Saturday 26^th October, 2019 1807

Well, now that was a game for Englishmen who love their rugby to savour and one which my Kiwi student will not have. Yes, I managed to connect to watch, albeit with a lot of buffering but nonetheless enjoyable.

On Thursday night I did something that perhaps was unwise. I sent an email to Dean Delia. I had been stewing over the allegation I had not been giving the students enough opportunity to try their pronunciation. It was, to say the least, a rather forcefully-worded letter!

At the time I mulled over whether to send it or sleep on it but decided my feelings wouldn't change and so hit “send”. When I reread it in the morning I did have pause to wonder though! But then I thought, there's always the agricultural university next year and I am sick of student comments and rumours being taken as gospel – remember one of them got me fired from Chizhou before I remonstrated and had it reversed and another had me grilled about fictional trips to town to engage the services of prostitutes.

The people “believing” these fairytales should know better, they are in positions of power and can affect the lives of people such as me.

Anyway, on Friday afternoon the Dean called me and I thought, uh-oh. But to my surprise I received an apology! She now knows, as do the students, that any complaints will be made to me and not a third party first, then if I fail to resolve it then they are free to take it further. I mean, the students are all legally adults so they need to behave like adults.

Last night I had a Chinese family to dinner. Deniro (he likes the film star), his wife and very young daughter. I also invited Jody the teacher from main campus. Just standard English fare, a cottage pie and bread and butter pudding. Thankfully they liked it and there was a humorous moment when Jody started to serve the pie and they asked what the stuff on top was. I advised it was potato and pointed out that the Chinese have no idea what to do with potatoes but we do!

It's still going below zero at night here (and will do probably until late April) and still the heating is not on. Jody told me a fortnight ago it would be turned on the twenty-something, I said I reckoned it would be 1^st November. Not many twenties left in this month so just maybe I will be proved right, at least if I'm wrong it will be a near miss.

Last night I had all cannons blazing, three fan heaters worth 4Kw going for all they were worth trying to keep the place warm. Nothing worse than eating dinner shivering. Besides anything else, the food gets cold quickly! I think the next time I go to see the Electricity Auntie I had better take her some home made cake so she doesn't tut at my “excessive” usage. Although to be fair, after three years she knows I use plenty.

I am unsure what I will do tomorrow. Mr Jing Jo is struggling to source my smokes. He did buy a shedload of packets of five and I felt so guilty about refusing them as he cannot return them. They were the same brand but they were cigarillos with plastic filters and are about as strong as a Senior Service cigarette. I tried them ages ago and apart from not being able to get a kick they made me cough. I may have to make a trip to see if the big China Tobacco has any, although I can last until my early day on Tuesday – but no later. I also still need a haircut but in this weather I may need to wear my kubanka for a few days to keep my head warm..........