Sunday 7th May, 2017                          1600

Ah, the recuperative power of sleep should never, ever be underestimated! And the binding properties of a couple of hard boiled eggs shouldn’t either! Still not 100% today but feeling good enough for my roast bit of pork to be in the oven along with spuds, veg on the hob and apple sauce already made. I even did my laundry. All is nearly well with the world.

I am looking forward to tomorrow now. Just one problem in that the classroom computer is faulty. Well, I am no expert but when I show anything to the students, whilst the video is fine, the audio cuts in and out. I have tried the USBs in the console port and the tower one and I have tried every stick I have (six of them) and they are all the same. What are the chances of 6 sticks all being faulty?? And yet still work on my laptop?

Janet is going to report it for me but I doubt it will be fixed by the morning. I have an idea that if I can upload the film to the class computer it may bypass the problem but, rather annoyingly, anything anyone puts on the computer is erased the moment the set is turned off. Chizhou started doing that too, I am guessing students were putting volumes of stuff on the PCs but that could be prevented by issuing teachers with swipe cards or keys to unlock the sets. But no, its easier to make us use our sticks every time, except I think maybe the connections get worn because of it.

By the way, I now know why I hear Jingle Bells every single, bloody day. It’s the tune the  little truck that comes around to empty the bins every day plays! I really wish he would get a rotating play list. Having said that, when I read of local councils in England reducing collections and making them fortnightly instead of weekly, I suppose I really shouldn’t complain. And we don’t have ten separate bins for different types of refuse and they never refuse to empty them. And nobody gets fined for infractions. But Jingle Bells? Come on!

As for the pension I can claim as of Tuesday? Could it be any more confusing? I have absolutely no idea how much it will be. There are two elements to it and I don’t know if they are both included in the first set of documents I was given or not because I only found out about the second element later when I was asked why I hadn’t sent the others off as well.

I am expecting the worst and hoping for the best. The best would be far beyond good so I reckon that would be too optimistic. The worst will still be perfectly acceptable. I am however doing something I am not known for, and that is NOT taking a sizeable lump sum of cash that I could have now in return for a reduced pension. Tell me I only have a year to live and it would be a different story but somehow I think I may just confound everybody who has exhorted me to live a “clean” life for the past forty years - in fact it is now my mission to do so.

It is so, so tempting to grab a big wedge of cash and have a whale of a time but it would be foolhardy given that I am still employed so I am putting my faith in living to a ripe age - at least one at which I can still enjoy wine, women and song!

I shall though not put aside ALL the pension I receive whilst I am still gainfully employed. I shall need to conserve some of course in preparation for eventual retirement or whatever I decided to do in five years’ time but bugger it, whilst I have enjoyed my time in China I haven’t  exactly pushed the boat out.

There is a way for me to retire in China without getting married or having a green card if I want to (which I do) and that is to start a business. For that I would need a Chinese partner by law. Are you there Joan?