Tuesday 15th December, 2015                                                2330

It just gets better.

For five years I have had a great life here and suddenly in the space of a month it has turned to shit.

Anthony came this evening.

How did I get into the classroom? With my key of course. How did you get the key? From the Auntie of course. So now I am dropping her in the mire. How something goes from a meeting to discuss the filming of a Santa from the university visiting ill children (God forbid any of them are in a really bad way because certainly Santa will need to leave the room to cry) to a disciplinary offence I can’t comprehend.

Stuff it. They want me to go anyway so the only worse thing that can happen is they sack me now. I am British. I have principles. A district court judge once said to me during a case that principles could be expensive and I said  “I know”. I then won both the case and damages.

I am buggered if I am going to sit here at 59 years of age and have someone dictate what I am to do in my own free time when it doesn’t affect the university. The hilarity of it all is that this was all precipitated by  something I suggested and got clearance from the highest authorities to proceed with and for the benefit of the university‘s reputation.

I’m in the clear, right?

Oh no.

The new dean (with egg on face over the photos) is not satisfied. I should not have used a classroom without authorisation. For God’s sake it was empty. I should have kept it secret. Right, I can stop people taking photos with their phones and posting them online?

Right. It ain’t going to happen.

To hell with her and whatever her beef is, I am already under notice to quit next semester and she didn’t even have the guts to confront me herself over the photos yesterday. Instead I ended up having almost a physical argument with Anthony tonight because he doesn’t realise that although I do understand a good deal of Chinese thinking, I refuse to accept some of the idiocy of it. Such as schools being held responsible for foreign teachers’ safety when they travel - what????

He is going to see the dean tomorrow. I don’t care what he tells them but I won’t drop him in it.

What other country would take offence at a  PR exercise designed to get an organisation some great TV footage simply because some harridan decided she should have been told first - a witch I was never even told was my boss until recently?

I have had it with this.

Probably the Harbin/Shenyang thing is off because Joan made an innocent mistake. If that is the case then at the moment it is still feasible to go to Nanning  and I hope to be able to contact the girls I knew five years ago. If nothing else, I can show Joan Yangmei.