Tuesday 26th February, 2013                 2200

I would be telling a porky of epic proportions if I said today wasn’t a wrench - after nearly two months of idleness I was absolutely shattered just doing one class after lunch!

Do it I did of course, and it was a freshman class, one of my new batch of “favourite” classes. Tomorrow it gets harder with the early starts, so very soon I will be calling it a day - nothing worse than trying to teach when you are dog-tired.

I took the mutt out after I finished and intended to have but two ales and ended up having four. This was because various students stopped to chat, including Petty whose class I was informed I have. I am wondering if hers is the class I was advised I had never had before. It may well be and may comprise a few old faces with many new ones, time will tell.

I really couldn’t work up any enthusiasm to go back out for dinner after I came back so ended up doing three small jacket spuds in the microwave - lucky I had some. At last I have heard from Qing. She has been in hospital and has had her appendix removed. She tells me that soon she will come back here.

I should be ecstatic but she informed me she was thinking of staying in an ex classmate’s dormitory rather than here. If this was anywhere in the west I would confront her for concocting the most implausible reason, but as this is the land where everyone believes putting linen out to air in the sunshine sterilises it, drinking cold water is bad for your health etc I am only halfway between thinking she made it up and that in fact she was indeed advised this. She says the doctor told her that exposure to animal fur (she has no allergies) can cause her to become barren! I could understand if her wound wasn’t healed that it might be an infection risk, but rendering women infertile? If that was the case 80% or more of the female population of the UK would be incapable of breeding! What sways me towards believing her is the time Kiki suffered a stye and the doctor advised her to return in a few days for an operation. I advised her to wait a little longer so it would come to its natural conclusion. I know who was right and who was the one trying to make money. I understand there is a minuscule danger of pregnancy complications after you conceive from cat fur or contact with the litter but this really left me dumbfounded.

So at this moment I have no idea what is happening because she is offline. I really don’t have much patience these days when it comes to such idiocy.

Wednesday 27th         2000

An even bigger shock this morning getting up at six thirty! It wasn’t helped by the cats breaking into my cabinet and raining spice bottles down on the deck, resulting in me getting up to put them back and secure the door again. I really should have taken the opportunity to swap wardrobes when Patrick left for one with a working lock. Matters of course get compounded because being rudely awoken unnecessarily leaves you ever so slightly angry and it is hard to drop off again.

I had Joanna’s class first thing and I have to say they disappointed me a little because they were not very active. For now I am putting it down to the fact they have only just come back, they had no oral classes last term and I doubt any of them spoke a word of English during the holidays. In fact my afternoon class which was one of my three year bunches, was inordinately active and before I knew it we were done for the day. I was jaded by the end.

Tonight I am definitely going to have my head down early - I hate being fatigued because unlike most here I don’t have the capability of taking a catnap, I simply either lie there awake or when I do fall asleep and get ten minutes I feel terrible when I wake up! Come to think of it, I couldn’t do it when I was young either…….

So that’s it for today, liver is boiling for the pets and once that is served I am having chilli with bread and butter, very nice. The forecast tomorrow could be anything depending on which website you look at - variously they are predicting rain, snow or sunny and 21C. I am pinning my hopes on the latter and accordingly the bike is on charge in case I can ride to town in the afternoon. I need more meat.