I'm not one to complain about work. There are enough of those who don't have it, and more they (we?) will be.

(Thank you, lockdowns, The Great Reset and ESG!) No, I like to be busy and engaged in meaningful pursuits. Since April I have been working tirelessly at being a marketing manager, so tirelessly that I have actually felt myself a bit tired at the end of a 13 hour day; tired and just wanting to watch old DVDs instead of going out to enjoy all the wonderful things that Mallorca has to offer.

Also, we still have the ridiculous mask mandate on public transport here, so although I am gagging for an adventure trip, I just can't do it. I won't. 

But yesterday, a Saturday, i thought, NO! Enough of this! I want to live like other people. I want to go outside and take time off. I want to... I want to go shopping. 

Not mindlessly waft around the shops seeing if something takes my fancy you understand, no, I had a specific product in mind about which I have been thinking, nay, fantasising about for many months. In fact, since early April. 

A pair of plastic slippers of the brand Natura, looking almost as good and being almost as comfortable as similar-looking mainland Chinese brand Sport. I bet they, Sport,  invented the style and Natura stole it! After it was stolen by Birkenstock, Zara Home and others. Oof, "plastic slippers", it sounds so bad when I say it like that. Let's call it stylish, elegant and practical footwear without heels. 

So off I went after the day's work was done about 5pm, to a nearby shopping mall called Porto Pi. I was so excited; finally I would get something new to wear! Almost like a normal person! 

Clutching the right amount of euros in my sweaty paw, I dashed into Natura, thinking should I choose the black version or the navy? Or should I go wild and buy lilac that doesn't go with any of my clothes but adds flamboyance? 

Crushed! A disappointment almost as powerful as that of being cheated out of a long-awaited meal brought me to my knees. 

Natura had switched to their winter collection, displaying thick socks, jackets, hats and slippers made of fleece. 

This was August 13th. Outside: 41 degrees. Celcius.

Yep, winter. 

Two days earlier, I had heard the dulcet tones of Cantonese outside my office, like two angels dancing on a harp. It was two Hong Kong women with young children in strollers, trying to get to Bellver Castle before their cruise ship left the same afternoon. I asked them where it is hottest, here or in Hong Kong? Because I thought Hong Kong with its 34 degrees and 99% humidity, was the hottest, and almost all year round. 

"Here!" they said in unison. "Because Hong Kong has air conditioning!" 

It is true. In Hong Kong you can live your whole life indoors, going from one freezing shopping mall to the next, through a network of tunnels and overpasses, never having to set foot on the street and certainly not dragging a stroller up stone steps to see some castle. 

Then again, the last seven or so years I lived in Hong Kong, bright blue skies were so rare, people including me were photographing them and putting them on Facebook. 

I don't know what the situation in Hong Kong is now, but seeing no one goes there and the factory activity across the border has been halted, I imagine they have blue skies every day. But what's the point of blue skies if you have to wear a stupid face nappy outside? 

There is only one thing to do: Learn Cantonese the natural way - from a Norwegian. 

 Today's Cantonese: 呢度 - li dou - this location, here