Friday 10th October, 2014                    1945

Freshmanitis is particularly debilitating this year. I have felt terrible for two days now and this has been exacerbated by constantly waking myself up with coughing during the night. The cough at least had better clear off before Tuesday as Kevin and I are question masters at the school final of the national speaking competition and if I am barking I will have no option but to absent myself. It would interrupt the students’ speeches.

Yesterday there was a classic cock-up. I finished my afternoon class, went home, collected Pepsi and went out off campus. Ten minutes later Cinny called to ask if I had forgotten. “Forgotten what?”
“The observed class!”
“But that’s on Monday!”
Needless to say three observers were waiting in the classroom for me to give the lesson that I am scheduled to be teaching when the government inspectors come next month. Not only was I not on campus but I never had any students to take the class. It wasn’t going to happen.

Let me explain how this occurred.

During the golden week holiday I had sent Cinny a text asking her to confirm that the class was in fact still scheduled for four o’clock yesterday as 1) they never turned up to either mine or Kevin’s classes when they were supposed to before the holiday and 2) as I would be dragging a class out of their free time to come and take the lesson I didn’t want to waste 30 students’ time for nothing.

Ten minutes later she replied to say there was a new schedule on the 13th (Monday). What would you think? What I thought was terrific, by that time I will at least have met all my classes at least once. The problem was, Cinny never received my original text and was in fact, by an unfortunate coincidence, simply informing me that as from Monday we are operating the winter schedule which sees the lunch break reduced by thirty minutes to an hour and a half.

The lesson will take place on Monday after all but my head is telling me that somehow I will be thought of as deliberately transgressing even though all I had been trying to do was to ensure everything went ahead as planned. Such is life.

Today I saw the last two classes I had yet to meet and in fact managed to ascertain one of them was free for that period and to agree to give up their time and come to the lesson. This is a bonus because it means the poor souls I teach on Mondays won’t have to sit through the same lesson twice. For both me and my students it has worked out far better.

I taught all morning feeling like death and thankfully as the first lesson is always a meet and greet affair it wasn’t too onerous. At noon I got the dog and went out for a couple, exhausted. On my return I simply had to take a nap although I was (and still am) overtired and as a result every time I started to drift off I awoke with a start. Pointless. At least I don’t have to be up until eight tomorrow.

Earlier Kevin and I had dinner together off campus, nothing special, just some chicken drumsticks, rice and veg but cheap enough at 13y. A couple of beers each and it was time to come back with me having every intention of trying for an early night yet again.

When we got back to our building a black and white kitten was outside. A Chinese couple have been keeping it on the fourth floor but leaving their door open so it could come and go at will. It started meowing at my two mogs from outside, bolted into Ollivier’s when he heard it and opened the door and his wife Coco has been leaving food and milk (terrible thing to give a cat) out for it. We all now think they have tired of the kitten and have left it to fend for itself.

It is currently scoffing Whiskas and chicken in my living room and causing great consternation and hissing fits from Tigger and Lottie. Unless the couple upstairs say they want it back (I think it may be a boy) then it looks as if I will be back up to three cats again.

A busy weekend looms, what with teaching morning and afternoon tomorrow, helping Carol on the recruitment stand on Sunday morning, going to town shopping and at some point going over Carol’s speech with her again. I thought I was back at work to be able to relax a bit!