and noticed that the fish farms and ponds on this side were still in operation.

At the bottom of the road you can see above, and with the highway behind me, I took a few shots to create this panorama. The river you see is coming from the left, from Changhao and heading around the bend in the direction of our own river.

We followed the road around the curve of the highway exit ramp and ended up at a restaurant that is still in the process of being built. The building is done but the ponds are empty and the little walkway in the second pond is not finished yet either.

We had to retrace our steps from here, but not before finding a chicken farm under construction underneath the highway. They won’t need to build a roof will they?

Walking back we found a perfect place to set up home, beautiful.

Still having plenty of time we decided to try going under the highway labyrinth, but we did avoid the small square passage. I thought that might be for goats and chickens.

Huan wasn’t so sure here, but a little Q and A got her to suggest we take the right fork, which was correct, the other would have taken us further away from home.

The path did come to an end but we successfully navigated the wooded area without me gaining any more injuries and before too long I realised where we were, passing a farm that I had shown Huan in the past and reaching our very own river again.

We also found a four footed farm friend who wanted to say hello and not warn us off. Luckily, he didn’t want to follow us home.

Of course the goats had to get in the picture too. We saw the farmer today; we know it was him because I got Huan to ask him if that was where ‘the goats lived’. I wonder if he knows how and why they find their way home ever night.

We knew we couldn’t walk all the way home along the riverbank because of the dam builders but Huan reminded me of a path through a small housing complex so we headed off that way. Never before have we seen trucks on this small path but we saw one today! I suppose they have to get to the dam area somehow.

Before long we arrived at what we call Shīfù’s shop. 师傅, means ‘Master’ or qualified worker and he was the ‘site foreman’ when our house was redone in 2015. I was glad to see the shop and buy some water, Huan was happy the fish were still on sale when we reached there.

And here is Shīfù, with his back to us, an old neighbour of ours, Huan with Shīfù’s youngest son, he has four, and two young ladies who may or may not be relatives.

Good news after lunch, my new boots arrived. Of course they are not quite as advertised, they were meant to be waterproof or at least water resistant but a quick look at the tongue shows otherwise. Not to worry, they were cheap enough and will do for our forest walks.

No more photos for today, even though we were both busy in the kitchen. Huan made a lot of dumplings and some flat bread and then when she was done I made a nice beef curry. Maybe we need to start showing you some of our culinary wizardry again!

January 10^th Apart from our weekly shop I have been exceedingly lazy today so at half past eight in the evening I decided to pull my socks up and get today’s post finished so that I can still get this up before tomorrow. How was our weekly shop? Well Baijiahui was still very busy with long queues for weighing and pricing the fruit and veg, I’ll have to convince Huan to go at a different time. Even worse is the fact that they always seem to do their shelf refilling on a Monday morning, this leads to traffic jams in all the aisles!

On the good news front my socks arrived from Taobao today, the hiking ones and the normal ones. The hiking socks seem a little on the thin side but we’ll see once I start wearing them. The normal socks on the other hand were not quite right. I ordered seven pairs, an odd number but that was the choice, all supposed to be the same size.

As you can see from the picture, they obviously don’t have the same meaning of the word ‘same’ as I do! We almost decided to send them back but as they only cost ¥30.00 for the job lot and the return cost would have been at least ¥10.00 I decided to make do.

Another week comes to a close, a bit busier than usual, with a different kind of lock down out. I’ve forgiven the Prime Minister and all the neighbours had a good laugh. Yú said that her husband would have hammered on the door until she let him in, a bit like Fred Flintstone I guess. I jokingly suggested to Huan that she buy a sleeping bag to leave outside the front door just in case of a reoccurrence. She reminded me that we have a sleeping bag that we bought when she had to sleep in the hospital during my operation in 2019! Another quick lesson in the use of keys versus dead locks was given.

We had no ‘Eating Out In China’ video this week, sorry about that but the stag night took precedence. Hopefully we’ll get one out next week. Until then, take care all, we love you! xxx

Bowsers, Shoes, Birds, New Year and more Bigfoot.

December 28^th Escort duties resumed this morning, but only one elegant lady to chaperone and that was Huan of course. Today was another deportment class but Yú had gone ahead earlier for her singing class. After dropping Huan off I passed those poinsettias again, today they were being watered, as were the plants down by the river.

