Thursday 30th June, 2016           0245

And the “lasts” start in earnest.

Having stupidly stayed up until 0530 yesterday it was noon before I surfaced. Doesn’t really matter when you are “retired” though! Of course it meant I never got around to putting the student marks on the system for the last time but maybe later today I will get it out of the way.

I did go to town though. South gate was still sandbagged with a gap only wide enough for pedestrians and bikes, cars having to use west gate. It seemed odd, a little like a scene from Dad’s Army considering all the water was long gone.

Well, gone apart from outside campus that is. Tuesday we had film crew vehicles and police vans out there, today there were two jet blasting trucks doing a pretty poor job of blowing away the silt from the bottom of what was a sea and failing dismally, all they did was move it elsewhere and did their damnedest to soak me whilst I was walking to the bus stop after parking up. In the places where there was a substantial build up of sediment there were old men with shovels moving it. Considering the city authorities had declared a flood alert two days previously the response wasn’t particularly impressive when it happened.

I bought myself the essentials for a roast chicken dinner last night and must say I ate an awful lot more than I normally can - almost a normal portion! I’m undecided as to whether to take the trip to town later today, I should really start running down what I have in the freezer in order to save money because tomorrow is the last full month I shall spend here. See where this is going?

Tonight Joan placed my last order on Taobao, rather sadly it included cardboard moving boxes and duct tape for when I actually know where I will fetch up next. I did treat us to some treats once her exams are over though - 10lbs of new potatoes which I shall use for such things as salmon fillets - well, expensive but then so is eating out.

Oh yes, nearly forgot. There was a power cut early this evening and for the first time all the student dormitories were blacked out but the teachers accommodation still had electricity and water! Whoopee!

Daniel has departed to be with (and probably crush) his girlfriend, the PSB here do in fairness seem to process foreigners paperwork in a timely fashion. He sent me a text to tell me as I was on the bus to town. I am sure he was delighted seeing as he neglected to bring his laptop (no entertainment in his flat) and only had two of each item of clothing with him. After a decade in China I would have expected him to have expected the unexpected, such as his flat (Kevin’s old one) not having a washing machine because Kevin took the one he bought himself when he moved to Huangshan. As it happened I invited him to watch a film and whilst we were at it he bunged his gear in my machine. Had I been staying here I reckon the next twelve months with him around would have been interesting to say the least!