Another weekend, and the year keeps slipping past faster than I expect. The temperature went from above 35 to below 25 almost overnight. I've been in this city a full year and there are still places I haven't bothered to visit, so I figured I'd spend the weekend on foot — walk around, look at things, let my head clear a bit.
Wandering
Longzi Lake, the stepped water feature they call dragon scales.
The sunset over the water was genuinely beautiful, the kind of view that's made for sitting still and thinking about nothing. For a moment I wanted to go down and swim, the way I used to in Fujian — just floating out there in the sea.
Cancelling the broadband
The old broadband ran on my own number: 40 a month for 300M. Then the school turned out to offer something cheaper, and my wife wanted to change her number anyway, so we switched. Same 40 a month, but now it's 30G of data, 100 minutes of calls, and 500M broadband.
Getting it installed was one phone call, plus a 100 installation and setup fee.
The unpleasant part was cancelling the old one. I called 10010 and was told it had been registered and I should wait for a technician to come collect the equipment. Then someone else called and said no, I had to take the equipment to a physical store — and a specific one at that. I went, and was told I needed an appointment and should come back in five days. When I finally showed up to cancel, they informed me that besides the modem there was also supposed to be a network cable, and without it I owed 30 yuan.
I'm fairly sure I never used their cable. And when the new broadband was installed a few days earlier, I hadn't seen any technician leave a cable behind either. So I raised my voice a little. In the end an employee made a phone call and sorted it out — no charge.
I shouldn't have shouted. Not proud of that.
Car service
The car is five years old now. This time around I had the wipers replaced, along with the engine oil, the air conditioning, and the air filter. But as they were finishing up, the mechanic mentioned that next year I'd need to change the "transmission" oil.
So, friends — does transmission fluid actually need changing?