Not everyday your old man gets a mention in a national newspaper, well done chaps.
Sunday, 30 November 2003
Saturday, 29 November 2003
errata
hmm, saved and posted that last post with a view to go back and edit (i know how this compurter works now) and it seems to have disappeared off my 'edit' pane. so, i know there are typos in the post below, but i can't do anything about them now.
ps watched 'chicago' tonight on dvd - please pick any icon on rathergood's swear-o-tron for this piece of nonsense. oh, and add matrix #3 as well.
hmm, saved and posted that last post with a view to go back and edit (i know how this compurter works now) and it seems to have disappeared off my 'edit' pane. so, i know there are typos in the post below, but i can't do anything about them now.
ps watched 'chicago' tonight on dvd - please pick any icon on rathergood's swear-o-tron for this piece of nonsense. oh, and add matrix #3 as well.
Saturday night
What with the Rugby World Cup over, what is a chap supposed to do? Everyone in Blighty has had it easy - games at 9am mean that the rest of the day is free for drinking and falling over, so when the cup finishes, nothing much has changed. Us poor souls in Japan are now faced with empty evenings staring at the bottom of a bottle of red....
oh ok, not all that bad then.
But it does leave a gap, so what better way to fill it than with stories from this week's press to delight and amuse (if I'm lucky), or just give me something to write (much more likely). All these taken from this week's Daily Yomiuri.
First up is a delightful new scam that some of the youth of Japan have been practising recently. Imagine a spotty adolescent/young hoodlum phoning up a random old person:
"Hi, it's me [pretending to be errant offspring]"
"Er hello [in a slightly bewildered fashion], how are you?"
"Not good, I've crashed my car/got to have a abortion/need to pay off gambling debts/etc, can you give me 10,000/100,000/500,000 yen right now?"
"Er... [still bewildered]...ok. How?"
"Pay it into this bank account."
"Er....[etc]...ok"
And they did. To the tune of lots of millions of yen, apparently. Makes you wonder, really, along the lines of, why didn't the old persons tell their 'offspring' to come and collect the money? Or why didn't the old persons mention any names during the exchange? Or even, didn't any of the old persons wonder about the strange voices at the other end of the line? But there you go, but there are plenty of good scams that take in old 'English' persons as well, so we shouldn't wonder too much.
Interesting news, perhaps even ground breaking, about crime in Japan. Since 1995, the number of robbery cases has increased threefold, as well as injurous assault, sexual assault, fraud and embezzlement all on the increase as well. Not that ground breaking, you may think, but, this is the first piece of reporting asbout crime that I have ever read in Japan where the main focus of the article wasn't about foreigners commiting crimes. In fact, of the 4 columns, the word foreigner appears only once at the bottom of column three. Those of you reading this outside Japan may thing I am being a little over sensitive about this, but it is odd to be a foreigner in a country and every report you read about increasing crime is about foreigners. Oops, could turn into a rant here, so let us move on.
Those of you who have read this blog for a while may well remember a rant I had a while back about the government putting tax payers money into a failing bank. [if this rant was at the start of August it may well no longer exist. Blogger seesm to have swallowed these for some reason. Apologies]. Anyeay, the point is is that the govt is at it again. This time it is Ashikaga Bank, which apparently has overstepped its adequacy limit, or something, so it may well be off down the tubes if someone doesn't give it a helping hand. Now I'm all for helping out needy banks in times of trouble [actually I'm not, but bear with me here], but this is after Ashikaga has recieved 30 billion yen in 1998 (that's maybe 150million quid) in 1998 and 105 billion yen (oh lordy!) in 1999...of taxpayers money.
So let's put this into perspective. Some punk kid scams a little old lady out of 100,000 yen and gets put in prison for a year or two.
The Japanese government skims 130 billion yen out of the country and gets to do it again next year.
Hmm...
These stories were of course mixed in with then usual reports of white collar crime (Kobunsha Exec in 22million yen embezzlement), non foreigner related muders ('Man shot Grandson, killed self), really dull political news (Govt, Parties spar over pension reform) and an unusually large number of people doing silly things on mountains (Man dies after plunge on Mt Fuji; 4 rescued, plus 30 Hikers found safe after n ight on Mt Kiyosumi).
Last but by no means least is a another story about the government and money. In a report published on Tuesday, it apperas that over 40% of central government employees still receive all their salary in cash. Yes, in the most technologically advanced country on the planet, 40% of salaries are paid by one of the Office Ladies (and rest assured, it would be a female member of staff) popping down to the local Sumitomo-Mitsui on a friday lunchtime and collecting enough cash to pay everyone in the office in a smal brown envelope. I think it's fab that you can walk around with a very large amount of yen in your purse ad not worry about it.
