Sunday 23^rd September, 2018 1030

The threatened call from Brenda has yet to materialise, however I'm reasonably sure I know what it should have been about.

Yesterday while I was mustering the effort to shower, following which I was going out in search of my now exhausted drugs (I had spied a large chemist from the school bus on Friday evening within hobbling distance), at 1230 there was an annoyingly insistent rapping on my door. It could only mean one thing.

You guessed it, the workmen who should have turned up earlier in the week were here. Thinking that all they would do would be to put the old panels back using glue or tacks, I let them in. They lugged in all kinds of equipment – sanders, fret saw, compressor etc – took measurements and then cluttered off for lunch. I assumed they would be back after 1430. “They” turned out to be one chap, who brought with him a couple of thick boards. It was obvious he was going to completely replace the stackpipe casing. This wasn't going to be a thirty minute affair and I hadn't showered yet.

In the end he left at 1930, by which time I had cooked and eaten my dinner and abandoned any hope of going out shopping. He made a desultory attempt at clearing up but still left rubble and detritus which I now need to clean up, the loo is only flushing slowly and someone needs to come back to refit the tiles he took off! Why, oh why, could they not have done the panelling first and the tiles afterwards???

So now I need to go medicine shopping today but I will leave it a while and grab some food while I am out, saving the hassle of cooking later. I can but hope there will not be hordes of people doing likewise, given that it is a national holiday for mid-autumn.

I have spent the last hour preparing an activity for next week's classes. I was on the lazy side last term, relying heavily on showing films because standing all day hurts too much. I had to come up with something I could do whilst seated and not having to keep getting up to use the blackboard and they would find difficult/impossible to cheat at.

I have saved 16 photographs of famous people when they were young and will give them a couple of minutes on each before moving on to the next. The answers will be given once complete and team papers will be given to another team to mark. Sounds easy? Au contraire. Many “famous” people to we in the west are utterly unknown to the Chinese and a lot of so-called famous people nowadays I haven't heard of myself! Sifting through hundreds of pictures to try and get a mix of easyish, difficult and downright stinkers that they should know or at least will know once they have the answers is not as simple as it at first appears. I have among them Taylor Swift (who even knowing it's her I still can't see it) and an absolute bounder of one of Mao which maybe they will surprise me with.

And I get to sit at the computer to work the slideshow!