Monday 8th September, 2014           0330

I know, crazy time to be still up and I really must get back into kilter but I do have until Friday to do so. Today is moon cake day and sadly there is not one within my reach although I read in the news that sales of said cakes have plummeted since Beijing imposed a ban on officials using expenses to entertain lavishly at the people’s expense. Everything has consequences!

Yvonne is now back although I have yet to see her and Lucy is back tomorrow. I need Lucy to get this place clean again! In fairness to me, I will pay her double for the first session seeing as it might take her a little longer. My house guests weren’t particularly good at housework, in fact I think that as lazy as I am I was still better.

Kevin and Ollivier have both been commenting on the mould spots on the paint in the main room, something they don’t have as they can leave their windows open whereas I can’t  for obvious reasons. Ollivier has given me some bags containing what I assume is silica gel that have reservoirs for the water they suck out of the air. I think most of the damp has been occasioned by having girls showering  and washing their clothes in the bathroom, rather than from me though.

Tonight on my walk with Pepsi I did discover that Pooh is alive and inhabiting the top northeast corner of the school. I spotted a cat crouching motionless in the car park which looked as if it could be him. I called his name (he was the only one who actually knew his name) and he never moved as I approached. Unfortunately Pepsi arrived having completed her sniffing other dog’s scents elsewhere and Pooh upped and ran behind what passes for a hedge between the car park and the reinforcements to prevent landslip. Pooh did emerge from the bushes, leapt up onto an electrical box and at that time I could tell for certain by the “dirty” mark under his chin it was him. His fur is a bit spiky now (having been an indoor cat it was always silky) but there was no doubt. What shocked me was that when he was here he was the one who would always come to me for attention and yet tonight it was as if he didn’t know me. As I went to try and coax him and get hold of him he hissed and legged it. Ok Pepsi was by then jumping up but even so I did think he would have let me pick him up, I was wrong. I had a feeling that was where he was living because twice before Pepsi has shot off and disappeared behind the bushes - whether she remembers Pooh or simply regards him as an outside cat is anyone’s guess. I will from now on take the long way around on my bike without Pepsi in the hope that he may let me bring him home but at least I know he is not the cat with the bad leg Kevin saw outside the west gate a fortnight ago.  

I am still chewing over the trip to Yiwu in the golden week. Everyone is telling me not to do it. Not that I listen to others that often but it does give pause for thought, especially considering the logistics. I will take Yvonne to the bus station to see if there is, as Vivi says, a bus to there. The problem with that is that bus tickets can only be bought five days in advance and if they have sold out when I go then so will the train tickets be. Nothing is ever simple.

1530

The sun was rising before I got under the sheet for just over five hours sleep. I wonder if that will mean I can be comatose at a sensible time tonight? I have to be fresh for the intensive training course on using a classroom tomorrow!

I don’t think I have mentioned this previously but while I was away in July I took my student marks with me so I could enter them on the system. I entered five classes without a problem but when I came to the sixth and final one (Amy’s class) I found I had left half of their scores here. I entered the half I had and saved them but never submitted them, with the intention of inputting the rest on my return. When I got back I found that I couldn’t and so contacted Cinny. She said the system had been closed to new entries a couple of days before so I would have to wait until term started. A few days ago Kevin came to my flat. Someone had asked him to see what I was doing wrong. He discovered the marks had in fact been submitted and I vehemently denied having done so. I don’t think he believed me.

On Thursday Cinny told me the system had been opened up and I could now enter the missing scores. As I was about to leave for dinner at the time I said I would do it when I got back. Upon my return from getting lost on the bike, I tried to but couldn’t and to date still haven’t been able to. However, it transpires that what happened is that the chap in charge saw that only a handful of teachers had put their marks in and assumed I had finished and made a mistake in not submitting the errant class so he kindly did it for me. So I hadn’t done anything wrong at all! The problem we have now is term starts on Wednesday so they need to sort it out pretty soon.