Petty Annoyances

I went to a gas station in Hui Shan twice on a recent Sunday and wasn’t able to put gas in the car both times.  The first time because the gas station didn’t have electricity.  Meiyou Dian!  The second time because they didn’t have internet and I didn’t have cash.  Meiyou wang! Meiyou qian!

I needed the gas to drive the car to dealership to get the car serviced.  I filled its tank at a gas station near the old Xi Shan apartment.  

At the dealership, to while away the time, I read the short stories that I’ll be covering in the English Lit course I’m teaching in Jiangyin.  However, one of the stories in the course book was not there.  It was a story by a Chinese writer.  The story was listed in the table of contents, but the story’s pages were not there.  The next story that was listed after the missing story in the table of contents was there, so it seemed as if the the missing story was ripped out because its writer was the wrong kind of Chinese.

When the car was serviced and washed, I drove to IKEA to buy things at its food store.  After parking, I had a hard time finding the store entrance because some doors that seemed to be entrances were closed.  When I found the entrance, I saw there was a lineup of people having to show their health codes.  The procedure was changed and people were confused.  Instead of just showing your code you had to put your face in a temperature detector.  And they wanted to see a ID code instead of your health code.  When it was my turn and I showed my codes, I was told I hadn’t been tested in three days and couldn’t enter.  I should have been more annoyed than I was, but the finding the entrance debacle made me want to turn around anyway.

I drove to Hui Shan and had to endure a long lineup to get tested.