Saturday 23rd April, 2016                   0200

Ok nearly bedtime. Tonight was I hope the last English corner for both this semester and also sadly for me. It was held by the class which all of whom swapped majors over the spring festival after their first term and I have to say theirs was the best of the lot. I even managed to get a girl (virtually unheard of) to go apple bobbing in my last game.

I now have a very busy weekend ahead. The big concert is on Wednesday 4th May which is a week Wednesday. Thank God I had the germ of an idea for last year’s show which for some inexplicable reason was cancelled due to lack of interest - more I suspect on the part of the school than the students.

So this weekend I need to hurriedly come up with a script for a play - no way are we going to perform the song they chose for us! The lad that is running it was my student until they changed all the classes so I think actually he is quite pleased we have offered to do something else of our own.

Our idea was approved (maximum time being 15 minutes) and so I informed Juliette. You don’t expect a sideswipe from your foreign colleagues but she gave me a severe left-hander when she said she and Andrei were working on a play about French culture. This within a day of me saying I wouldn’t sing and asking them if they would act in my play and yet at the time Andrei washed his hands and Juliette was resigned to singing!

Was I annoyed? No of course not, great to see them entering into the spirit but as the conduit and “fixer” it was with some concern I contacted Justin to say that the laowei would do two short sketches. Fifteen minutes is a long time to keep up interest from the audience (and without checking I think our legendary Heathrow customs one was less than ten).

Word came back that it was fine but they had scheduled twelve acts at fifteen minutes apiece. If past experience is anything to go by there will be one act that hogs half an hour but that’s their problem. I told them we would keep our two combined to a quarter of an hour. We may go over a few minutes but so what?

Then I was texted that their teacher wanted us to perform the acts next week before the show. Whoa!!! I had this very same problem two years ago with the Heathrow sketch. They want to make sure we wouldn’t make any political statements or inappropriate comments, of that I‘m sure. I refused then and I refused this time - they either want us on the show or they don’t but I am damned if I am going to come up with an idea and perform it beforehand so the entire university ends up knowing what’s coming before we set foot on stage. I told them to trust me (we will all review both acts just to make sure there’s nothing sensitive and already I have run the final line in my play past Joan and tonight’s form teacher and been told there’s no problem if it is used for a laugh so I am happy that whatever I write will be Chinese PC. All I need is further suggestions from the others once I have produced the first draft, if any are needed.

Andrei and Juliette are doing theirs in French and whilst in my office I was about to text jokingly about subtitles after I had pointed out not many would understand La Francais when she sent me a message saying they were going to subtitle it! Great.

Anyway, the Chinese teacher who is presumably overseeing the show caved in and we do not have to “audition” or be vetted. Just as well or there would have been no foreign presence on stage. I understand where students are concerned but considering there is never a Chinese teacher up there I wonder if they would demand that should one actually audition? And WHY do they not take part?  Oh wow! Just had an idea!!! I wonder if Anthony would join us????

I will send him a message in the morning but he is a shit for responding at weekends.

So in the morning, no shopping, just the office for an hour at some point, preparing a batch of chilli cottage pies (Dumpling will be cleaning again so I feel obliged) and dreaming up a script. Sunday I will shop but probably still work on the script - they never give you long here!