Saturday 8th November, 2014                        1230

The only student I knew who I watched during the entire sports meeting was Anna. Joan, one of mine, forgot to tell me when she was running and then on Thursday because the school compressed the events due to impending rain, missed her final race as she was elsewhere. Brewery and drinking event sprang to mind when I was pondering on the administration abilities. Anna was dreadful at the triple jump but not unexpected seeing as she didn’t even know what it entailed the night before! In her final race, the 4 x 400m relay, she once again overtook two other runners but her teammates were tortoises so they finished fifth out of six.

On Thursday night she came to my home and I treated her to a film on my laptop, steak and kidney pie, chips, beans and a can of ginger ale which she was convinced was alcoholic.

Yesterday morning I hauled my carcase out of bed early enough to go and have a McBreakfast and took the bus to town. At the first stop after leaving the school gate there stood a solitary figure, a wizened old man who judging by the  furrows etched into his face and the deep mahogany colour of his skin, was well into his sixties and was probably a farm worker. He had some heavy bags, presumably of produce he was on his way to sell, and he boarded. However, when he swiped his Chinese Oyster card equivalent (I don’t have one, it was stolen with my wallet three years ago when I was in hospital) the terminal gave him a “quack, quack, oops”. The fare on the bus is currently one yuan (10p) regardless of the number of stops you travel yet unbelievably the driver stopped the bus and opened the doors so the man would get off as he had no money and no credit on the card.

I was sitting at the very rear of the bus - it has the most legroom - and as I had only ensured I had one coin for my own fare, it occurred to me that if I were to assist the chap I would need to forfeit a ten yuan note or wait until another nine people got on. This I would have done simply to prevent the lunacy that was being played out because plainly the man had no cash and hadn’t realised his card was out of credit and he would have to lug his load all the way home to get some coins. I never had to leave my seat because a girl student got up, popped a coin in the machine and also gave her seat up for him. Well done that lass.

The sports meeting closing ceremony was held very prematurely, in fact Anna sent a message asking if I was in the stadium about a minute after I boarded the bus back to campus. I wasn’t going to be able to see it because I was at least half an hour away but I did arrange to meet with her while she had her lunch. Being with Anna means you are constantly in teacher mode. She never stops asking the meaning of words or how to pronounce them. I am sure she thinks it irritates me but the truth is I wish all of my own students would work as hard as she does on her chosen subject.

When I got back home my bike desperately needed charging but someone had parked their e-bike in the place I use. Short of using a second extension, I need to have that spot otherwise it won’t reach. I don’t mind if someone occupies it and are charging their own bike but this wasn’t. It was shrouded in a rain cover, alarmed, steering locked and a clamp on the rear wheel! I am getting a bit too old for manual labour but I toiled for five minutes sliding and scraping that damned bike out of there. It was so tempting to let his tyres down but it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out it was me and return the favour. I do hope he gets the message soon.

The rain did arrive and I did attempt to grab some sleep. That was, until workmen went into the flat directly beneath me on the ground floor and started laying flooring, hammering away for all they were worth. Kevin could hear it up on the fourth floor. Who on earth is stupid enough to move into a ground floor place is beyond me, for I don’t think the Chinese have heard of a damp course let alone use them when building. They are all incredibly damp down there. So far today no further work has been undertaken but it won’t surprise me if I am rudely awoken at seven tomorrow morning.

In the evening I was going to stay in given the cold and wet but Yvonne, who is currently at home in Anqing, sent me messages to say my online shopping had arrived. Four shirts and a pack of hot dog rolls. Seeing as I was out with the dog I went to the office for a while before coming back to no dinner. I was still bloated from breakfast! I had some Doritos instead…….

The plan today had been to invite Anna and a couple of others to try some proper western hot dogs now I have all the makings but I had forgotten about Ollivier’s arrangement to go with him and a lad with Kevin to the barbecue restaurant in the commercial centre. Hot dogs are on hold until tomorrow, which is also the day I want to boil and honey roast my latest crack at producing ham.

Sunday 9th                 1400

Shortly after typing the above my laptop packed in. When trying my new shirts on on Friday night (only two of them fitted so Ollivier was given the smaller ones, Sod’s Law stated that they had to be the two most expensive) and I managed to upend a glass of wine, depositing the contents all over my keyboard. With visions of having to buy another new keyboard, I hastily poured as much of the plonk as would come out of the laptop and dried it with tissues. I could still watch my downloaded programmes but trying to type anything just produced gibberish.

Yesterday morning it was working again to my relief but inexplicably it went on the blink. I really don’t want to spend a month’s wages on a new one so it was greatly appreciated when I found it was working again after the barbecue, aided no doubt by the aircon being left on to help it dry.

I actually set my alarm early enough today to go again for breakfast in town and shop but when I awoke I felt dreadful. I have no idea what was wrong but I was utterly drained of energy and knowing I have enough animal feed to last until Tuesday when I am free, I cancelled that idea. I still don’t feel up to the mark but am decidedly better. It’s hot dog night and Anna is coming to try, Yvonne doesn’t like the idea at all for some reason.