Anyway, as I read the first aprt of this article I was scoffing at the backwardness of these silly Japanese. But then I read on. Actually, 40% have their salaries paid in part or all in cash. Now, as you may well know, your average salaryman doesn't actually control his salary. It goes straight into the bank account, an account for which he probably doesn't have a bank card, and his good lady wife doles out a kind of weekly pocket money...
What better way, therefore, than to have most of your salary paid onto your bank account, to keep the good lady wife happy, but a part paid cash-in-hand to do with what you will?
And there was me thinking these guys were stupid. Just goes to show....
What with the Rugby World Cup over, what is a chap supposed to do? Everyone in Blighty has had it easy - games at 9am mean that the rest of the day is free for drinking and falling over, so when the cup finishes, nothing much has changed. Us poor souls in Japan are now faced with empty evenings staring at the bottom of a bottle of red....
oh ok, not all that bad then.
But it does leave a gap, so what better way to fill it than with stories from this week's press to delight and amuse (if I'm lucky), or just give me something to write (much more likely). All these taken from this week's Daily Yomiuri.
First up is a delightful new scam that some of the youth of Japan have been practising recently. Imagine a spotty adolescent/young hoodlum phoning up a random old person:
"Hi, it's me [pretending to be errant offspring]"
"Er hello [in a slightly bewildered fashion], how are you?"
"Not good, I've crashed my car/got to have a abortion/need to pay off gambling debts/etc, can you give me 10,000/100,000/500,000 yen right now?"
"Er... [still bewildered]...ok. How?"
"Pay it into this bank account."
"Er....[etc]...ok"
And they did. To the tune of lots of millions of yen, apparently. Makes you wonder, really, along the lines of, why didn't the old persons tell their 'offspring' to come and collect the money? Or why didn't the old persons mention any names during the exchange? Or even, didn't any of the old persons wonder about the strange voices at the other end of the line? But there you go, but there are plenty of good scams that take in old 'English' persons as well, so we shouldn't wonder too much.
Interesting news, perhaps even ground breaking, about crime in Japan. Since 1995, the number of robbery cases has increased threefold, as well as injurous assault, sexual assault, fraud and embezzlement all on the increase as well. Not that ground breaking, you may think, but, this is the first piece of reporting asbout crime that I have ever read in Japan where the main focus of the article wasn't about foreigners commiting crimes. In fact, of the 4 columns, the word foreigner appears only once at the bottom of column three. Those of you reading this outside Japan may thing I am being a little over sensitive about this, but it is odd to be a foreigner in a country and every report you read about increasing crime is about foreigners. Oops, could turn into a rant here, so let us move on.
Those of you who have read this blog for a while may well remember a rant I had a while back about the government putting tax payers money into a failing bank. [if this rant was at the start of August it may well no longer exist. Blogger seesm to have swallowed these for some reason. Apologies]. Anyeay, the point is is that the govt is at it again. This time it is Ashikaga Bank, which apparently has overstepped its adequacy limit, or something, so it may well be off down the tubes if someone doesn't give it a helping hand. Now I'm all for helping out needy banks in times of trouble [actually I'm not, but bear with me here], but this is after Ashikaga has recieved 30 billion yen in 1998 (that's maybe 150million quid) in 1998 and 105 billion yen (oh lordy!) in 1999...of taxpayers money.
So let's put this into perspective. Some punk kid scams a little old lady out of 100,000 yen and gets put in prison for a year or two.
The Japanese government skims 130 billion yen out of the country and gets to do it again next year.
Hmm...
These stories were of course mixed in with then usual reports of white collar crime (Kobunsha Exec in 22million yen embezzlement), non foreigner related muders ('Man shot Grandson, killed self), really dull political news (Govt, Parties spar over pension reform) and an unusually large number of people doing silly things on mountains (Man dies after plunge on Mt Fuji; 4 rescued, plus 30 Hikers found safe after n ight on Mt Kiyosumi).
Last but by no means least is a another story about the government and money. In a report published on Tuesday, it apperas that over 40% of central government employees still receive all their salary in cash. Yes, in the most technologically advanced country on the planet, 40% of salaries are paid by one of the Office Ladies (and rest assured, it would be a female member of staff) popping down to the local Sumitomo-Mitsui on a friday lunchtime and collecting enough cash to pay everyone in the office in a smal brown envelope. I think it's fab that you can walk around with a very large amount of yen in your purse ad not worry about it.