As you can see the bowsers are not the same. In fact they don’t only use them for flowers and plants but also for the roads and paths. Here is one filling up from a fire hydrant, which gets its water from the river and also a photo of the front showing the road cleaning nozzles.

As I was making my way upriver I spotted a bunch of people exercising, or being exercised, under the watchful eye of their trainer. My initial thought was that it was the fire and rescue teams again but seeing the ages and the number of females maybe it was a sports team of some sort, perhaps warming up for the Olympics. Some of them can certainly kick high!

Around this time I thought I had a heart attack, a massive spasm through my chest from one side to the other. However, it didn’t affect my breathing or my walking so I surmised that it was a muscle spasm similar to one I had before in the UAE. Fingers crossed!

This next photo I took only to show Huan flowers on a balcony, she always wants me to look at ours from down below. She was not impressed with this one but for the correct reasons. Neither of us could see any straps or other retainers holding those plants in place so it would be very easy for them to fall. The building is not over a public footpath but there is a possibility of residents within that complex walking underneath!

Walking back along the other side of the river I saw quite a few RVs, the snowbirds are definitely back. This one took a road that was a cul-de-sac before coming back down again where he decided to turn towards town. I did tell him that there was no through road, as you can see he took no notice of my advice.

Walking back on the other side of the river, again, I thought I would stitch this little panorama for you. As you can see we can no longer walk along the irrigation canal, we’ll have to wait for the dam construction to be completed, still a nice view from here though.

Looking across at the other side, where our apartments are, a set of steps has appeared which means we should once again be able to walk down river on that side. More worrying for us are the steps that appear to lead down from our ‘broken road’. If they are to become a permanent fixture we are going to need an access controlled gate there.

Lastly, for my walk, I took a number of photos of the ‘pavillion’ and then asked Huan which one she preferred. She chose this one.

That may be my last walk photo of the day but I do have another collage to show you. My last pair of shoes, the white ones arrived today, so I am now the proud owner of three new pairs of shoes. The white ones were very cheap, around £7.00, the other two were around £32.00 each. Buying shoes is perhaps one of the things that shows your age, I thought they were terribly expensive compared to shoes I’ve bought in the past. I think Huan and I are becoming our parents, always comparing prices with “what they used to be”!

December 29^th Still on escort duty I walked Huan and someone who wasn’t Yú up to the OAP School for their hulusi class. After dropping them off I thought I would have a wander down by the river again and show you the RVs from yesterday. Good idea, spoilt by the fact that most of them had already left. There was one still there though, not bad until you see the rear view.

Our favourite white birds were there again, still just far enough out of range to get a decent photo for you. I had been planning on a better camera for Christmas but the Minister of Finance vetoed that, she had good reason. How about an unusual selfie of me instead?

The shadow was the opposite of what I was walking into, a lovely day.

All the young exercise buffs from yesterday were there again today, some used their language skills to say ‘hello’ and ‘how are you’. I decided that Huan and I should walk this way again tomorrow and find out more.

My route home took me through Bigfoot territory again but there was no sign of her. Her tiny little buddy was there though, nowhere near so jealous when alone but still craving attention. He even nipped me a lot less than he usually does!

Having shown you the one RV I found, I thought I would try for some more electric cars. That was a failure too, just the usual that you’ve seen before plus a Tesla with a child crawling all over the bonnet. At least I got a nice photo on the way there.

My little ‘scare’ yesterday didn’t seem to have any effect on my walking or my breathing but I did have to have an afternoon nap just like yesterday. Perhaps I should have a check up after the New Year, just to be sure.

Huan got called out for a late afternoon practice by the deportment class teacher. It seems she wasn’t happy with their performance on Monday and Tuesday. The hulusi teacher is not so happy either, so they have another practice tomorrow. In fact they will be having a dress rehearsal tomorrow before the show on Saturday. You might think that with all these classes and rehearsals they would be doing a public show. You would be wrong. The show is only for the benefit of the OAP School bosses as an end of year progress review. I have arranged a place for me to sit and video some of it. Huan’s class leaders asked her if I could record the whole show. Luckily for me, Huan said it wasn’t possible. It may be, and I will give it a try, but cameras tend to stop recording after fifteen minutes and often tend to overheat as well.

