Residents

We got our Residents' Permits today. It's quite a big deal, means you can come and go at you want. And it smooths the way for the wife and bairn. It also gives that sense of having arrived.

HD said that he'd told the driving licence authority not to bother after they told him they'd need another blood test. I wasn't too happy about this, and said I didn't mind another test, it was important to me to be mobile. He suggested that I was mad. Not mad, I nearly said, just not shitting myself at the thought of driving in a foreign country.

LM suggested a weekend away. But I'd rather wait until we have driving licences. We plan to drive up to Tunisia - avoiding the obviousness of Djerba. But for a weekend break without a car, I advised him, if he wants to do a bit of boozing, that Malta's the place. It's actually much easier to get to, a 50 minute flight into Europe.

I'm saving up my money and thirst, anyhow. Only two more weekends before my holiday at home.

Spent most of today preparing for a mock exam on Sunday morning. The students are being led to believe that the exam is on the 4th of next month, though actually it's more likely to be at the end of May.

T4 is not coming for now. The nature of the latest hold up is unclear to me. As is T4. Is she some kind of mythical creature? The good thing about her continued non-appearance is that the existing staff have higher value.

In the mini bus on the way home, LM told me about an emotional meeting he'd had with "Wally", an American booksalesman of local parentage. He was selling the college some interactive boards. We actually had demonstration models. But he never followed up, and lost the sale. Likewise with books. He told LM that he'd had enough of being unable to deliver. After four years in the land of his Grandfather, he was heading back to The States, a broken reed. For some reason, we found this quite funny.

LM said that it made him think about his plans for a VLE and generally high tech environment. Now, he was delighted just to get a book he ordered. I ribbed him about all his fancy talk when we were back in the UK. I resisted the temptation to say, I'd thought he was being absurdly optimistic at the time. I'm the only person here with prior knowledge of this country, and my opinion has rarely been asked for. It would be boorish of me to give advice unasked for. And it wouldn't be listened to, anyway.