Ole

Last night was Flamenco night, hence the title of this week's load of old nonsense. "Why Flamenco night?" I hear you wonder. Well, very simple really. I used to work with a lady by the name of Tomoko before I moved to my new job, and she goes to Flamenco lessons every Thursday night. These were held in Kawaguchi so we took the train home together on Thursdays and she went off to tap away whilst I went home. So, last night was the show that the school put on and Tomoko gave us a couple of free tickets and asked us to go along.

And to be honest, it was really quite good. They dancers weren't completely crap, as I was kind of expecting them to be, but actually pretty adept at it all. For those not in the know, Flamenco, for women at least, has basically three moves: firstly the strut, in which the dancers don't do impressions of bracing beams, but rather they strut around the stage, sometimes turning around, looking haughty; Second, they lift up their skirts and stamp their feet, looking haughty whilst they do it; and thirdly they lift their arms up in the air and twirl their fingers, whilst looking, if you can't guess, haughty.

Haughty is important in Flamenco. Other things get a look in too, for example castanets get clicked, fans get fluttered and shawls get twirled as well. But all done in a haughty manner. And for the first hour or so, it was all quite beguiling and an impressive spectacle to behold. Indeed, the opening number involved about 200 dancers on the stage and in all the aisles in the hall. But, I'm sorry to say, that after about 3 hours of it, with only a 15 minute intermission, one's enjoyment and concentration did begin to flag. That and Minako sitting next to me asking "can we go home yet?" about every 30 seconds (this does not bode well for having children, but at least it is good practice for me...). But it was good that we stayed as all the dancers, Tomoko included, were waiting in the foyer afterward and we got to say well done and good show etc.

So anyway, well done Tomoko, jolly fine performance, didn't put a foot wrong.

other news

Is a bit thin on the ground this week. One personal highlight for me was a jolly fab aspect of the new job in that I am the one responsible for the things like flights for teachers to and from the UK. At the moment we use BA as our carrier and this week there was a new BA representative in town so he dropped in to see me to have a chat. Of course we are quite a good little earner for BA as we have something like 200 flights London-Tokyo flights a year, and probably a similar number the other way, so they like to be nice to us - well, be nice to me now. So, when I let it slip that I was off back to Blighty in October, the Japanese BA lady suggested that she might like to 'take care' of the booking personally...So I'm crossing every finger I have in the hope that this means 'take care of bumping you up a class or two, Mistah Bowdiji-san' or something like that. I will let you all know, though those that I see in London on Friday 10th will be able to tell if I step off the plane looking like I've just stepped out of a salon (although I then have to use the tube to get to north London, so will probably arrive looking pretty crap...).

On an almost related point, Rob had news that he is going to become an expat as well, as his company Axa-something-or-other are sending him off to Paris for four months from November. Nice one there Rob, hope it all goes well over there. Actually, it wasn't a related point at all. Oh well.

Can't think of anything else to write - this may be a symptom of my biorhythms, which intellectually are right down at the moment. Who knows, but if you want to know yours, check out the new link today (have to say goodbye to 'Talk like a Pirate', but rest assured that will be back next year).