Nicholas Quirke was not making the most of his day on 15 December 2020 with his only potential activity being a visit to Beijing Fun to get some wrapping paper for Christmas presents. The temperature outside was getting colder and staying indoors seemed a better option. Apple had launched a new fitness programme which he could sign up for and as he had bought an Apple Watch within the past 3 months, he was entitled to 3 moths free subscription. However he was only being offered 1 and this then sparked and investigation and phone calls to Apple. He was ready to accept that they Apple were right when he was told that the offer was only applicable to new watches but Peng forced him to question this. He ended up speaking with a supervisor and 4 months free subscription for the time wasting and effort. Once it was all set up it could still not be linked with the Apple TV and in the end he gave up and made a lunch of lentil dhal. He vowed that when he finally left China the chief culinary taste he would be taking with him was Sichuan pepper, which he now loved and peppered nearly everything he cooked With. The skies were blue when he left, and he was prepared to face the chill. Which once he was on his bike tore through his gloves and he worried his hands might freeze to the handlebars. His first stop was at Muji where he expected to find some wrapping paper but there seemed to be none. He had spotted some store dressing and asked the assistant who before he knew it had ripped off a sheet from their own packaging and presented home with it. Free! The shop was on the lower floor and he saw that it actually had a door, previously closed into the mall which he had never explored. He found some interesting sculptures and wandered around, though there was a dearth of shops He did go into NoMe and bought some christmas stocking fillers. He was used to sitting outside InWe for his tea but this was too cold and he found a window seat indoors. The barista immediately said ‘Emerald green Tea’ as he entered and he was pleased that he was now considered a regular and they knew what he drank. He decided as it was still daylight to walk home through the Hutongs he had not had the opportunity to see them in daylight recently and it was refreshing to get a glimpse, as the sun was setting, of the gift shops and art shops en route. A smoothie for supper and for once as it seemed impossible to find a decent film they could agree on there was no movie night. He did some more work on the script instead and had an early night drifted off to sleep.