'Super Glorious Family Lovely Meal'

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'Super Glorious Family Lovely Meal' is my new find on the ever elusive search for eating spots that I can: 1) order without embarrassment, 2) pretty much know what I am getting, 3) and not pay much more than $5, usually less, including a frosty beverage.

At least I think it was called 'Super Glorious Family Lovely Meal', but I could be wrong...in any event it fulfilled my basic criteria and was tasty into the bargain. The atmosphere and production was a tad school canteen, but efficient and certainly the ladies (mostly) do a great job of providing decent fresh food at reasonable prices.

However, as is often the case in China, the background 'music' was incredibly loud--according to the Decibel Meter app on my iPhone (Yes--I have a sound level meter on my phone--don't you?) the sound was peaking at 91db, which, apparently, is enough to cause 'permanent hearing damage'. The music was a Chinese version of Kenny G (Kenny Yee?) yet zippier and even more irritating...not Nickelback irritating, but in that general range...

While I'm on the general topic of things that irritate in China, I have noticed that things seemed to have improved since my last visit, and that, as on my previous visit, the positives certainly outweigh the negatives.

The bus drivers now seem to mostly spit out of the window; they will stop for seniors that aren't quite at the exact embarkation point for that specific journey; young guys will give up their bus seats for seniors and/or pregnant ladies; small boys still pee at random in the street, but not so much right in front of you, just cocked to the side, at it were; electric scooter riders use scooter specific lanes at cross walks and drive more or less parallel to walkways instead of randomly going wherever looked convenient.

However, black Audi drivers (usually black: the cars, I mean not the drivers) still think they are exempt from traffic rules and general courtesy towards other normal members of the human race, Chinese or foreigners alike. I wonder why it's always Audi drivers? Doesn't seem to matter where you go...

And then there are firecrackers: traditionally, when a business opens or a family moves to a new house, Chinese people set off firecrackers for good luck at times prescribed by their fortune-tellers. I should stress that I'm not talking about those piddly, squibby things that go 'pop' at Halloween, I'm talking munitions grade, military manoeuvres level, seriously loud devices. They usually go off around dawn (yes, dawn) or very early morning at times like 5:55, 7:07 or 6:66 and the first time you hear them you literally jump bolt upright in bed, all sweaty and freaked knowing, yes, knowing that North Korea has finally gone off...you never do get used to them, so the sweaty, freaked effect is pretty much a constant...

Overall people in general seem a little more friendly and I have not had the big gob of spit land just near my foot, not even once. So saying, the majority of people here are friendly once they get over their shyness and will usually respond positively to a 'Hi' or 'Nihau' and genuinely seem to want to help when it's apparent that you are a bone-headed foreigner who has absolutely no idea what is going on. A case in point is my fixer, Jin, and the lovely TAs: Belinda and Molly, and the Department Director, Ms.Tan, as well as all the other great folk at Jinhua Polytechnic that have helped smooth my transition from Canada to the often wacky China. As always, a two-way street...

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Photos

Puffy Jackets...
...are already on sale at the department stores in the middle of 45-C heat--they must know something I don't...

Under incongruous...
...see UK phone-box in downtown Jinhua...these actually work, though...