Today I walked into the old city and there was a fair bit of traffic around although not many people were walking. I didn’t wear my mask but I had it with me because people were a bit thin on the ground and wearing the mask will do me more harm than good. When I did come face to face with someone I got strange looks and maybe a wee bit of fear in the eyes as they gave me a wide berth.

This is the first time I have been in the old city since all this hullabaloo virus thingamajig appeared on the scene and I had forgotten just how stupid, ignorant, selfish and inconsiderate most of the drivers are. I had quite a few confrontations mainly because I refuse to give way if I have the right of way and I force a situation. One such situation was when I was crossing on a green man and an Audi A8 was coming around the corner and didn’t want to stop until I was right in front of his grill. We stared at each other for a few seconds as the car lurched to a halt and the other pedestrians that stopped for the car were looking at me. Without so much as a blink of an eye I finished crossing the road. It’s this kind of arrogant behaviour that gets on me tits and I would love to carry a baseball bat for this sort of occasion and then I could give them a persuasive reminder of how to behave. Alas I am not allowed to do that even in China.

I’m not going to miss the driving etiquette or lack thereof when I leave China. I’m returning to Australia for a while and I have to admit that they do drive a little bit better than the Chinese and are not so eager to use their horns and usually they don’t drive on the kerb with Ebikes but maybe all that has changed, I guess I’ll find out on Sunday.

And so I am at a bit of a juncture at this point in time, what to do next and where to go. I’ll go back to Australia for a month or so and see how I feel being back. I really would like to get another car and go on a bit of a road trip which might be good fun. I would really prefer to do the road trip in the UK but that might be a bit more difficult but you never know, where there is a will there might be a way.

I’m also thinking that I might just go back to my house and potter in the garden and go back to the simple life, although maybe a little boring but if I could get a part time job for a little while, put some money back in the bank and maybe buy a new car…………….

So I walked 10km’s today and when I got back home I was knackered. I did get up at 6am and after breakfast I went to the park and then to the shops to buy me messages and then after lunch did me 10kms so I’ve had a busy day and too much coffee but I am feeling that if my head hits the pillow I will fall down into the wormhole of sleep and not surface for some time. It’s only the back of 4pm so it might be a little bit early to retire for the evening. I hope my last coffee kicks in a bit more to keep me going.

So it’s five days to go till my flight and yes I am counting. My suitcase is just about packed, it sits at 18kgs and I have 5kgs to spare but I still have a few more things to fit in yet. I’m not too sure just how strict the airlines will be, but as I have a connecting flight in Australia on a smaller plane I am thinking that they might give me a bit of grief but I’ll just have to play the sympathy card and see how I go. I’ll keep the beard long and unkempt looking and they might just take pity on me after my 10 hour flight from Shanghai to Sydney.

I’m ready to leave now 🙂