I had a good Spanish lesson this morning, in which I practiced trying to use particular grammatical structures, trying to force them into my brain. It was a tiring lesson, so it must have been working. The GF and I then went off to Serenity, the only restaurant that feels like dining out in the […]
Other side of the lake
The next morning, after a good breakfast, we got a drop to the Wenwu (civil / military) temple, thinking that Friday would be a good day to go since this was one of the most popular spots and would be sure to be thronged on a weekend, even in this time of coronavirus. For me, […]
Day in two halves
Yesterday, Sunday, was a day in two halves. The first was a highly successful trip to a new farmer’s market, about 20 minutes walk away, with excellent and varied produce. It will be a regular stop, I think. I had some lovely drinks there as well – it was another hot day: first a watermelon […]
Far north
Saturday morning began with a very long overdue chat with an old university friend who, like everyone else I know, is in lockdown. She is an academic at a well-known US university, and it was interesting to hear how they, and her students, have been dealing with it all. This is one of those friends […]
More people
After moaning yesterday about too much sociability, today was even worse: the GF and I both felt we had been in hiding too much and so we made a plan with our flatmates to go for a stroll and visit the national museum (not the National Palace Museum) and then meet our linguist friend for […]
More rarified
A slightly more rarified dinner than usual as it was a celebration day and we went to one of the small, expensive and experimental places for dinner last night. It was a nice dinner, and less blighted by the various dietary restrictions than usual. At the end was a souffle, which made me wish that […]
An ozzy brunch
The four of us decided to go for brunch today. This is a meal that enrages me more often than not as it is all too often over-priced, mediocre in flavour, more interested in Instagrammable plating or catching trends than quality food. Plus, the sight of hollandaise sauce from a packet, or a baked-from-frozen croissant, […]
On my own
A very pleasant day today, on my own terms for once. It was a working day but unexpectedly light as something didn’t come in when it was supposed to. Meanwhile the GF had a meeting at lunchtime, so I went off by myself, first to a very well known lo rou fan place where I […]
More distancing
Yesterday morning the GF and I walked westwards, through the Botanical Gardens which were small, but free and very pleasant. I do like tropical botanical gardens, the wild lushness combined with being well-kept. The streets were quite quiet, late morning on a Sunday, and Easter I suppose, though there were few indications of that despite […]
Relieved sigh
Our visas have come through, phew. It always seemed likely they would, and really, given the global lockdowns where could we go, but it’s still a relief. After our Chinese lesson this morning we went straight to the Bureau of Consular Affairs to collect our passports. There was about a 10 minute wait, then we […]