Duty chef was down to me again this evening so we had fried rice, with a difference. The usual ingredients were there, chopped garlic, chopped spring onions, shredded and chopped carrots; the unusual ingredients were a tin of tuna fish, some tiny dried shrimp and half a tin of sweet corn. Try it, it works!

December 30^th First problem? Can I remember yesterday? Yes, I am writing this on the afternoon of the 31^st. However, photos help you remember, sometimes, so here we go. Huan and the ladies had a dress rehearsal yesterday, an early one so no escort duty for me. With the weather being foggy I stayed in with a plan to walk with Huan after lunch.

Guess what? My plan failed, their deportment teacher decided they all needed another practice, down in the town square. I decided not to walk with them but to go and reconnoitre what is going on just down the road from us.

It is another street fair with amusements and food stalls and according to security it will be there for a few more days. I’ll go again and get some photos with Huan but I did take a few today, mostly to show her when I got home. Here, for your delectation, is Pooh in a bucket!

This is the ‘food street’, quiet in the afternoon.

And here’s a deadly weapon for popping balloons!

From there I headed off to the bridge to nowhere just to get a few kilometres in for today. They decided that it definitely was a bridge to nowhere and blocked all cars, from this side anyway.

And just to prove that the bridge to nowhere still goes nowhere: -

That’s enough of my walk, here’s a snap of the ladies to keep you amused.

My walk took me past the post office today, we had had a call from them yesterday telling us that we had two letters to collect. Now listen here family, I asked you to stop! That sounds bad doesn’t it, but most letters get lost, or take forever. These didn’t get lost. First, posted on 24^th November, was a calendar and a Christmas card. PS It had been opened.

Second, posted on the 18^th October, another Christmas card.

And finally, there was a third letter, one from my pension company, who never seem to understand postal delays. This one was posted on the 24^th September for something due to happen on the 14^th October. At least this time I didn’t have to panic and send emails and couriers!

Where the blame for the delays and/or missing post lies I wouldn’t like to say. All the letters have both English and Chinese on the addresses although the Chinese is in Pinyin. I suppose it would be better if it was in Chinese characters but I can’t really ask everyone to do that. Even if I created stickers and sent them the pension company would not use them, “they have a system which they have to follow”.

The post office generally in China is not too bad, at least here in Wuzhishan they are helpful enough and friendly with it. We also had a nice sticker on the back from wherever the mail was ‘imported’ telling us that the mail has been disinfected outside and that we should quickly disinfect the contents after unpacking.

December 31^st The last day of 2021 arrived, it used to be so important when we were younger, now not so much. The advantage is we can always remember the night before on the 1^st January! Our day started with the OAP School end of year show, put on especially for the school bosses. I didn’t have time to take many photos as I was too busy making a video. Every time I make a show video for Huan I get a copyright claim and the music is sometimes muted so I’ve decided not to bother anymore.

So that you can see something here are a few photos of the morning.

Sorting out videos and Huan’s photos kept me very busy after lunch, too busy really, but we had to go out. Not only was it New Year’s Eve but it was also Friday, video food day. We were both quite tired so decided we would just have a buffet meal but they didn’t have enough dishes ready. Instead we went to a new restaurant called 愿者上钩, Yuàn zhě shànggōu, translates as “The Bait” where the speciality was 纸包鱼, zhǐ bāo yú, translates as “Fish in a Bag”. As always, you can see more here - https://youtu.be/hXjZLG66opo

January 1st The New Year has begun so I had to decide what little snippets to bore you with on the first day of every month. This year I decided to go with “The Lift-Your-Spirits Quote Book” compiled by Allen Klein, ISBN 0-517-16309-8, published in 2001. Now there are far more than 365 quotes in this little book so I will just try and choose one on the first day of every month; here for your soul and inner peace is the first one. It comes from the “Applause” chapter.

Every day, tell at least one person something you like, admire, or appreciate about them. (Richard Carlson) Bob’s PS: - make sure it’s a different person everyday!

