Monday 8^th March, 2021 1630

Ok, as always a night's sleep helps. They are seeing if there is anything they can do but guess what – they are not allowed to rearrange student classes during the first two weeks of term. Convenient.

If truth be told, Tuesdays are the real bugbear and they are going to see if they can compress my day to make it 0800-1620. If they can do that then I am happy. Thursday with the 4½ hour lunch break? Fine, I will kill a couple of hours going for a Big Mac. It's at times like these I really miss having an e-bike.

Anyway, whilst being “busy, busy, busy doing nothing” today, I was bored and idly searched flights from Shanghai to London. Having “cleaned” my laptop last night everything had been erased so when I searched at first, business class was £2309 return – still way higher than it was pre-pandemic. But then I noticed the search criteria had defaulted to my location being the UK so I amended it to China. Now the tickets were £2458! So the same seat with Virgin, if you book from China is £149 more expensive than if you do it in the UK. I had heard from VPN providers before that changing location can save you money but never found any evidence until now. And no, in both cases the quotes were in sterling so how do they justify that?

Not of course that I am going to the UK in summer – too frightened of being trapped in limbo like Kevin who still can't get back to his Cebu villa – but I do these things, just as I check the GBP-CNY exchange rate every morning. Now that rate 'ere long, will have an impact on my income here if I stay when I retire. Unless I don't retire, live off my teaching salary and then when travel is possible again, go on lavish holidays to exotic locations. If I don't die on a set of Chinese university steps of course!

Thursday 11^th 1930

So much for it not being allowed to change teachers and student timetables in the first two weeks. Miraculously all bar my first class of the week are now on the ground floor. They've probably made sure the affected lecturers and pupils know it was that cantankerous old foreign bar steward but what the hell, they knew the requirements well in advance and ignored them. Bit them in the bum because I can no longer afford to ignore being taken the Mickey out of, my years, which albeit some may think are not advanced, are rapidly overtaking me. Only two years ago I would not have complained about floors. Now it is imperative that I do. So I have achieved a partial victory. Classes on the ground floor, no classes after 1620 but still I have 4½ hour lunch breaks on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm going to have to do a lot of cooking at weekends to prepare lunches because on Tuesday I did go to McD's. The walk to the bus near killed me and when I left I eschewed the bus and took a taxi back. I ain't doing it any more. Plainly put, I can't.

Anyway, so far this week and with only two classes from eight left, only one class bought the coursebook and in another, four people had obtained it. It's enough to make me doubt myself but I know I told every class at the end of term to get book two, which is green. I even heard the excuse today that they didn't know where to get it! Go to the place you bought book one and you will find they have books two, three and four as well! It is a source of wonder to me that I still have a full head of hair.

Anyway, I am saying nothing about “The Interview”.