I did just that, despite nursing a bit of an injury, and it was terrific to get out in the sublime conditions amongst the greenery and beside the rushing streams. I find myself drifting off a little walking these trails: it’s a good thing, because sometimes I snap out of my revelry and realize I’m nearly at the end of a section and have somehow solved a few minor problems without even giving them too much thought. I also have a rather strange habit of replaying Chinese phrases in my head and sometimes (not always!) have a little better understanding or memory of them at the end of the walk.
Cass took the opportunity to have a little sleep in on the weekend after a big week preparing for and then hosting her book club at our place on Friday night. It was a great success, even though I think she’s getting a little sick of cooking a pavlova every time they come. Some of the other members love it so much they just insist that it be on the menu! She cooked them some Tex-Mex bean entrée kinda thingy (no doubt this is a very strange description of the dish for which I’ll be chastised) and the old faithful “Salmon muck” (same!), also known as Salmon Mornay, which is one of our all time favourites. The “girls” didn’t eat it all, so I’ve been the beneficiary of some very tasty leftovers this weekend..yeh!
I’ve suffered a flare up of an old injury I had back in the triathlon days unfortunately. My regular aerobic regime of either climbing stairs, or replicating this climbing on a seriously inclined treadmill was going extremely well until I recently started feeling an odd pain in my right knee. It seemed vaguely familiar, but I knew it wasn’t a medial ligament problem (which I had surgery to alleviate some years ago) so dismissed it as just a training ache. Soon enough I realized why it was so familiar: it was the old overuse injury of the iliotibial band stretched down my right leg over the outside of the kneecap. I’d stupidly stopped wearing the orthotics that had corrected the problem originally, as I was “just walking” and not doing the crazy distances I used to pound out on hard surfaces. I was so stupid! I’ve had to start using the orthotics again, and I’m slowly building up strength ….I just hope I haven’t worn it away too far! Anyway, I’m getting the idea that I have to just be a touch more careful in my training as a person of advancing years!
As Chinese New Year rapidly approaches, our thoughts have turned to how to get rid of a stealthily rising amount of “stuff”. In years gone by, residents would just start dumping all manner of unwanted furniture, appliances etc etc on street corners where city workers would come along in trucks to collect it. The trouble was that other people would join the party until the piles of rubbish would start encroaching on the road and inhibit traffic flow! In order to stop this, individuals can now telephone to have stuff picked up. We have arranged for a truck to come tomorrow morning, so we’ll leave the stuff out tonight. We have old computer monitors, keyboards, fans, a clothes dryer, an old TV and DVD player etc etc. This was a little confronting for us as we realized that all this stuff was bought brand new when we arrived and it has gradually either broken down or become obsolete…how long have we been here now?! Anyway, we’re looking forward to a good old “spring clean”.
We’ve just got this week and next before we get a week off for Chinese New Year, and that will be welcome. Photos: (I’ll post this evening) are all of little spots along the trails of lower Yangminshan.