Anyway, as I read the first aprt of this article I was scoffing at the backwardness of these silly Japanese. But then I read on. Actually, 40% have their salaries paid in part or all in cash. Now, as you may well know, your average salaryman doesn't actually control his salary. It goes straight into the bank account, an account for which he probably doesn't have a bank card, and his good lady wife doles out a kind of weekly pocket money...
What better way, therefore, than to have most of your salary paid onto your bank account, to keep the good lady wife happy, but a part paid cash-in-hand to do with what you will?
And there was me thinking these guys were stupid. Just goes to show....
Wednesday, 26 November 2003
Sunday, 23 November 2003
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Goodness me what a game that was. I can only say that on Sunday afternoon after watching it twice at home. I went to the clubhouse to watch it, of course, but naturally couldn't remember much about the actual game itself by the time I got home. But the emotion, the passion, the excitement, that I remember from last night. What a game!
The clubhouse was once again packed, this time with English and Aussies and the atmosphere was great. There were even a few Japanese there, surprisingly enough, all of whom seemed to be supporting Australia, for some reason. I'm sure their natto didn't taste too good this morning. And what about Australia, my didn't they play well. Considering they only had about 42% territory and possesion, they seemed very tenacious, dragging the game to 100 minutes. But still, we won! It would have been a lot quicker, I suspect, if Ben Kay had held onto the ball when 5 yards from the line, but oh well. And Jonny and Jonno...what guys. Hearts of oak. And the whole team. Robinson's try, how pumped was he after scoring? Magnificent stuff.
Most amused that every time Australia took a penalty kick, the English half of the pub erupted in chants of 'Boring boring Aussies!'. Also, because we're all post-modern ironists out here, we did the same when England took a shot at goal as well, just to be fair, you realise. Managed to shout myself hoarse throught the game, so post match analysis was at a premium. However, I think most of it was fairly simple stuff like 'yeeeesss' or, in more lucid and thoughtful moments 'fuuucking yeeeesss'. As I said, I had to watch the game again this morning to find out what actually happened in the match. This wold be a useful skill to acquire with my post match telephone conversations. I usually speak with parentals after big rugby matches and, in most cases, I have little or no recollection of what was said. I suspect that more post-match analysis was aired, probably along similar lines as above, and Minako reminded me this morning that apparently a card we posted on Thursday has already arrived. But anything else, can't really remember, so apologies if I promised to do anything but haven't yet, if I did, best drop me a line to remind me.
Think I may have left a message on Chard's answerphone as well....
So it's all over for another 4 years. Roll on the 6 Nations in February. Should some of the team retire? I think some of them should, like Back, Dally, maybe Hill and Leonard probably should give it up after 113caps, but I don't know. Jonno should stick around for a bit, just to let the new guys get established before he goes - surely 2007 is too far away for him? And a new captain, please don't make Wilkinson the skipper, too much on his plate already.
So nice try Australia, but Rugby is coming home. Well done England.
(oh, and a note to 'Mat' from New Zealand, you are the bitterest, sourest poorest excuse for a rugby fan I have ever heard. For those who haven't seen, 'Mat's' insightful comment on the match on the planet-rugbywebsite was something like 'this is the death of world rugby, thank you Wilkinson'. Guess he's forgotten about Andrew Merhtens, Grant Fox etc. Tosser)
Non-rugby related stuff
.......
...erm...
.......
Minako's well.....
Plants are sort of OK but throttling back for winter...(except the olive tree, which is still shooting up (in the sense of growing quickly, not mainlining extravagant quantities of Class A's))
Off to watch the Matrix tomorrow after studying...
.....
ah, to hell with it, yyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssss!
Goodness me what a game that was. I can only say that on Sunday afternoon after watching it twice at home. I went to the clubhouse to watch it, of course, but naturally couldn't remember much about the actual game itself by the time I got home. But the emotion, the passion, the excitement, that I remember from last night. What a game!
The clubhouse was once again packed, this time with English and Aussies and the atmosphere was great. There were even a few Japanese there, surprisingly enough, all of whom seemed to be supporting Australia, for some reason. I'm sure their natto didn't taste too good this morning. And what about Australia, my didn't they play well. Considering they only had about 42% territory and possesion, they seemed very tenacious, dragging the game to 100 minutes. But still, we won! It would have been a lot quicker, I suspect, if Ben Kay had held onto the ball when 5 yards from the line, but oh well. And Jonny and Jonno...what guys. Hearts of oak. And the whole team. Robinson's try, how pumped was he after scoring? Magnificent stuff.
