Tuesday 31^st March, 2020 1840

I am pulling my hair out.

My work is complicated enough as it is with three different disciplines to deal with and this is exacerbated by the fact I am working from home and don't even know most of the students. Combine that with some classes having to be set written work and the rest oral recordings and perhaps you can understand why at times I am frustrated.

So this morning I marked yesterday afternoon's class and after about ten students I suddenly started getting recordings on coronavirus. That was the topic for the written classes. What I should have been listening to were opinions on Extinction Rebellion! Two-thirds of that class received 0/10. blow me down, I thought I'd get ahead of the game and start on this afternoon's class and I only marked THREE before encountering the wrong homework!

I have relented and told their monitor that everyone who did the wrong work needs to redo it pronto and I expect a new file in my inbox by the time I wake up tomorrow morning, otherwise I shall mark what was sent originally.

Is it too much to expect the students to actually understand that when assignments are clearly labelled written and oral for them to understand the difference??

I am actually starting to worry about this virus thing. No, not about catching it but about the post-virus world. Take the UK as an example (and purely because I read the news about there more than anywhere else) – what will it look like?

How many pubs will still be in business? How many firms will have folded? How many airlines will still be flying? And how much will the basic rate of income tax be for years to come? The virus is not going to be the problem, the aftermath is. The effect here has been minimal as far as I can tell but that's because Beijing has deep pockets. Other countries not so. It may just be the reset button that was needed but life may be altered dramatically.

Anyway tonight I have no marking in the pipeline so I am just going to enjoy watching films I have downloaded and what I could get from the BBC that wasn't a repeat! Yesterday when I went to BHG I bought a cushion for my office chair for 20¥ - I needed it. After three months of sitting on it my bum was in danger of developing bed sores!