All posts by Shug

Bitter

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I arrive at the venue, I warm up the bones,

Do some stretches and feel the body moan,

I warm up my arms and get the body warm,

Just like the car in a darkened winter’s morn,

My legs soon forget the cold, but my hands get worse,

I feel that they are burning from the ice cold touch,

My fingerless gloves give my hands some protection,

But the bars are so cold, I need a thermal injection.

 

 

I go to the park wearing my shorts and a shirt,

Every morning since May, but this morning it hurt,

Fingers were numb and the bars were so cold,

I’m either a bit stupid or maybe a little bold,

Bystanders and commuters stare in disbelief,

I do some sit ups to get some relief,

From the cold and the cutting wind,

But don’t stop for too long,

Or the wind will blow off your thong………

 

 

A lap of the park to get the heart pumping blood,

Circulate the heat and work that butt,

Fingers move like playing a flying concerto,

And accompany swift feet pounding the ground,

Another lap done, that’s another round.

Chin ups and pull ups and push ups too,

Fire up the muscles with lingering burn,

Stretch the other way to let the acid run,

My breathing is heavy, I rest between reps,

Do some more sit ups and then some more steps,

One more lap and just one more round,

My fingers complain as the snow hits the ground,

It’s just above freezing my body is tired,

And that hot shower is looking good,

I think it’s time I retired,

For today………..

 

Tis Chilly

This morning the mercury has begun to drop and the rain seems to have set in for the day and so I will not be going for my early morning constitutional which is a bit of a bugger. If the rain was not on I would slip into me shorts and head off to the park where most folk must think I’m mad because I seem to be the only one there wearing this attire.A few days ago it was a balmy 18C and it was very pleasant, but for some reason in Suzhou the weather seems to change season almost overnight. On Monday they predicted that by the weekend the snow would be here and the temperature would barely make it above 3C and by the feel of this morning I think we are on course to meet that prediction.Last night I even dragged out my thermals that I bought in Harbin two years ago. Harbin is in the north of China and this is where they have the ice festival once a year. It barely gets up over -15Cduring the day and the temperature usually hovers around -30C at night. However Suzhou will not get anywhere near this but it still feels chilly because the houses are not designed for the elements, they are only here to provide shelter against the rain and not the heat or cold. Vast windows in the living room let the heat in and out very efficiently but if you close the curtains then you are left sitting in a darkened room cut off from the outside world making it feeling worse. And I don’t want to put on the air conditioning because it’s not really healthy to sit in it all day.If I didn’t have to go out today then I would be very happy, but unfortunately I have to venture out around lunchtime and then go to my lesson this afternoon and of course I won’t get back until 8:30 this evening, but at least I’ll be warm in the class. I dug out my drizabone coat which is perfect for this weather.So the next biggest problem I have for day is trying to decide where I shall eat. There are so many places and so much to choose from but on a day like today I think that you need to get it right. I like Japanese but it just would be right for such a cold day. Noodles are always good because they can come with soup, but I never feel content after eating them, I always feel that I want something else. And so as I sit and write I think it will be the Muslim restaurant near the metro station which will deliver the most satisfaction on such a miserable day. I like days like this when the biggest decision I need to make is “What to have for lunch?”

 

A pair of Bananas

Sissi and I went out on Sunday at different times and with different friends and we were catching up later to go to an event in the cultural centre and to our surprise we ended up looking like a pair of bananas. 

              “Great minds think alike and fools seldom differ”

Hunt for coffee

So today I started my search for a new place to have coffee and I came to the Sparrow Coffee cafe which I’ve been to before but today I was very disappointed with the coffee. It was no better than hot water with a hint of coffee, it was so so weak, which is a pity because everything else about this place is ok.

Big Polis truck

I saw this the other day in Suzhou and I’m thinking that this is the kinda thing I want to drive around here. I mean look at the size of the fucker, who’s going to mess with you when you drive down the street in this? You can go anywhere you want and by the look of it park anywhere you want. On the front wing is says T-Rex in red writing which I think is a rather elegant touch to such a beast of a machine. Even the black is intimidating. I didn’t want to get too close to it or even take the picture, I asked Sissi to take it just in case they thought that I was spying for Trump or something like that. You have to be careful in these tariff days……….

The Bliss Cafe

My favourite cafe closes next week, which is very sad because not only will I not have a place to go and enjoy my coffee and have my lessons but I will no longer to be able to chat to Pei Jun, the owner of the cafe. She is from Taiwan but she spent her high school years in the UK studying and so she has a grasp of the UK culture, language and so I can be very vague at times when I’m talking about the UK because she has quite an understanding of the subtlety of the place. We have many common denominators which is not what I expected to find in China and even more surprising is the fact that she is a Chinese and not western. Well she is actually from Taiwan which makes her views a bit more liberal and of course she knows what life is like outside this vast country.

I had been going to the cafe for about two months or so every week to have a lesson with Amy. One day a women asked me if I spoke Chinese and I said that I could speak a little. She then started on a very fast monologue of which I caught very little and of course my face must have said as much and it was at this point Pei Jun came up and said to me that the woman was wanting an English teacher for her 10 year old child and then I quickly said no. I was taken aback when she spoke English to me and I was also very surprised because her English is way better than many of the so called English teachers that I have met here and some of them are native speakers. I was also very surprised because I had often come in and struggled a little asking for coffee or something else and not once did she let on that she could speak English so well. I guess she was sussing me out before she opened her mouth. Since that day we have had some great times having a laugh about life and the cultural differences and of course reminiscing about the UK.  

A new chapter begins for us both, she will be heading back to Taiwan for a while to figure out what to do and me I have to find a new place to go to have a good coffee. There are more and more cafe’s appearing around the place but the quality and the prices are not good. At the Bliss Cafe the coffee is only 18 RMB and it’s good, there is of course a Starbucks on every corner but I wouldn’t be going there for any of that muck. There is a bakery called 85c which I often go to to buy bread and they have coffee which can be a bit hit and miss but it’s only 10 RMB. So I will have to go around and see what I can find. I still make my own coffee at home but I do enjoy going out and sitting in a cafe reading or just generally chilling for a while.

And so when I find my new haunt I will let you know and share my thoughts of course.

The Ming Art Gallery

Today Sissi and I went to the Ming Gallery near Jinji Lake. It’s in a very affluent part of Suzhou and I very rarely go here but today we went because of the exhibition of watercolours from local and international artists. See for yourself the detail in some of the pictures below and of course the photos don’t really do them justice.