A quick reality check😆

Well there are many great things in life that are 57 apart from myself of course. You can also have a 57 Chevrolet, Heinz 57 or even a 5.7 Litre V8. Fifty-seven is the sixteenth discrete semi prime and the sixth in the (3.q) family also just in case you didn’t know and of course in Binary it is 111001₂

I even think that 57 sounds a lot better than 56, I think 56 sounded so awkward but now I feel a whole lot more comfortable being 57, but of course I don’t look a day over 35. What’s the secret to my good looks well I think it must be all the oil that the Chinese use in their cooking, I’m slowly becoming preserved as I eat my dumplings and other foods. It’s not such a bad thing I guess if you look this good.

I went out with friends on Saturday night to the French Paradox Restaurant in Suzhou, I haven’t been to a French Restaurant for many years and to be honest I haven’t missed it one bit. I actually went for my 40th with my then girlfriend. But on Saturday Nicky and Karl invited me out with friends and it turned out to be a surprise Birthday bash which was just bloody marvelous.

it was a lovely we place although the prices were enough to give you palpitations. I was encouraged to have Beef Tartare which for the uninitiated is raw beef, but hey I just had some raw Salmon too.

It was an interesting dish but not one I’ll be running back to that’s for sure, I like my meat cooked just a little and to be honest it was more about the texture which was just not enjoyable. The platter on the other hand had real cheese and ham which was marvelous but the Foie gras you can keep. Those crazy French have some weird tastes. Give me Black Pudding any day.

WE had cake to finish and the owner was kind enough to give us all a glass of bubbly to wash it down. It was a night I’ll remember for a long time.

You will notice that there are no candles because they could not find a cake big enough to fit them all on.

As the temperature increases the streets become quieter and more folk stay inside their homes or go to the shopping centre for some relief from the heat. I can’t stay inside for too long as I feel I will go stir crazy, so I often leave the house and do this too.

I will often ride on the metro because it’s closer to my apartment and I’ve noticed that as the temperature is rising there are more and more people heading down into the stations. There are long corridors and the stations are quite large and so many of the old or those with young families come down here for a few hours to escape the blistering heat. There are labourers sleeping here trying to miss the mid day sun. It looks like a war zone at times with bodies everywhere but the good thing is that the authorities don’t seem too concerned and so they are left alone. 

Not liking summer when I don’t have a car, fuck it’s hot.  The humidity is also a killer, but as Clarkson says “you don’t have to pee much! 

Well it would have been my Mothers birthday today if she was still with us, so Happy Birthday Ma and it gives me a great excuse to have a single Malt

Slainte

Looks like I’ll be dead and buried if I take the minimum payment option, ……….but I’m also thinking of the money I might save………..

On my return to Suzhou I’ve noticed that the cicadas are out in force. There are many streets here that are lined with trees and when you are walking along the sound of the cicadas is deafening just as it is when you hear them in Australia. This was some what unexpected to say the least. But on the plus side it does drown out the traffic noise

I had a lazy morning in my Shanghai hotel which is only a short journey back to the airport where I will get the shuttle bus to Hongqiao Railway Station, from here I can get a train to Suzhou.

I repacked my cases so that I did not have to struggle with too many things. I had done quite a bit of shopping but not all of it was for me. I had brought back some coffee for myself and some fish and calcium tablets for Nai Nai, the grandmother in my home stay family. I had a Bowmore single malt and I had also bought some clothes which were cheaper to buy in Australia than China. They are now mostly made in Bangladesh. I also had a pair of Doc Martens for my Chinese teacher But my cases were heavy, one weighing around 28kg and the other about 13kg but still it’s still an effort to get on and off public transport and there are so many people in China to add to an already awkward situation.

The train from the Hongqiao to Suzhou was full by the look of it and it was becoming so hot as we stood in line waiting for the gate to open. Finally on the train and I take my seat for a short time and let the air conditioning slowly dry the sweat that has been running down my back and front. I’m still wearing my winter heavy jeans which are making it all the worse but I don’t have shorts to put on. The humidity has also been very high but I’m not sure just how hot it is yet.

As the train pulls into Kunnshan Railway Station the outside temperature is displayed on the LED and it says 37.2c, fuck that’s hot. No wonder the sweat has been running everywhere on me making things very unpleasant. But there is a silver lining in all of this because Judy, the wonderful lady of the house has offered to pick me up and bring me home and I am so grateful to her for doing so. It’s a short walk to the pick up/drop off zone and she sends me a message to say that she is only a few minutes away and sure enough I see her burgundy coloured Mercedes in the queue of cars. What a welcome sight indeed.

She has just finished a business meeting and came straight here to get me and she jumps out the car to give me a hand to put my cases in the boot. She looks absolutely stunning standing there with her polka dot summer dress on and pink soled high heels and big smile, yes it’s good to be back and I forget all about the heat for a few seconds.

In the car it’s just wonderful and I embrace the air conditioning with every naked part of my body which is only really my hands and arms. The traffic is worse than usual because it’s Friday and its rush hour, so not a good time to be heading home. But I’m always surprised at how calm and controlled Judy is when she is driving. She never seems to get flustered or annoyed by any other driver and I’m not so sure I would handle the drive home as calmly as she did. She is one of the few drivers that I trust here.

The house is so hot because it has been in locked up all day, plus the fact it’s the top floor so I switch on the air conditioning and take a cold shower, but that’s after I carry my overweight cases up to my room. When I look in the mirror at my disheveled look I notice that my shirt is covered in dark patches due to the amount of sweat oozing out of every pore.

A cold shower and a change of clothes and then it’s out to dinner.

When I got to duty free I had my eye on a bottle of whisky but what to do when they don’t have the one you want? Well I’ll tell you,  you have a tasting. I tried four whiskies before settling on a Bowmore single malt. I like this kind of breakfast 😆