Hi, I take the opportunity of this article to warn the community about a service called Fred-Mover.

I highly recommend to STAY AWAY from Fred Mover. He stole 1000RMB without giving any service, Fred completely ghosted us after multiple lies and insults. Fred is very nice and convincing at first, but all the good manners disappear and the attitude changes immediately once the bill is paid. DO NOT TRUST him with your goods, if something goes wrong you can be sure that he will disappear, lie and insult you.

Here is the full story:

The company was supposed to pickup my belongings, and without notice they hired a third party service to handle the job (Huolala) and used my phone number as the contact person.

Even we had given clear information to Fred, nothing was passed on to the Huolala driver. The driver called me and had no idea about where he was supposed to come and what things needed to be picked up.

As my phone number was the only contact info he got, I had to deal with it in Chinese all by myself. Once he finally reached my place, the guards of the residence asked for an exit certificate. Facing these troubles, we reached out to Fred. Instead of answering, Fred simply cancelled the driver on the Huolala app without letting anyone know. The driver was left without payment even though he had driven to the residence and gone through so many troubles already. I had no idea why Fred canceled, I wasn't informed, Fred wasn't answering, yet I had to deal with the understandably angry driver, and he only had my contact info...

After leaving us to deal with such crisis, Fred ghosted us, he didn't answer messages and calls for more than 6 hours. He later explained without apology that he was "busy loading a container", he offered to reschedule another pickup. We had lost trust in his professionalism, so naturally we asked for the refund of our deposit (1000RMB) - as we knew the driver didn't get paid. Fred then disappeared for another 3 days. The next time, we insisted again on a refund, to date he is still filtering our calls and not answering any message. Needless to say we didn't get any refund.

Stay away from such people. They care very little about the trouble they can cause to others. When they themselves face trouble, they run away or hide. They have no sense of shame.

Your deposit is worth more than their dignity and reputation together, so they won't hesitate taking it from you. For them, scamming 1000RMB now is far better than hoping that honesty will bring more clients in the future.

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffallo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

Giovanni Martini wrote:

Seriously, though, I'm opening a venue myself. Thass right, Mama Martini's little Gio is outing hisself as an enterpring-noor. I'm launching a combo restaurant/public toilet/clothing alteration shop. Name? Ain't it obvious? "Eat, S**t, and Dye." I think 6 months ought to be time enough to reinvent myself as a vibrant locale fixture in the expat community.

Giovanni Martini wrote:

Cycling does free one up, but the fact is Beijing drivers are casually homicidal. I've cycled a good bit in various cities Stateside, in Europe, and Thailand. All ll I have to say about Beijing is that I salute the city for "empowering" the blind by putting them behind a car's wheel. I do thank you for pointing out the pluses of cycling in Beijing.

Came here to comment on the uncivilized scooter riders and saw I already did last month.

Tonight is the beginning of Spring Festival. For many of you this will be the craziest, happiest, and most exciting night of your time studying in China.

This makes all the articles on TBJ make more sense. Sort of.

Giovanni Martini wrote:

I drink kale tea. Ik ben een echte Nederlander

I lived in Eindhoven for 4 years. Don't recall anything remarkable about it. Except the pot shops. Weak by my standards.

Giovanni Martini wrote:

Sikaote wrote:

Giovanni Martini wrote:

especially after seeing the video they released last October, showing all the fantastical rides and attractions we'll get to indulge in.

Shichahai skating scuppered: Hang up your skates, because the ice skating rink at Shichahai became a casualty of the latest outbreak of COVID-19 cases in the capital on Jan 21, closing for the foreseeable future (unquote)

It's a little illogical to be licking your chops over future enjoyments when the whole plan for times to come seems to be predicated on spasmodically shutting everything down at the first sneeze. Better get used to stamp collecting and VR.

...when the whole plan ...

Wait. There's a PLAN???

Panic is the plan. Case in point: Hank Aaron died 2 weeks after his vaccination. I saw a news story claiming he died "shortly after" the injection. The new credo, "Grampa died---slam on civilization's emergency brake!"

I had planned a short break just to go somewhere different Feb 1- Feb 15. Province I'm in has 4 positive 'cases' of Covid 19 (of population of 90 million) Intended destination (Yunnan) has 1 case (of approx 40 million population) (per https://ncov.dxy.cn/ncovh5/view/pneumonia). Direct flight Zhengzhou-Kunming return 650 kuai qian.

Three days ago the word comes down from local `Pandemic Planning and Prevention Command', and I quote:

The returning personnel in low risk areas should hold the negative proof of nucleic acid detection of novel coronavirus within 7 days, carry out home health monitoring for 14 days after returning home, carry out nucleic acid test every 7 days, and appoint a special person in the township office to be responsible for of the village gridmanagement.

So it looks like another winter stuck in a vacant campus, in a small city, on the outskirts of said city, with everything on the campus shut down... kuaidi, canteen, chaoshi etc. . Like Bob Dylan sang a while ago `You ain't a goin nowhere' Of course there are good points... I get a lotta shit done that I would otherwise fob off indefintely to some inchoate `later', nonetheless would really like to get outa town for a bit. Dali is possibly my favorite place in China. But no go.

Giovanni Martini wrote:

"Romanesque Decauchery" (unquote)

The definition of "romanesque" is as follows:

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Romanesque:

"of or relating to a style of architecture developed in Italy and western Europe between the Roman and the Gothic styles and characterized in its development after 1000 by the use of the round arch and vault, substitution of piers for columns, decorative use of arcades, and profuse ornament."

I see no evidence of that in the photos, nor indeed anywhere in Beijing. I suppose you might mean "Roman-style" debauchery. English can be a highly expressive language. I suggest that whoever wrote the headline learn that tongue. But, yeah, I know. Honing one's skills cuts into that all-precious debauchery time. Truly, what IS a wastrel to do?

So what you're saying is, and I hope I'm wrong, but are you saying that my local Pizza Hut is not Romanesque???

...will be adding beef from US-based alternative meat producer, Beyond Meat,...

Which is it? Beef or non-beef? Asking for a friend.