Monday 11^th May, 2020 1815

I have no idea where I went wrong but half my classes never received this week's assignment! Luckily the monitors queried it and hopefully I have rectified my error. 3/10 – could do better!

I did actually get a couple of “early bird” classes who sent me their work for a birthday present but I did those yesterday. Today's classes sent in too late for me to bother so I will do them tomorrow morning and lunchtime. I have still not been officially advised if and when I will be back on campus this term, all I am getting is Jody's office chat relayed.

So today it was BHG for a wine run and some veg and flour. The flour I am not sure of, I chose some bread flour and one of the “Grandmas” who loiter and pounce on unsuspecting customers decided I should buy the flour she was promoting. Mine has a picture of loaves of bread on the packaging, hers had dumplings so I refused. She was insistent. I pointed to the bread, then the dumplings and she pointed to some Chinese writing, seemingly adamant hers also makes bread. I capitulated but left her in the full knowledge that if it is dreadful I know her face (well the bit above the mask!) and I would return and kill her.

I had offered to make Jody cream of mushroom soup for dinner today but the very mention of cream made her shy away in horror. I tried to tell her it only has a bit of cream in it but to no avail. I know if I made it she wouldn't even try it and yet when I made it a year ago it was actually quite nice – and she loves mushrooms. So instead I've made her favourite, minestrone. Well, whenever she actually gets back which could be nine for all I know. She's such a fussy eater and all because she's trying to lose weight. Quite what for I have no idea, she's not skinny but she's not fat either, she reckons every time she makes progress I destroy it. Funny that I eat little but never lose weight or gain it. I'm in permafat mode.

I gave Joan a nudge regarding Nanning seeing as she hadn't replied. Turns out she has spent the last month in bed, not with Covid but synovitis in one of her hips. She thinks Nanning is too far from her folks so I have two years to convince her. She says she's not interested that much in money and yet she wants to support her parents. She could visit them easily with a four hour flight, taxi and train journey so it isn't that far and I've told her no way am I opening up somewhere we will go belly up within three months. Anyway, in time she could get them to move there too, maybe rope them into working. They're younger than me! I won't be looking to become Croesus, I'll be happy for a bit of extra dosh to travel more, have funded accommodation and an ongoing visa. If not then I shall need to rethink about other alternatives and they will not include the UK. I did warn her that successful people make sacrifices, I think she has forgotten that part.

Has anyone else noticed the programmes on UK television are drying up? It's been my favourite pastime for nearly four months now and to be honest I have discovered old box sets that passed me by but they are becoming thin on the ground now. I am not ever going to start watching Love Island, Real Housewives and all that tat so I have started downloading subtitled films and things, right now I have a detective film in Tamil set in Madras downloading. Well, it did score 8.7!

Rather annoyingly I saw today that a city in NE China has now been put in “special measures” due to another outbreak and similar things are happening in other parts of the world. The second-longest serving airline in the world just filed for bankruptcy and methinks it won't be the last. I don't have much hope for a normal life for years after all this.