I’ve invested heavily in a pair of slippers for my feet and now they are very happy indeed.  The weather has turned cold and I fear that winter is just around the corner.  The beanie, scarf and North Face jacket are all being worn regularly and it’s not really cold yet.  I hear the figure of -10c being banded about and to be honest I find this quite terrifying. It’s been many years since I have experienced such cold and such misery 😣

Ah only kidding. …..I’m looking forward to complaining everyday about how fucking cold it is.😆

I also bought a new quilt as the summer one I had was not as effective anymore, plus the fact my fat reserves are getting used up rapidly. Which is OK but I’ll soon have to buy new breeks as well at this rate.  As me Ma would say ” they’re hangin’ half way doon ma arse”

So anyway ma new quilt is made from Camel hair, but not sure why is says sheep on the box.  Maybe they are one and the same here. 

But whatever it’s made of it kept me very warm last night, or it could have been the 3 glasses of Spanish red wine.  But I’m sure my sheepycamel was a good investment. 

Haven’t seen it in years but it’s still a great movie…..

Well the pollution levels in Suzhou are definitely better today than they were a few weeks ago, but then again the downside is that is pissing down with rain once more 😣😣 It’s rained so much in the last couple of weeks I’m not sure where it’s coming from.  Last week there was the typhoon in the south of China that brought the rain, but I’m not sure what the excuse is this time. 

I’m finding it a bit difficult to adjust to life without a car because since the age of 17 I’ve had my driving licence and a car.  I drove everywhere and enjoy my driving.  I like driving in the rain because I grew up in Scotland and got lots of practice.   It rained a lot in Scotland but I had my car so it was no problem. Now if I have to go to the shops I have to carry everything home and it gets wet,I get wet.Shoes, trousers and jacket.

 I remember my friend Christine telling me that she can be stuck in the house for days sometimes because of the weather.  At home I don’t have that problem because I go down to the garage and into the car. I buzz the door open and drive out and then I always enjoy pressing the button and watching the door close.  As far as I’m concerned it was the best $500 I spent on the house, well next to my day bed. I Can drive to the nearest shopping centre with an undercover carpark,park the car and still not get wet. I miss that.

So now I’m in China living on the fourth floor of an old building, with draughty windows.  It’s cold and damp and I’m really not looking forward to winter. I hear it gets down to -10c in winter so I think I’m going to need a wee bit more than ma wellies if that’s the case. 😣

I was out at public speaking event tonight and they had a guest speaker that was a bit of a character and very confident.  He was sat quite close to the front because he was assessing some of the speakers but I must admit I was very surprised when he lifted one cheek and then let a big wet one rip. And you know to my amazement no one batted an eye lid, not even the young girl that was sitting quite close to him. 😆😆😆

I bought a 29 rmb bottle of Chinese Merlot and I’m quite surprised that it’s not too bad, although in saying that I wouldn’t want to drink too much.  I had a couple of glasses and I can feel a bit of a wee niggle in the skull,  so I’d say that in moderation it’s OK. 

It’s a bit fruity, a bit light and a pleasant after taste. So along with a meal I think it’s acceptable but I would drink it on its own. 

I popped along to see what the Suzhou Toastmasters was like and I really enjoyed it.  As you may or may not know, I am part of a wonderful group called the Bremer Forum. I first joined this organisation to have the confidence to be able to stand up in front of a group of people and give a talk or a speech and I have been able to do that for the most part quite comfortably. So last night I went along to the Toastmasters which is very different to the Bremer Forum. In forum we learn about procedure,how to chair a meeting and of course how to develop yourself to become a confident speaker. From my short introduction to Toastmasters it seems that there are different levels that you need to achieve and you must meet a certain criteria before you progress. Thankfully this is an English-speaking meeting and I was the only native speaker there and I was very impressed with the level of English and also the quality of the speeches.

