I must have been expecting Shanghai’s weather to get chilly eventually, seeing as most of the clothes I’ve brought with me from Australia are bulky, warm and purple-coloured — I just didn’t expect it to get cold on time. It turns out China’s weather gods pay attention to the Western calendar (and why not?) because our first day of freeze came after two months of pleasant, balmy weather on the 1st of November. And then the day after that it was so cold I got a headache (which must have been how my Gameboy Color felt when it froze in Scotland, and right in the middle of a Pokémon battle at Goldenrod Gym, I might add. You can imagine my indignation).

Since then we’ve had one or two warmish days where I’ve managed to go outside in my cat t-shirt with the laser beams coming out of its eyes, but yesterday it started raining. Besides the long, guilt-free showers I can now have, one of the best parts about being in a country without water supply issues is that I can complain about the f***ing rain and not have to put the “at least it’ll be good for the garden/farmers/continued ability to survive” spin on it. That’s right rain, I hate you! Go away! Just dare to come down on my parade.*

I suppose one good thing about cold, wet weather is that it (kind of) gives me a justification for why I didn’t go outside and spent virtually all of yesterday in bed watching CSI: Miami and Star Trek. Usually I would fall upon my trusty “I was desperate to procrastinate from writing the manuscript” excuse, except I’d already written my scene for the day, and therefore had nothing to procrastinate from besides getting help on my next Green a Week translation.** So instead I can claim that I wanted to see images of warmer weather, and who doesn’t think of Miami crime procedurals when they’re in that situation? Also, David Caruso is hilarious. It took me a while to work out that the show wasn’t a comedy, and it’s all his fault.

As for Star Trek, what can I say? My brain’s rotted.

*The parade being the fifteen minute walk to the nearest karaoke parlour.

**Stupid sodagreen and their big words.