Monday 13^th July, 2020 1630

After a week of holiday during which I consciously procrastinated daily over actually marking the written test papers and dreaming about it at night, I applied myself yesterday and today and got them done.

The results threw up a couple of surprises. There were three classes in the English department and one in the Translation department that took the exam. The best class turned out to be Translation, only one student narrowly failed so I gave her a nudge. The highest overall score was achieved by Isabelle with a genuine 84. As for the English department??? I decided to add 15 to every student, making two of the classes look respectable.

The third class was absolute carnage even with the additional marks. Out of 34 pupils 21 still failed! In all conscience I couldn't pockle the figures to that extent so as far as the school is concerned that class is on the naughty step. A vagary of the Chinese university system is that if a student fails the term finals they get another crack at the beginning of the next term so it looks as though I will be sacrificing half a Saturday or Sunday to go to work and invigilate – plus more bloody marking. We aren't looking at marginal failures either. The pass mark is 60 and many of those found wanting scored 32, 28 or in one case 24! And these are English majors. There is a wide chasm between the ability of and verve of the students here in a big city and those in little old Chizhou.

Ah well, no more waking up worrying about marking any more I hope, that's me done. All I need to concern myself with now is to cruise or not to cruise -that is the question. That and a rapid refund if necessary!

Alice sent me some photos today from Tibet. Being a foreigner I am not permitted to go there unless in an organised tour – anathema – but it looks wonderful.