One segment I was able to take part in was Table Topics. This is impromptu speaking,  where you have 2 minutes to talk to a subject and you have to be coherent and have structure to your speech.  Guess what I won 😆 the native speaker won , mind you I think they were just being nice. 

But I’m looking forward to going along next week to get some more mental stimulus and of course to meet some new people which will make my stay in China so much better. 

I came across these wonderful delicacies while I was strolling through the market but just couldn’t decide which one to try. ….

Last Monday was the start of one of the biggest movements of people in the world. Many Chinese head home to see families and many will just go on holiday. If you want to be play tourist, it’s not a good time to do so as everywhere is so busy.  But what I find quite interesting is the fact that when everyone stops for work on the previous Friday,they then have the whole week off. You may think that is great because you have the 9 days off, well not in China because that’s not how it works here. 

Everyone returns to work on the Saturday and everyone thinks that this is OK because they have just had 7 days off, but now they have to work the next 7 days to make up for some of the time.  So this really means that if they have their normal weekend off and then the holiday starts on Monday then they really only get 3 days holiday because they have to work the following weekend.  Confused? But the thing is most people think they have just had 7 days off work. Well technically they have.  It’s brilliant and no one complains ’cause this is China😆

And what’s not to like about Bowmore Single Malt Whisky?

Although the bottle is not quite as full anymore.

Cheers

Cars and glamour aplenty in Suzhou today (Saturday ) and for the next week. All the usual big names were there including many Chinese brands. One Chinese car even looks suspiciously  like a Porsche.

Mind you it’s about 3/4 size of the real Porsche.

It was extremely noisy in the halls. There doesn’t seem to be any regulation in the volume levels you can create. This mind you is common all over China. Businesses play loud music to lure you into their establishment, but to be honest all it really does is make your ears bleed. So in the car show I put on my headphones to try and make it more bearable. Listening to Ramstein on full volume would have done less damage to my ears. 

Of course the beauty of a Chinese car show is that there are still plenty of scantily clad young ladies to feast your eyes on. 

And some had a bit more class. ..

I liked this young lady because she gave me a wry smile after someone walked in front of me the first time I tried to take her picture. 

At the American Cadilac stand there were two predictable white folks there standing like statues. The bloke was like the typical Jock college kind a guy that really looked uncomfortable wearing a suit and may I add, looked as thick as pig shit.

The young lady was the typical blonde, tall and skinny but the evening dress did look a bit cheap. But she still seemed to attract many many admirers.Ken and Barbie I presume? 

But there were also some really nice cars here and afterall that’s the reason why a lot of us were here. In fact there were many customers signing up for a new car on the day and there were plenty of young sales people sitting patiently with pens at the ready. 

The New Jaguar SUV

The lovely Rolls Royce

The Tesla SUV

The Bentley SUV

But you know the best is still the Range Rover by far. And I could have bought one here for just under 2 million RMB.And you know, even if I had that kind of money I certainly wouldn’t want to drive it in a country where the driving is so bad. I would say it’s scary when  your sitting as passenger because you’re not in control of the car. But if I was allowed to drive here I would become very aggressive and I think I would give no quarter. 

China is a country where there are millions of learner drivers and a lot of them are in shiny new cars. They don’t think ahead, their lane discipline is shocking. They stop where they feel like it, even on an outside lane. Many of them are not only talking on their phones but looking at them. It’s a miracle there are not more accidents because they don’t seem to perceive potential situations and adapt their driving to suit. It’s either flat out or hand on the horn and hopefully that will make the problem go away. 

And so back to the car show. It was interesting to see the European cars beside their American counterparts because it just shows how they are world’s apart.  There’s the brash and unsophisticated American design and then the more refined European.

 I do like Yank tanks and I saw a few in Thailand recently and I would have anyone one of them over anything currently on offer from America.

What’s not too like? 

But one more must have for your car and this is a lovely set of eye lashes for your head lights to give it a certain je ne sais quoi