I know, not quite the end of the month yet - but I'm getting ready to quit the country.
So, how did it go?
No foreign bars?? Well, I did pretty well on that. I've only looked in at 12 Square Metres a scant handful of times, just to be sociable, and have usually only had a token one or two drinks. I've only visited the dear old Pool Bar once or twice, very briefly. Amilal has been my major temptation from the strict path of virtue: it has proven impossible to resist looking in there for a nightcap, especially on the weekend - in fact, it became established as a semi-regular 'allowable exception' to my regime, an almost invariable last stopping-off point whenever some special activity had given me sufficient excuse to abandon strict adherence to the policy for the night. In my notebook, I count 10 visits there, although a relatively restrained total expenditure of only a little over 1,000 kuai. Aside from that, there was only the impromptu closing-down party for the ill-starred Bad Company, a brief look into Luga's Villa for a Stella or two on a baking Saturday afternoon a week or two back, and a visit to the wretched Paddy O'Shea's for a book talk. Oh, and a couple of gigs. And a couple of quiz nights. And a freebie media junket (yes, FREE - although it did lead to yet another late-night session at Amilal afterwards). But not a bad showing, really.
No foreign restaurants?? I did much better with that one. Until this weekend, when I allowed myself to play along with The Mouthpiece Of Evil's sudden craving for Russian food, the only demerits on my record in this regard were one Subway sandwich at the start of the month and one cappuccino at Cafe Zarah. I've been to more than a dozen different Chinese restaurants this month, including quite a few novel ones.
No fast food?? Yay! Well, apart from that Subway sandwich lapse.
No taxis (other than when unavoidable)?? Well..... most of my taxi use was occasioned by the 'exceptional' nights out I allowed myself. For work, I was pretty good, using the subway most of the time, and even walking to places quite a lot of the time: I only took a taxi - genuinely unavoidably - about a half dozen times; and one of those a friend treated me, another couple were reimbursed by an employer. So, my total taxi spending this month was just under 250 kuai. I'd guess that's less than half what it is most months, maybe less than a third what it is in a heavy month.
No baby bottles of Tsingtao?? Well, I was doing really well on this until last night! I went to Yugong Yishan for a film screening; and there's really not much else worth drinking there.
Never paying more than 4 kuai for a beer?? Hmm. Quite a lot of restaurants (and the newly discovered No. 8 Beer Garden) charge 5 kuai these days, but that's not violating the rule too severely. And one of the 7/11's I use most regularly has recently put up its price for a large can of Yanjing to 4.20 - which is an irritation, but not a huge financial blow. No, the biggest problem I encountered was that the Hunan restaurant I rather like (a few doors up from 12 Square Metres) charges a whopping 12 kuai for its beers. Admittedly, it's the just-slightly 'premium grade' Yanjing Draft (though still served in a bottle); but that stuff should really be only 7 or 8 kuai in a place like that; good food, though....
Cutting back on gigs, and trying not to spend more than 50 kuai each time on booze?? Ah, well, there's been a dearth of tempting rock gigs lately. And even my old standbys have been getting a little stale: I've looked in on most of the Salud Wednesdays and Ginkgo Thursdays this last month, but have rarely been tempted to stay - and when I have, I've managed to limit myself to one or two drinks (or had a drink or two bought for me!). So, rather to my surprise, I've kept to this very well. Only last Thursday's trip to Jiangjinjiu to catch up with Panjir went over this budget (it was a very warm evening, so I found the need to quaff 4 or 5 pints of draught).
Since I was out and about even more than usual this month (house-hunting on top of everything else!), and the weather's been quite scorching, I spent a fair whack at xiaomaibu on things like water, coke, ice creams, and salty snacks - a little over 100 kuai all told. My total spending on beers - whether to drink on the street or at home - was more like 160 kuai.
I spent about 650 kuai on dinner (and drinks) in restaurants. When eating alone, I can usually keep below 20 kuai per time quite easily; but when accompanied, one gets tempted to try slightly more expensive places, and to over-order..... and occasionally to treat people.
I also spent about 550 kuai on groceries to eat at home (three major shops, one of them for expensive imported treats at Jenny Lou's; and a handful of sorties to pick up bread, pastries, crisps, etc. from nearby 7/11's). I think that's a bit less than in a typical month, but the summer heat helps to suppress my appetite - I've mostly been satisfied to snack on salads and sandwiches rather than cooking major meals.
My expenditure on public transport seems to have been 40.80 RMB.
I've only needed three deliveries of drinking water this month (low: I usually get through 1 a week; again, it's down to being out so much, I suppose), at 10 kuai per time. And I reckon I've spent about 100 RMB on my mobile phone (unusually high - because of the househunting).
So, gosh, yes, that's around 1,900 kuai in all - only a little over 60 kuai per day on average.
Ah, but..... then there was the unfortunate incident of the lost bar bet with The Mouthpiece - that set me back 115 RMB for a bottle of Jameson's. I had one little splurge at the DVD store, to the tune of 200 RMB (a fairly typical monthly average). And then the utilities (I've ended up paying two instalments of phone & internet charges, because I was late paying for May; and it's been a very heavy month of electricity usage, with the need to run air-conditioning almost every night): probably a bit over 440 RMB all told. Then I spent 85 RMB on special events (two art exhibitions and a film). And.....
..... well, even with the very limited 'exceptions' I thought I was allowing myself, I seem to have racked up nearly 2,500 RMB on such nights out (although fully a fifth of that went on my crazy night at Er right at the start of the month).
This is what happens when I'm trying to restrain myself??
Um, yes - I fear that figure would probably be twice as much in most months.....
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