Most amused that every time Australia took a penalty kick, the English half of the pub erupted in chants of 'Boring boring Aussies!'. Also, because we're all post-modern ironists out here, we did the same when England took a shot at goal as well, just to be fair, you realise. Managed to shout myself hoarse throught the game, so post match analysis was at a premium. However, I think most of it was fairly simple stuff like 'yeeeesss' or, in more lucid and thoughtful moments 'fuuucking yeeeesss'. As I said, I had to watch the game again this morning to find out what actually happened in the match. This wold be a useful skill to acquire with my post match telephone conversations. I usually speak with parentals after big rugby matches and, in most cases, I have little or no recollection of what was said. I suspect that more post-match analysis was aired, probably along similar lines as above, and Minako reminded me this morning that apparently a card we posted on Thursday has already arrived. But anything else, can't really remember, so apologies if I promised to do anything but haven't yet, if I did, best drop me a line to remind me.
Think I may have left a message on Chard's answerphone as well....
So it's all over for another 4 years. Roll on the 6 Nations in February. Should some of the team retire? I think some of them should, like Back, Dally, maybe Hill and Leonard probably should give it up after 113caps, but I don't know. Jonno should stick around for a bit, just to let the new guys get established before he goes - surely 2007 is too far away for him? And a new captain, please don't make Wilkinson the skipper, too much on his plate already.
So nice try Australia, but Rugby is coming home. Well done England.
(oh, and a note to 'Mat' from New Zealand, you are the bitterest, sourest poorest excuse for a rugby fan I have ever heard. For those who haven't seen, 'Mat's' insightful comment on the match on the planet-rugbywebsite was something like 'this is the death of world rugby, thank you Wilkinson'. Guess he's forgotten about Andrew Merhtens, Grant Fox etc. Tosser)
Non-rugby related stuff
.......
...erm...
.......
Minako's well.....
Plants are sort of OK but throttling back for winter...(except the olive tree, which is still shooting up (in the sense of growing quickly, not mainlining extravagant quantities of Class A's))
Off to watch the Matrix tomorrow after studying...
.....
ah, to hell with it, yyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssssss!
Tuesday, 18 November 2003
other blogs
one thing about doing your own blog is that you wander around and find more blogs, especially through Blogger, who provide this mighty and wonderful service.
anyway, just finished a book entitled 'the baghdad blog' by salam pax, which is his blog written before and all through the gulf war pt.2. fascinating stuff and the blog is still in existence so go check it out at
baghdad blog
i won't add it as a permanent on the sidebar as i think you have to ask permission for that sort of thing, blog etiquette, which i don't want to do as i think this guy gets a million emails a day and don't want to bother him.
thanks to julian who, when he couldn't find a copy of the book to buy for my birthday, gave me his own copy.
one thing about doing your own blog is that you wander around and find more blogs, especially through Blogger, who provide this mighty and wonderful service.
anyway, just finished a book entitled 'the baghdad blog' by salam pax, which is his blog written before and all through the gulf war pt.2. fascinating stuff and the blog is still in existence so go check it out at
i won't add it as a permanent on the sidebar as i think you have to ask permission for that sort of thing, blog etiquette, which i don't want to do as i think this guy gets a million emails a day and don't want to bother him.
thanks to julian who, when he couldn't find a copy of the book to buy for my birthday, gave me his own copy.
Sunday, 16 November 2003
Ahem
England 24 - 7 France.
Oh yes.
Oh yes.
Bring on Australia.
It's all karma.
RWC final in 1991, Australia beat England in England.
RWC final in 2003 England beat Australia in Australia.
Buddha had it right, what goes around comes around.
You can't argue with the big guy.
(where's my weekend gone?)
England 24 - 7 France.
Oh yes.
Oh yes.
Bring on Australia.
It's all karma.
RWC final in 1991, Australia beat England in England.
RWC final in 2003 England beat Australia in Australia.
Buddha had it right, what goes around comes around.
You can't argue with the big guy.
(where's my weekend gone?)
What a game!
What a game! Where did it all come from? Who would have thought it? The passion, the skill, the never say die attitude...what a game. Yes, I think Scotland's dramatic 1-0 victory over Holland in their first leg Euro 2004 playoff will go down as a classic. Shame they'll probably lose the 2nd leg, but there you go.
And the rugby was pretty good as well. Of course it was. Classic stuff. Great atmosphere in the clubhouse as was naturally packed with Aussies and Kiwis. Best thing was that even the Aussies thought they were going to lose. An Australian guy from the office turned up wearing an All Black shirt! He changed at half time as he'd brought his Wallaby shirt as well. I was standing next to a group of Australians and managed to get them and half the pub pointing at Pratty shouting traitor midway through the second half. All good clean fun.