My first job of the year was to make sure Huan had a rest for a change. I didn’t bring up the subject of walks until lunch was over and I had cooked the chicken off its bone for dinner. The joint decision was that a short walk around the river would be a good idea, not too far. Before we even reached our little island we had our first photo op, a small pretty bird which Huan insisted I take a snap of. Here it is.

Once over the island we decided to be bad and walk where the sign told us not to.

There were places where the path was substantially narrower than before but it was still passable. We followed the irrigation canal until it turned towards the bridge to nowhere and then we ventured back towards town.

Once back by the river we took our first camera selfie of the year to show you that New Year’s Eve didn’t cause us any damage at all, we’re both still sharp as tacks. PS I have no idea what that mark on my nose is!

Huan had me taking photographs of the ‘big white bird’ before too long and today we had a little more success than usual.

Before too long she was at it again, “look, there’s one of those that the people with the big cameras are always trying to photograph”. She was pointing at a rock where I could just about make out a bird; it turned out to be a kingfisher. This is a more than 75% crop so that you can at least see what it is.

Going back down the riverside, where the market would normally be, (it wasn’t there today, they changed it to yesterday because of the holiday), I gave a whistle and a hand clap to see if my little friends were there. Both the little one with no name and Bigfoot were there today, the little one running free and Bigfoot on a leash.

They both get very jealous of each other if you give them some attention, Bigfoot tries to fight the little one and then the little one tries to nip me. Just look at the look Bigfoot is giving Huan as she takes this photo; I really wish I could take her home with us.

By the time dinner was over Huan was obviously rested enough, she had to go out for her evening hulusi and possible dance practice. At least it’s for fun now with no pressure.

January 2^nd I think Huan must have been more worn out than she realised, it was after eight when she woke up this morning, definitely not like her! Anyway, I sat quietly in the office and left her to her own devices in the living room until lunch time.

After lunch we were both ready for a walk so we took the old favourite, Feicui Park clockwise route. I gave Huan the job of taking the first of what few we took today, I asked her to aim the camera upwards, but forgot to tell her to zoom in!

We got to the bridge where we found another snowbird washing their car, with three more in the queue. I know last time I was a little derisory about them but today, thinking about it, they may live in high rise apartments like we do. Running hoses down many floors is not so easy. We left them to it and went looking for the bird watcher. He wasn’t there but I did find his little ‘cup in a branch’ where he put his mealworms to entice the birds within range.

We debated trying to go further up, or rather Huan did, I made an executive decision and said we needed more practice before exerting ourselves too much. Instead we headed back down, taking this nice panorama for you on the way.

Huan was very happy out in the fresh air today so I managed to get her to pose for me.

Apart from a couple of canine companions that was it for today’s lens work. We did take a slightly longer way home but nothing just jumped out at us. No doubt over the next few weeks, while Huan’s music and other schools are on holiday we will get a lot more nice long walks in.

January 3^rd Back to routine and our first Monday shop for quite a while. Huan was a little worried that the car wouldn’t start as it was two weeks since we last used it. I don’t think she’s ever recovered from our battery problems in the frigid climes of Harbin in the winter.

In Baijiahui, the supermarket, the queues at the vegetable weighing counter were at least thirty metres in either direction and a lot of the fruit and vegetable counters were noticeably empty. Consequently we only bought milk and a few cans, at least the cash desks were not too busy so we were soon on our way.

Some people spend money to put shiny lizards on their cars, maybe silver colour, maybe gold, we don’t have to do that, we have a resident passenger!

Where this little chappie disappeared to we have no idea. He could very well still be in, on or under the car somewhere. All we know is that we didn’t squash him as we drove away.

The town market was inaccessible, for both of us anyway, because there were no free car parks anywhere and too many people, like me, going round and round. No worries, we headed off to the bap market where there may be no baps, but there are car parking spaces and ample fruit and vegetables. All supplies were found but much to Huan’s horror at higher prices than in the supermarket. She may be right, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have much idea.

And so we come to the end of another week, with me falling asleep in front of the computer after lunch and Huan going out after dinner. Oh what an exciting life we lead! Let’s see if we can go for a nice long walk tomorrow. This is Bob and Huan signing off, until next time, take care y’all!