Monday 26^th April, 2021 1435

I've just learnt one of my relatives has not been coping well with lockdown. Ok, said relative is in France where they have also had curfews so certainly that's an infringement on civil liberty. However I fail to comprehend it. Still get TV and internet and as far as I know, food deliveries. It's prison but it's a big prison with a lot of freedom.

Personally I am stuck in an extremely large country admittedly but I can't go outside (I'd dearly love to visit Steve and Joanna in Kuala Lumpur) and yes, even if you don't want to do something when you are told you can't then you quite simply want to do it. Bit like telling a kid not to stick Puffed Wheat up their nose. It will happen.

But hell, I've made my bed and I am laying in it, same as everyone else. I am not sure lockdowns are entirely necessary in some countries although for sure in others (such as India right now – and that's never going to work) it is a sage move.

I am I suppose isolated in China. No family or western friends these days except Roland in Shanghai but Christ, we are all in the same boat and this time we really all are. Yet I am not taking to air raid shelters every night because bombs are dropping as my forbears had to. Well not yet anyway, if the Taiwan issue escalates things could change. And for now I have Jody.

I see daily when I am watching UK television, adverts warning against more than six people gathering outside in a pub beer garden and some coloured chap deleting one from his group of invitees just in case. Sorry but if it's outside what's the difference between six and seven? The UK measures, as much as I used to champion Boris, are a nonsense.

I can't believe it's May in less than a week and it is still freezing here! Ok I can't blame the cold for my not going shopping today (I'll do it after class Wednesday) but highs of 5°C? I am really tired of this climate. I was sitting here this morning watching downloaded content on my laptop and my left hand was killing me despite the heater being on. Long-term readers will recall my bike accident where I nearly lost my pinkie, it being virtually ripped off close to Qi Shan on St George's day ten years ago. I used to think the stories of old wounds hurting when it was cold or rainy were folk tales. Not any bloody more!! All the more reason to go somewhere warmer.

I had two students who texted to ask for leave of absence on Sunday. One with a cold and cough, the other as she had a tooth out and had to have her “plug” removed. I was so happy because this term I haven't been checking on them anyway, what I did was tell them if they wanted to skip my class to just tell me. I didn't care why – could be too tired, shopping or whatever – they were adults and if they treated me as one I would do likewise. Finally after eleven years I am getting students to tell me the truth about why they are not coming to my class! Would have been nice if the Chizhou students had done the same.

 

Saturday 24^th April, 2021 1200

Well it has been fun and games this week. Seven of my eight classes are most disgruntled because they have been made to practise synchronised dancing after school. We have the sports days coming soon and there's a competition between all the departments for best dancers.

I think for the first time in eleven years I may give the opening ceremony a miss. There's quite simply too much walking involved for me now.

Then of course we have the May Labour Holiday imminently. As always, classes have been reshuffled so we make them up at weekends and the students can have a straight five day break in order to go home.

Well that's fine and I expected it, hence I asked my assistants in the different departments I teach for what the arrangements were. The first reply I got informed me we have classes tomorrow, then as usual 5^th, 6^th and 7^th with make up on the 8^th. In other words, it told me nothing. I waited until Jody came home and asked her if she could decipher it but she just laughed and said no. Which classes was I supposed to teach for make up????

I had to ask again and this time I learnt we have Tuesday tomorrow and Wednesday on the 8^th. Crucially, most of my classes in the translation and Chinese teaching departments are doing alternative things instead of some of my classes so for once my luck is in and I might have an easier ride for a week. The only thing I have to do is marry all the timetables and information and figure out exactly what I AM doing. So far, Jody pointed out that tomorrow I don't have to do the early class on the third floor. I will be honest and admit I hadn't twigged that so if she had said nothing I'd have got up at 0530, struggled upstairs with my laptop, books and lunch, only to discover an empty classroom and a six and a half hour wait until I do have a class! I would not have been happy.

Still no sign of them doing their military training though, which now seems rather odd considering the entire student body will be gathering for the sports. The virus can't be the reason for the delay now.

This evening Baiyin Alice is coming to visit for a couple of hours after she has had lunch with a friend and before going home to see her Mum for a couple of days.

I now need to ascertain when I finish this term and that I am indeed staying here another year. If so and if no more spanners are thrown into the works (I will be fuming if there are) then I want six nights in Nanjing/Suzhou seeing Joan, fourteen nights in Yunnan with Alice and then possibly ten days in Shanghai. Alice will be free from 15^th July. At a month in duration that would be the longest city break holiday I have taken in my life. Hopefully this time my stomach will behave itself.

 

Sunday 18^th April, 2021 1315

As you may have surmised, life has been pretty quiet of late. Besides my brutal timetable there's nothing to report from school other than Jody being a Godsend on Tuesdays when she comes in with me and carries my laptop and lunch up to the third floor for me. This week I did almost fall backwards down the stairs. The bannister is worse than useless as a steadying agent (too smooth and plank-shaped to get a decent purchase) and so thankfully I have taken to gripping the balusters, which saved me.

The other “excitement” was home lighting. One of the fluorescent bulbs in my office packed up so it was arranged for the men with a stepladder to come on Friday afternoon. A couple of years ago I used to drag the desk underneath and climb up to replace them myself but as my balance has deteriorated, these days I think I would contrive to kill myself falling off.

As it turned out I couldn't have done it anyway because inside the fitting there are two boxes, one for each strip. It was the box which had failed and not the bulb, so they went and got a replacement. I can now see to type at night.

