The balance of the house is currently off kilter, Sissi has been away for a few days and her friend has been staying here. His name is “Chunxin” and he is a nice enough guy but there are those cultural differences that still get on my tits.

Water of course is in abundance and the tap will never run dry and so it’s OK to leave it on full pelt and then walk away from the sink while I do something else. I thought I only had to contend with the young guy that is currently living here but now there are two.

Breakfast for me is an enjoyable part of the day, I mean after a good nights sleep it’s just great to wake up again and to celebrate I like to have my breakfast and sit out on the balcony and watch the neighbourhood wake up, I don’t want to have to listen to the gums slapping noises that one gets when food is consumed in a Chinese household. I also can’t enjoy it when I here the tap water being whisked down the sink for 5 mins when there are only two dishes to be cleaned.

The smell of stale breath is a stomach turning event for me and the stale smell of noodles on ones breath is almost enough to make me vomit. I just don’t understand why you would get up and then go and clean your teeth, have breakfast and think that this is the correct order of events. Don’t you usually clean your teeth after you eat. Just sayin’

We have two bathrooms in this flat thankfully, one for the guests and one for myself and Sissi. Sissi is a very clean person and knows how to work the mat that you stand on when you come out the shower. It’s something that I am really happy about and you must be thinking”get a grip wee man for fucks sake” but let me say this………….you go and have a shower after the average Chinese person and you will see what I mean. Water is all over the floor and the once clean floor is now covered in footprints from wet shoes and feet. The mop sits in the corner staring at you because it’s waiting to be used. it hates me because I don’t use it. Our friend Chunxin hasn’t quite worked out the process of how to use the floor mat and it’s not a joy to use the shower after him but it’s way better than the guest bathroom. The young French girl that is here at the moment was discussing with me the hygiene of the young guy that’s here and that he has no fuckin idea what to do with the mat. I would hate to use that bathroom. And of course he is also just another teenager that won’t listen to any adult when given a trinket of wisdom and even more so I would imagine when it comes from a grumpy old foreigner. I’m looking forward to him leaving.

While I’m here I may as well get this off me chest. He washes his clothes and so that’s all good but he often leaves his clothes in the washing machine and so if anyone else wishes to use it they either have to remove his clothes or wait for him. Sissi has often hung his clothes up when he does this but I will not and so I just throw them on the bench and he can find them next time he visits the laundry. Dry clothes are not removed from the laundry they just hang there taking up room and so when someone else needs the space it’s limited.

The washing machine door is closed after use and so is does not get dried out, another small irritating thing.

Every morning he makes dumplings or noodles and he just can’t clean the dishes properly, he uses only water with no detergent and will use the a cloth rather than the rough sponge to clean the dishes. as I sit here he is eating his breakfast and so I have removed the cloth this morning and I will wait to see what he will do. Will he finally use the correct tools for the job or will he just use his hand as he has done on many occasions.

No wonder I have lived on my own for so many years……………

So he has just finished his breakfast and he is once more using his hands to clean the dishes with no detergent, I couldn’t give a fuck if they were his own dishes but they belong to the house and so everyone may use them and as I say his hygiene is not the best so I’m not too keen in using any utensils after he has had his mankiy paws all over them. How the fuck do you train such an animal, why can’t he understand this simple process.

As much as I complain about these things I also find it fascinating to see how other folk do things and I’m sure they will do some things better than me and vice versa. Wasting water is something I hate and it’s not only in China I see this, Ken in Scotland will happily let the tap run because he has told me that we will never run out of water there because of the amount of rain that falls, this may be true but I just don’t like to waste anything.

And so because life is out of kilter I am less tolerant than usual if you can believe that and I’m hoping that after this weekend everything will settle into a more harmonious state. Although the young guy is still here for another month but if I time things right I won’t have to see him. There is another guy moving in for a month on Saturday when the French girl leaves and he is quite civilised I think.

Just before I go I will leave you with one more observation. Like most Chinese Chunxin spends the greater part of his day on his phone and I can’t comment too much on this because I also use my phone quite a bit. In the metro on the street people are walking, talking, sitting………..they watch movies, they read the news, they play games but one thing I don’t get is why you would watch someone else playing a computer game………..it’s a big thing in Asia and not just in China. Many young kids will spend hours watching their favourite gamer and the gamers can make a lot of money too. The human race is really on the verge of turning into complete and utter vegetables.