The weather has changed this week. I was in my shorts last weekend, but I had to get my jumper out on Thursday. Last night I even had to get the heater out. Brrr! It was much nicer in Shanghai when it was warm - not hot, just warm.
It's so nice being in a flat of my own, and no longer in the hotel. Mind you, it was quite a few days before I got the place to myself! Work continued on the flat until Tuesday. It's all finished now, and I can start to settle in. It's just as well – as my stuff from Russia is arriving on Monday. It was a bit scary on Friday as I received an email from the removal company saying that the boat had arrived last Monday and my stuff had cleared customs, but that there was import tax to pay before I could get my stuff. I was intrigued by the calculation, though. The most expensive item was my 6-speaker surround sound system. The tax was £60 – about the same as I paid for it 3 years ago!! Another surprise was the £20 for 50 DVDs. The surprise – I had sent about 400!!! Luckily, it seems that Michelin will pay the tax. I'm so looking forward to being reunited with my stuff. I hope it fits in!! I've scouted out the bike park for Sheila's bike. You know – the bike I borrowed from her 5 years ago. It spent 3 years in Russia, and is now in China. I can't believe that I will be riding a bike in China. Mind you, with the traffic around here, I'm not sure how well I will cope. I will also have to register my bike, and pay it's road tax. I've had competing advice though, some folks think that the tax has been abolished, but I might have to go to the police station to ask!!
So, the flat: it's on the 18th floor, and has 2 bedrooms, plus a bedroom/study. There's a smallish kitchen and a sitting-room/dining room with a balcony. There's a panoramic view of sky-scrapers. Oh, and there's 2 bathrooms! One of the bathrooms has a Japanese toilet. It's a combination toilet/bidet. I decided to see how it worked, so I plugged it in, and pushed one of the buttons. I was standing in front of the toilet, and saw a plastic tube move into the middle of the bowl, and squirt water – straight at me! My shorts and T-shirt were soaked in the couple of seconds it took for me to jump out of the way. The wall took the brunt of the power-wash until I pulled the plug out of the wall. Don't think I'll be trying that again for a while – well, I might have a go with the heated toilet seat!!!
I went out to get a pizza the other night – I don't have any pots yet!! There was a queue of 20 people outside Pizza Hut, can you believe that? So, I ordered take-away, and was told to pick it up in 30 mins. Hmm. What to do for 30 minutes? Oh, the pizza place in at the entrance to an electronics market, full of gadgets and computer stuff. What else could I do, but have a wander! The time just flew by, and I managed to resist spending – at least that visit!!
I went back to a DVD shop I'd visited with Sheila (where I'd been awarded a VIP card on my first visit!!!). Well, it's changed a lot. I walked in, and was then escorted to a door in the back corner, which my escort knocked on. The door was unlocked and I was allowed into the inner sanctum. It was full of people looking at DVDs. The selection was much poorer than it was the previous time, but they've probably had some problems selling dodgy DVDs! I'll need to try a few other places.
I've decided that it's no fun being tall!! Believe it or not, I'm one of the tallest people around!! I was brought home to me on Sunday night as I put a film in the DVD player and got the ironing board out. It was tiny!! I had to sit on the arm of the chair to be able to do the ironing. Who'd ever of thought?
I was getting a bit irritated last weekend, as the Chinese folk tend to just wander down the street. There's no sense of urgency, and you just walk as slowly as you can. There as so many of them in the street that it's really difficult to get past them all at a normal pace. This weekend, it got even worse. Unfortunately, the Chinese don't share my aversion to umbrellas, so as they were wandering and I was dodging, they kept hitting me in the head with the spokes of the brolly – ouch!!
It looks like I can't send photos to my blog. I'm not all out of ideas, but it'll just be words for a while. Humph!!
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