New bike

The campus out here is pretty damn big and it takes 15 mins to walk to the place where I teach from where I live so I decided to get myself a bike! I spoke with one of Elaine's old students who goes to ningbo university and she said that there was a mobile phone deal where you top up 300rmb, £30, and then they will give it back to you over 12 months, and they give you a free bike! This seemed the perfect deal and a nice take on the idea of a contract, which is non existent out here with everyone buying their phone outright and doing pay as you go. 
I went with Eunice, Elaine's student, to the place to get the bike and was told I couldn't, some random reason to do with where I had bought my sim and how long it took to be brought into the network, however they said wait a week, fine!
A week later I went back and they said yes, all is fine, excellent, I gave them 300rmb and they gave me..... A voucher, redeemable at a completely different place! Doh! After the first week they don't have any on campus and so you need to go to the nearest main branch! Apparently not too far...
Eunice and I started walking and found it was further than we had been led to believe! We walked from the school out and along and around the whole perimeter of the south campus to the opposite side and eventually found it! Walking in was very cool, through the small shop, through a closed and empty night club behind that, into a tiny store room full of bikes! I was told to pick one of the two types and away we went. If we had thought about it Eunice could have brought her bike and we could have cycled back, but she didn't, and upon closer inspection the bike tires were flat, and a little buckled! The chain guard was also rubbing and a few more bits needed adjustment, I did those myself though when I got back and got a nice little single speed bike out of it! Lovely!

So I did this, and here is a picture of the wonderful free bike in all its glory!