Anyway, come on England this afternoon. People coming over and I shall get drunk again - turning into a heavy weekend. Off shopping now for supplies, updates to follow.
What a game! Where did it all come from? Who would have thought it? The passion, the skill, the never say die attitude...what a game. Yes, I think Scotland's dramatic 1-0 victory over Holland in their first leg Euro 2004 playoff will go down as a classic. Shame they'll probably lose the 2nd leg, but there you go.
And the rugby was pretty good as well. Of course it was. Classic stuff. Great atmosphere in the clubhouse as was naturally packed with Aussies and Kiwis. Best thing was that even the Aussies thought they were going to lose. An Australian guy from the office turned up wearing an All Black shirt! He changed at half time as he'd brought his Wallaby shirt as well. I was standing next to a group of Australians and managed to get them and half the pub pointing at Pratty shouting traitor midway through the second half. All good clean fun.
Anyway, come on England this afternoon. People coming over and I shall get drunk again - turning into a heavy weekend. Off shopping now for supplies, updates to follow.
Saturday, 15 November 2003
saturday afternoon
Decided not to throw the laptop over the 7th floor parapet as, tempting and enjoyable it would have been, it would have curtailed the internet doings of more than just myself, so thought I'd better not. Very Jeremy Bentham of me, you may say, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. And it isn't my computer, that was a consideration. But I will now be more circumspect in using the spellchecking facility. It wasn't very good anyway, being based, it seems, on an American kindergarten dictionary and thus any word over 2 syllables or seven letters was automatically flagged. I'm trying to thik of an example, but daren't try it again in case it freezes agan, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
Anyway, it is saturday afternoon and I find myself with a spare few minutes before heading into 'town' to watch the Wallabies and All Blacks bash lumps out of each other in a lively hostelry known as the clubhouse. This was chosen as the clientele is predominantly antipodean, which should make for a good atmosphere, a sort of sine qua non if you will, for watching these sorts of games. (Think I used that bit of Latin properly, read it in a textbook earlier today and didn't have the foggiest)
But spare a thought for those who are unable to watch the rugby today. Specifically a chap who works for us who had to be taken to a pyschiatric hospital this week as he has a nervous breakdown and manic depressive psychosis. Not a pleasant thing to have at the best of times, but in Japan I think it must be even worse. Some of you may remember the chap I came out here with, Andy, back in 1996. He went mad as well. Is it me? Am I driving people to these ends? Well, not this chap as I don't really know him, but I have met him and done some training a while ago, so you never know. Anyway hope he gets better soon, especially as out health insurance policy doesn't actually cover in-patient pyschiatric problems, which could prove expensive for this chap. But get this, the policy does cover out patient treatment of the same kind, which seems a bit back to front to me. I mean, this chap is in a bad way, but if he was an out patient he could at least fly back to the UK and get treatment there, but now he is confined to a hospital so can't leave so will be racking up huge bills that he can't get out of even if he wanted to try. Doesn't seem quite fair to me.
Goodness this has turned into a bit of a rant. Didn't mean it to, so apologies, but, well, I hope you can see my point. (Just in case you're wondering, I checked over a couple of other ex-pat health insurance policies and all seem to say the same thing, so looks like you're a bit buggered if you lose your marbles in a big way over here).
Quick comment in answer to big golf playing Brother's comment on the last post, no there was nothing about golf in the post that disappeared. There is seldom anything in my posts about golf, what with it being one of the more ridiculous pastimes invented by the Scottish. But I'll tell you what, sometime, in the next few weeks, I'll wite somehthing about golf that isn't too rude, how about that?
Right, I'm off to the pub. Not really sure who to shout for today as whoever wins will be hard in the final. Let's hope rugby is the winner...