While they were here I asked them to swap the bulb in the kitchen. Some months ago the lamp packed up, a fluorescent affair, and they removed the fitting completely, replacing it with a single bulb. The problem was, I'd have had more light from my cigarette lighter. I gave them a spare I keep for when the bathroom light goes and now I do see. I know the world is embracing low energy LED lights but the one they took out for me was 5W!!!!!! I mean, five watts? I was supposed to cook in the dim glow from that?

That episode necessitated a trip underground to replenish my spares. The school would provide them but for what they cost, I just buy them myself so I always have them. The office and bathroom lights fail on a regular basis and if they were to bring me more 5W replacements I would need to develop an echo location ability just to take a shower!

I actually stayed up last night to watch The Funeral. Nobody does pomp and splendour as well as our armed forces and until Phil was taken into the church it was a treat to watch. Then, the sight of our diminutive Queen, clad not only in black but with a black face mask, isolated and lonely on a pew was enough to jerk anyone's heartstrings. One of today's papers made the comment that the Queen had to be isolated when saying goodbye to her husband of 73 years, yet not far away people were flocking to shops and pub beer gardens. It doesn't seem right.

Oh, and now my shower head is dripping!

 

Sunday 11^th April, 2021 1900

I know it has been a little while but unless I wanted to dwell on HRH Phil passing, there has been little to tell.

I am struggling with the timetable I have been given, so much so that on Saturdays (after a damned long Friday of teaching) I have now taken to doing absolutely nothing, not even going out to the jing jo shop. I won't wear another piss-take timetable.

I sent an email to Brenda a few days ago saying I assumed I would be the university's pet foreigner for another year, fully expecting an affirmative answer.

And the mind games have started.

I don't know, we will be discussing it next month.

They must think I'm an idiot. They want to end up with no native English speaking teachers at all?? The only reason they had three before was because of the Peace Corps and Trump pulled them out of China (and was doing so even before Covid). So who in their right mind would actually want to come here? And with travel restrictions, who could? They must think I'm 19 years old. If it wasn't that moving would be such a pain I would ask GAU next door if they still want me. More money and no commute as I'd live on campus. Anyway, in my mind this place owes me one more year seeing as I never took a powder when the virus hit.

The cat and mouse games are; after eleven years; quite frankly pathetic and tiresome now. And they don't seem to realise it is precisely because they do this that so many other westerners like me stay just one year at a school and move on to another the next. They are actually shits because they virtually have jobs for life (it's almost impossible to sack a Chinese teacher) yet we foreigners are only guaranteed a year each time with no security or continuity of tenure. Well pretty soon I won't need to care about all that any more.

So, anyone get the rub of the green on the Grand National? I managed to lose £40 on Mr Malarkey and Sub Lieutenant. I just go on names, it's as good a way as any with the National, and Malarkey is a word I have used in this blog and of course Sub Lt is a naval rank. Unlucky again. I've only ever had two winners in my life – 40 years apart – but then I don't gamble very often. Certainly not the nags and only on the big rugby tournaments and football world cup.

Come to think of it, besides winning £2,000 when Greece won Euro 2004 it has been a disaster! Oh, and there was the time I dabbled with arbitrage betting, placed a large wager on a rank underdog and then couldn't get a bet on the huge favourites!

It was between two Russian teams and one was odds-on, the other something like 50-1against. I went to bed convinced I had dropped a huge ricket but the next day I was stunned to see the minnows had won! Day saved and a good payday.

A couple of days ago my smartphone stopped working. I know it has run out of money but it still worked through my home wi-fi and every day I update my green code just in case. But it stopped and so tomorrow when I went to BHG I was going to stick more money on it. I will need to for the summer holidays anyway. However I investigated and somehow the phone had simply turned off the wi-fi mode. And no, it wasn't me, all I do is turn the phone on and off, do the health dooberry and answer the odd wechat message so God knows what happened there. Fixed now.

 

Monday 5^th April, 2021 Qing Ming Holiday 1745

Well it's a holiday today for those that work Mondays but the school always contrives to make my weekday off the one that sees me getting the least holidays – I've checked and dragon boat is also on a Monday!

Last week we had a fair bit of rain (by Lanzhou standards) and I've noticed most of it falls overnight. How do I know? Because the drops fall down on the metal cage outside my bedroom windows and ping to either wake me up or keep me awake. Anyway, there was a little bit of precipitation on the way to school. At one point my driver suddenly exclaimed and pointed. There was a lone car covered in about three inches of snow. Where it had come from Lord only knows.

Now on Friday when I got into a cab to go home, the driver said “Peili guantian?” - clearly I am becoming known here!

Yesterday we went to get my cigars plus free gifts of a Great Wall lighter (which I can never take from Lanzhou unless I take the train) and a pair of Sony earphones which were most welcome. So I now have 5,700 cigars stashed in the living room and a reduced bank balance.

After bringing those home, we went to the big Mall. God in heaven, it was like spring festival! We managed to get a table in Burger King but as we walked towards Metro there were huge crowds, queueing inside and outside a new shop called Top Toy. I haven't the foggiest what they were selling but judging from the identical bags happy customers were leaving with, it was just one item – and a shedload of them. It prompted me to remark that if Metro was packed we would just go home but in the event, whilst busy it still made for a quick turnaround. I got my cheese.

The jing jo shop was open and Jody volunteered to get my liquids. I asked her to find out why they had been closed for so long. I was right. Mr Jing Jo's dad had passed away. I suppose popping off just before tomb sweeping festival could be considered good timing. The old boy didn't have any quality of life after the stroke, he was being spoon-fed and was bed-ridden. But then around here people disappear regularly.