A morning on my own

Wuhu is a really pleasant city and I am noticing this more and more.
This morning, Joe and Ahmir had their classes, which started at 7.45. Luckily, mine are this afternoon today so I got a morning on my own. I normally relish the prospect of going for a stroll on my own, getting a bit of fresh air and thinking about pressing issues of the day or, more often, nothing at all. But, once again, I felt pretty self-conscious that the walk, initially, was not massively relaxing.

Nevertheless, I was a girl with a mission; I needed to buy loo roll for the flat and also some milk, so I simply had to face Walking Street and get to Century Mart (one of the two big multi-storey supermarkets in town - Joe calls it Super Mega Century Mart because this suits it so well). Today, it is sunny and warm, and there is even patchy blue sky visible from beyond the grey sheet that usually covers Wuhu.

As I walked out of the building and into the street I was met by lots of people selling food, - melon on sticks, noodles and unsavoury looking sausages - books and newspapers. There was one old man sitting curled up and playing what I think was some sort of solo Chinese Chess.
My sense of direction is not spectacular but I managed to find the supermarket without a problem (although I had to follow closely the man in front, in order to cross the road without sustaining injury from the taxis, carts, bikes and buses that hurtle past with little regard for the lanes of the road, let alone pedestrians) .

Once I left Century Mart, I walked around one of the big landscaped lakes that Wuhu boasts, called Mirror Lake. Everything is very new here and it is well-kept. You are not allowed to walk on the grass or amongst the trees, just along the paved paths and around the large, open areas that are adorned with bizarre statues and typically Chinese temples. There are a lot of people out walking at 10am, which I was sort of surprised to see - people of all ages, apart from school-age. I am going to have to take one of the pedaloes out on the lake for a spin soon!

Hopefully, this is building up a picture of the sort of place Wuhu is. I feel totally safe here, just entirely ignorant - like I am a two-year old again, with only very basic means of communication and little appreciation of social norms. However, this is truly the best motivation to learn to speak Mandarin so I am not feeling negative about it!
I think I can here Joe and Ahmir, back from their lessons. I hope they went well, or at least better than some of yesterday's lessons. It'll be lunchtime soon (eating at noon is going to take a bit of getting used to!) so I best go.
Sazzle x