Thursday 27^th August, 2020 1500

I am now in the annoying habit of waking up for a pee while it is dark and then being unable to get back to sleep again afterwards. I won't give a monkey's left bicep once I am retired but I damned well will when term starts.

Of course, when that is for me is still unknown. Everyone else seems to have their timetable for the term bar me. And you just know there are going to be ructions over scheduling me impossible classroom changes or worse, giving me a four and a half hour lunch break. I did tell them the easy way was to allocate my classes first and fit the other teachers around it but of course that was “too difficult”. Apparently going to war with me at the 11^th hour is easier.

Jody was successful in obtaining my police thingy which to be honest had I gone to sort would probably never have happened. The copper didn't know what to do and as far as I know never spoke English so it would have been frustrating for all involved. Today though I am walking as well as I normally do these days so at least that's something.

Lunch with Adriana was considerably more expensive than anticipated. That's not strictly true but today it cost a lot. We went to Charlie's Burger Bar (which I'd never heard of) and she said it was a breakaway from Buddy's Diner after the founders had a spat. I was sceptical because I don't rate Buddy's at all – the best thing there is the chips, the pizzas are straight from a supermarket freezer and the “chefs” couldn't even cook baked beans on toast properly.

So it was perhaps foolhardy on my part, not to mention presumptuous of the young waiter to ask me if I wanted to, to fork out 2,000¥ on a membership before I had even sampled the food. I did though, sight unseen, lured by the promise of 300¥ extra on the account, free cocktails today and two free steak meals to be eaten within twelve months.

Do I get a VIP card like Brother's Boat? No, it's only Wechat! So my account is now under Adriana's control, however if she doesn't clean it out, allegedly all I need to do is quote her phone number if I go with A N Other. For someone on a diet she is a greedy bitch though! Two large tacos (one of which would have done for my entire daily intake), fish and chips followed by cheesecake and two cocktails. Ok, she took some of the fish home for later. Me? Standard classic cheeseburger, that's it.

Now here's where it could have gone terribly wrong. She'd ordered two cocktails (long Island Iced Tea and a Mojito) and I ordered a bottle of bordeaux for 299¥. More than I normally would spend but what the hell. My first taste was disappointing but I never complained. I have drunk worse very occasionally. Naturally I struck that one off my list for future visits.

Next thing I knew, they had whisked away the carafe and my glass and via Adriana they explained the boss had smelt the bottle and it was shit. Ok, well done, just give me another red that tastes ok, I'm not that fussy. That was the last bottle of wine in the place! The menu only had cocktails, scotch (yuk!) and beer so I ordered a Corona. Can you envisage me with a Mojito or Orgasm??

I decided the place was OK when, before the beer arrived they sent someone out to buy wine from a supermarket and brought me two glasses on the house. When we left the bill was 290¥ - leaving the account 2010¥ in credit – I still have two steaks to claim and the next visit the wine is half price. If only all Chinese places worked like that. Oh and when we were paying I noticed they had Tanqueray on the shelf and apparently they have tonic too. I shall return! Just a pity it is poles apart from here by way of distance, three quarters of an hour in a taxi one way. I'll take Jody before work starts.

Wonder how she got on at the bank today..........