Tue 5 Apr

I shop in the souq as usual, and then prepare one of my mighty lentil stews. No sooner have I put the pan on the hob when the gas runs out. I go and tell the restaurant downstairs hoping they invite me to bring my saucepan down – but oh no! being Sudanese it's in their nature to much more helpful. An hour later, everything's back up and working thanks to one of the restaurant staff, a passing rickshaw and a cool 2000SD.

Late afternoon I have the inaugural meeting of the "English Club" with my undergraduate students. About 20 of us go down to El Gamiya beside the Nile for a splash and a picnic.

Of course, everyone keeps their clothes on, but the boys and girls do happily go in the water together. They seem to have a whale of a time – like no one has ever let them out before. It's all good clean fun and only costs a few dates and bottles of pop.

Afterwards, seven of the girls and I get the bus across to Bahri and the ice-cream shop. We buy a quarter kilo of ice cream EACH and it's beginning to feel like a birthday treat when predictably they notice the time, panic, and declare they can't possibly stay out any later (it has been dark now for two hours).

I am left with my loyal, trusty, darling MJG to walk back across the bridge. I have to admit, despite the traffic, it is kind of pretty and romantic. If our ages were 10 years closer – or I was extremely drunk – I'm sure I would kiss her, certainly I think she is expecting it.

The television news this evening is reporting enormous demonstrations in Khartoum regarding the UN Security Council's decision to refer 51 Sudanese citizens, accused of war crimes, to the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Government workers had been given the day off. The police have helpfully directed traffic elsewhere. Thousands of people wave similar looking flags. There is news analysis for 30 minutes from every conceivable angle seemingly based entirely on the same repeated video footage.