Friday 26^th March, 2021 1800

I am exhausted at the end of a week I am glad to see the back of.

Wednesday morning I discovered that for the first time in eleven years of teaching I had lost my course book. I knew where I must have left it, room 3116. Inconvenient in that on Wednesday I teach in building four but I could still go to the classroom in building three to retrieve my book and have time for a quick cigar before class.

Of course, you need to factor me into the equation. After the fiasco with the taxi driver the night before I managed to get one who took me to the wrong gate. It happens very occasionally but it means a detour back to where I actually want to go – that or a sodding long walk from the new gate and walking is something I have developed an allergy to these past couple of years. I toyed with the idea of getting a student to leg it and find my book but decided instead to do it myself.

Hundreds of times I have been in classrooms where students have left books on tables and nobody so much as touches them. The first time I do it? GONE!!!!!

I ended up buying a copy from my student in the class I was taking, she didn't want to take money but I made her have four times more than she paid for it – for her trouble.

Between us we also managed to find the sound problem on the computer and I was so happy to have fixed it. Sadly with no curtains, the screen was all but impossible to see. I have asked them to get a builder's sheet and some string for next week and offered to pay. If they don't then I will ask them to engage a curtain maker and I will pay for them to instal a set.

Thursday and today nothing went wrong, it's just that getting up at 0530 knocks me for six. Even worse, I got up for my night-time pee and when I returned to the bedroom this morning just wanting to collapse for another hour or two, the alarm went off! A different man may have called in sick and gone back to sleep. But sleep I shall tonight!

In the afternoon Brenda called me to inform me that the school would be immunising all staff and students, probably in May. Fine I said, do I get the Astrazeneca or the Pfizer one? I don't know.

I do, I said. It will be Sinopharm. To be honest I couldn't care less as long as I get a certificate that allows me to travel – also it's not going to cost me anything. She seemed to think maybe we would need to go to hospital but I pointed out with thousands on campus it would be more sensible for them to send a “jab bus” much like the bloodwagons in the UK. We shall see.

In the meantime I am struggling. I will wager I am in bed asleep at least ninety minutes before Jody gets home.