(PS no spellchecking to be done, so apologies for any typos)
Decided not to throw the laptop over the 7th floor parapet as, tempting and enjoyable it would have been, it would have curtailed the internet doings of more than just myself, so thought I'd better not. Very Jeremy Bentham of me, you may say, but sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. And it isn't my computer, that was a consideration. But I will now be more circumspect in using the spellchecking facility. It wasn't very good anyway, being based, it seems, on an American kindergarten dictionary and thus any word over 2 syllables or seven letters was automatically flagged. I'm trying to thik of an example, but daren't try it again in case it freezes agan, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
Anyway, it is saturday afternoon and I find myself with a spare few minutes before heading into 'town' to watch the Wallabies and All Blacks bash lumps out of each other in a lively hostelry known as the clubhouse. This was chosen as the clientele is predominantly antipodean, which should make for a good atmosphere, a sort of sine qua non if you will, for watching these sorts of games. (Think I used that bit of Latin properly, read it in a textbook earlier today and didn't have the foggiest)
But spare a thought for those who are unable to watch the rugby today. Specifically a chap who works for us who had to be taken to a pyschiatric hospital this week as he has a nervous breakdown and manic depressive psychosis. Not a pleasant thing to have at the best of times, but in Japan I think it must be even worse. Some of you may remember the chap I came out here with, Andy, back in 1996. He went mad as well. Is it me? Am I driving people to these ends? Well, not this chap as I don't really know him, but I have met him and done some training a while ago, so you never know. Anyway hope he gets better soon, especially as out health insurance policy doesn't actually cover in-patient pyschiatric problems, which could prove expensive for this chap. But get this, the policy does cover out patient treatment of the same kind, which seems a bit back to front to me. I mean, this chap is in a bad way, but if he was an out patient he could at least fly back to the UK and get treatment there, but now he is confined to a hospital so can't leave so will be racking up huge bills that he can't get out of even if he wanted to try. Doesn't seem quite fair to me.
Goodness this has turned into a bit of a rant. Didn't mean it to, so apologies, but, well, I hope you can see my point. (Just in case you're wondering, I checked over a couple of other ex-pat health insurance policies and all seem to say the same thing, so looks like you're a bit buggered if you lose your marbles in a big way over here).
Quick comment in answer to big golf playing Brother's comment on the last post, no there was nothing about golf in the post that disappeared. There is seldom anything in my posts about golf, what with it being one of the more ridiculous pastimes invented by the Scottish. But I'll tell you what, sometime, in the next few weeks, I'll wite somehthing about golf that isn't too rude, how about that?
Right, I'm off to the pub. Not really sure who to shout for today as whoever wins will be hard in the final. Let's hope rugby is the winner...
(PS no spellchecking to be done, so apologies for any typos)
Tuesday, 11 November 2003
aaarrrgggghhh!
just spent the last hour writing a long post, went to spell check and the whole bloody thing froze. fuck it.
topics included rugby, the japanese election, post-holiday depression, studying, plants, urawa reds, sumo and my snazzy new counter.
the next post may well contain a polemic about NEC laptop computers, assuming I can write one after throwing this machine off the 7th floor of an apartment building...
just spent the last hour writing a long post, went to spell check and the whole bloody thing froze. fuck it.
topics included rugby, the japanese election, post-holiday depression, studying, plants, urawa reds, sumo and my snazzy new counter.
the next post may well contain a polemic about NEC laptop computers, assuming I can write one after throwing this machine off the 7th floor of an apartment building...
Tuesday, 4 November 2003
what is the world coming to?
OK, I know it's a bit late, but but what on earth happened to Wales on Sunday night? Rediscovered their passion? Gave it a good crack? Didn't take no for an answer? Who knows, but it seemed to work and produced what has got to be of the best games of rugby I have ever seen - and England wasn't even involved.
Sets up an intriguing England v Wales quarter-final this weekend, can't wait myself. And, for that matter, sets up a good prospect for NZ v SA, if the Bok pack plays up to its potential and the NZ forwards are as useless as they were on Sunday. Ahh, Rugby World Cups, don't you just love 'em...(well, I do anyway)
Other than watching lots of rugby and doing not a jot of study, not much happened at the Arakawa Riverview in the last week. The plants are looking a bit healthier after I pulled off another bunch of caterpillars and threw them over the balcony (I must admit to feeling a little guilty about doing that, condemning them to a free fall death over a 7th floor parapet - perhaps its because I'm reading another book by Joe Simpson that seems to include a lot of lines like '...and then he died whilst climbing in Bolivia...', which I suppose is quite normal for one of his books, but still). Also pulled off some of the more completely nibbled leaves, which seemed to perk them up a bit. The olives, rosemary and lavender all seem to be going well too, as the autumn continues to be quite warm and balmy in this neck of the woods.
That's about it really. Hmmm. Will try to have some deep thoughts to share with you all over the next few days...
...probably won't happen
OK, I know it's a bit late, but but what on earth happened to Wales on Sunday night? Rediscovered their passion? Gave it a good crack? Didn't take no for an answer? Who knows, but it seemed to work and produced what has got to be of the best games of rugby I have ever seen - and England wasn't even involved.
