Saturday 15th February, 2014                2100

This could very nearly have been a complete waste of a day. As it was, although I was kicking my heels for most of it, at least something happened.

The repairman came in the early afternoon, took one look at my water heater and cluttered off. He called Cinny later and I was phoned by her just as I was about to give up and go out. Could I wait a little longer as he was coming back. In fact two of them came the second time. They opened the unit, decided it was fine and then took the breaker out - which was scorched where the live feed entered.

One of them left to get a new breaker and while he was gone and I was making small talk with the other chap whilst neither of us could understand the other, Kevin arrived with his drill. He had come to drill holes through my window  frame and the one on the landing so we could thread the extension cable through them I use to charge the bike. Due to the extensions utilising locking screws and moulded plugs this involved severing the cable and afterwards him soldering and taping the wires but  at least now both windows can be closed properly, making the place more secure from intruders and more importantly stopping the icy draught the cats have endured since I moved in. His reward was a frozen beef stew he can eat tomorrow!

Thankfully the new breaker sees the water heater working again at least for the moment. I am dubious as to how long that will last because it seems to me that there must be something wrong with the heater to have done that in the first place so I shall wait and see how long before it packs in again.

Almost everything is now open again on campus as the students return in hordes, in fact I had to queue for ten minutes in the supermarket this evening. I didn’t stay long because neither of the two cafes I normally use had any beer yet or I would have tarried awhile in the hope of seeing some of my students again. As it is, so far I have only seen Vivian and that was only in passing. Anyway my neck and shoulders are killing me today for some reason and I need an early night to try to get back in the habit of getting out of bed before midday.

Kevin went to try to sort out our teaching rotas but they were closed today. I have that class of his and one of his students looked at his timetable and told him two of the classes on his list were 3 year students of mine. From 2011. They are only being taught for 7 weeks and I said it was impossible they were mine because they had all graduated. Then it dawned on us that these must be the ones who returned to do another two years to get a higher qualification, they were given no oral English for their first year. I have agreed that if he takes his lot back I will take one of those classes so the status quo remains the same. I just hope if it happens the new class can be slotted into when I want it, without ruining my two days off midweek. We will find out on Monday.

Oh yes, Qing sent me messages telling me Helen (the Moldovan who came to dinner with the guy from Brixton at new year in Tongling) had left him because he was always beating her. The first time I met him (when I went to meet her parents) I told her I didn’t like him and thought he was a bad person. I am certain she didn’t believe me but now she knows I was right. She will I hope have no further dealings with him.

Tomorrow I have loads to do to get ready for Monday. I need to spend a while in the supermarket getting prices for The Price Is Right, rule up new attendance pages (which had I thought about I could have done ages ago) and try to  dream up more exam topics - only about 60 to go!!