Sets up an intriguing England v Wales quarter-final this weekend, can't wait myself. And, for that matter, sets up a good prospect for NZ v SA, if the Bok pack plays up to its potential and the NZ forwards are as useless as they were on Sunday. Ahh, Rugby World Cups, don't you just love 'em...(well, I do anyway)
Other than watching lots of rugby and doing not a jot of study, not much happened at the Arakawa Riverview in the last week. The plants are looking a bit healthier after I pulled off another bunch of caterpillars and threw them over the balcony (I must admit to feeling a little guilty about doing that, condemning them to a free fall death over a 7th floor parapet - perhaps its because I'm reading another book by Joe Simpson that seems to include a lot of lines like '...and then he died whilst climbing in Bolivia...', which I suppose is quite normal for one of his books, but still). Also pulled off some of the more completely nibbled leaves, which seemed to perk them up a bit. The olives, rosemary and lavender all seem to be going well too, as the autumn continues to be quite warm and balmy in this neck of the woods.
That's about it really. Hmmm. Will try to have some deep thoughts to share with you all over the next few days...
...probably won't happen
Wednesday, 29 October 2003
News
Have just found this excellent story and thought I must share it with everyone.
ClickHere for the truth...
Have also added the Rathergood.com website to the favourites, check out the swearatron, very useful...
Have just found this excellent story and thought I must share it with everyone.
Click
Have also added the Rathergood.com website to the favourites, check out the swearatron, very useful...
Caterpillars...
...have invaded the basil and have been merrily chomping away! Bastards!
I don't know, you turn your back for 5 minutes (or two weeks) and the whole thing goes to pot. It doesn't help when your appointed herbacious assistant has a pathological fear of caterpillars and, when I announced from the balcony that I had found one of the little buggers, promptly slammed the door and locked it, refusing to open it (or even turn around) until i had deposited the aforementioned over the side of the balcony. Rex, do you do housecalls in Japan?
Now back in the swing of working again and my what a pleasure it is to be back. The holiday seems but a distant memory. The suitcase finally arrived on Tuesday afternoon with nothing, it appears, broken. However a spent camera film seems to be missing, so if Parentals or Chard come across a random Jessops film, pass it on, otherwise all the memories I have of the trip will be those haphazardly retained in my alcoholically befugged cerebellum. Either that or Rex or Bert will have to sort out their digital ones and get them emailed across sometime.
Second half of the holiday passed without apparent incident. I managed to get to London and meet up with Colin, an ex-colleague from Centre People, sounds like the company is doing ok but with the same weird boss with all her hang-ups (like sacking people, for instance). Also spent a day at our London recruitment office, which was good although it was only meant to be a morning. Still, I have claimed a day's less holiday as I consider it a day of work, I even tried to claim overseas daily allowance for it as well, but the boss was having none of it. Lastly I managed to get up to Leicester and meet my MBA tutor, Saeeda, (first assignment returned, I got a 'B' with 67% - 3 more and it would have been an 'A'! - am more than a little proud of this, not to say somewhat surprised) and have a good old chinwag - this after losing all the phone numbers and maps of how to get there, not an auspicious start. Anyway Saeeda didn't really talk (and she likes to talk) about the last assignment, or ideas for the next one, rather she went on about the dissertation, due in 2.5 years time, and then suggested that I start thinking about doing a Doctorate! Well just hold on a minute there, I think I'll just try to plod through the rest of this course before thinking about that sort of nonsense (although was secretly a little flattered).
Then got back on Friday night and got whammed with Chard and Hugo in the Duke of Devonshire, played a little arrows and beat a couple of locals, which, I suspect, made us bellow. Most impressed with Chard who, along with Bert and Rex, forswore the puffing of fagarettes during the lakes and who managed the whole night in the Duke without the help of one of the little fellas. Nice work, long may it continue.
Then back home. Just to say that the parting image of blighty was of apparent chaos in the departures hall of terminal 4, which pretty much summed up my experiences of the british transport system whilst back. I mean, it comes to something when the most effective and efficient mode of public transport when back was the train from London to Leicester and back.
...have invaded the basil and have been merrily chomping away! Bastards!
I don't know, you turn your back for 5 minutes (or two weeks) and the whole thing goes to pot. It doesn't help when your appointed herbacious assistant has a pathological fear of caterpillars and, when I announced from the balcony that I had found one of the little buggers, promptly slammed the door and locked it, refusing to open it (or even turn around) until i had deposited the aforementioned over the side of the balcony. Rex, do you do housecalls in Japan?
Now back in the swing of working again and my what a pleasure it is to be back. The holiday seems but a distant memory. The suitcase finally arrived on Tuesday afternoon with nothing, it appears, broken. However a spent camera film seems to be missing, so if Parentals or Chard come across a random Jessops film, pass it on, otherwise all the memories I have of the trip will be those haphazardly retained in my alcoholically befugged cerebellum. Either that or Rex or Bert will have to sort out their digital ones and get them emailed across sometime.
Second half of the holiday passed without apparent incident. I managed to get to London and meet up with Colin, an ex-colleague from Centre People, sounds like the company is doing ok but with the same weird boss with all her hang-ups (like sacking people, for instance). Also spent a day at our London recruitment office, which was good although it was only meant to be a morning. Still, I have claimed a day's less holiday as I consider it a day of work, I even tried to claim overseas daily allowance for it as well, but the boss was having none of it. Lastly I managed to get up to Leicester and meet my MBA tutor, Saeeda, (first assignment returned, I got a 'B' with 67% - 3 more and it would have been an 'A'! - am more than a little proud of this, not to say somewhat surprised) and have a good old chinwag - this after losing all the phone numbers and maps of how to get there, not an auspicious start. Anyway Saeeda didn't really talk (and she likes to talk) about the last assignment, or ideas for the next one, rather she went on about the dissertation, due in 2.5 years time, and then suggested that I start thinking about doing a Doctorate! Well just hold on a minute there, I think I'll just try to plod through the rest of this course before thinking about that sort of nonsense (although was secretly a little flattered).
Then got back on Friday night and got whammed with Chard and Hugo in the Duke of Devonshire, played a little arrows and beat a couple of locals, which, I suspect, made us bellow. Most impressed with Chard who, along with Bert and Rex, forswore the puffing of fagarettes during the lakes and who managed the whole night in the Duke without the help of one of the little fellas. Nice work, long may it continue.
Then back home. Just to say that the parting image of blighty was of apparent chaos in the departures hall of terminal 4, which pretty much summed up my experiences of the british transport system whilst back. I mean, it comes to something when the most effective and efficient mode of public transport when back was the train from London to Leicester and back.
Sunday, 26 October 2003
Back in Japan
Easy to deduce from the title what this post is refering to. Anyway, am back home and feeling jet lagged already - heaven only knows what it will be like tomorrow.
BA lost a whole lot more brownie points this weekend as not only did I not get an upgrade, again, but they endeavoured to leave my suitcase somewhere that isn't Japan. Last seen in Heathrow Terminal 4, said the chap on the desk. Well yes, I know this as it was the last time I saw it as well. And it wasn't just me, perhaps half a dozen people from the same flight we all waiting to fill out forms - they have a permanent 'lost luggage' desk there, for heaven's sake, I didn't see desks for any other airline...
But that is all I can be bothered to write for today as the backs of my eyes are tired (not a pleasant sensation), not helped by watching England labour to victory over Western Samoa, who had 8 first choice players out and only represented half of the country - as they said in 1991, imagine if we had been playing the whole of Samoa.
Easy to deduce from the title what this post is refering to. Anyway, am back home and feeling jet lagged already - heaven only knows what it will be like tomorrow.
BA lost a whole lot more brownie points this weekend as not only did I not get an upgrade, again, but they endeavoured to leave my suitcase somewhere that isn't Japan. Last seen in Heathrow Terminal 4, said the chap on the desk. Well yes, I know this as it was the last time I saw it as well. And it wasn't just me, perhaps half a dozen people from the same flight we all waiting to fill out forms - they have a permanent 'lost luggage' desk there, for heaven's sake, I didn't see desks for any other airline...
But that is all I can be bothered to write for today as the backs of my eyes are tired (not a pleasant sensation), not helped by watching England labour to victory over Western Samoa, who had 8 first choice players out and only represented half of the country - as they said in 1991, imagine if we had been playing the whole of Samoa.
Sunday, 19 October 2003
update
Well, BA won't be getting much of my business from now on! No upgrade! Can you believe that? Maybe I should have dropped unsubtle hints like, "give me an upgrade or our business goes elsewhere". Ah well
This is only a quick one to update everyone. The climbing in the lakes was fantastic. Monday we did the Old man of Conniston again, but actually got to the top this time, after much hard blowing along the way. Tuesday was Helvyllen (spelling?) via Swirral Edge and then across to St Sundays Crags for a really good pull. Wednesday was a local climb around Troutbeck around the valley. Thursday was the big one, from Dungeon Ghyll up to Three Tarns, onto Bow Fell than across the ridge to Esk Pike before dropping down and then climbing up to Sca Fell Pike (we stood on top of the country) and then down via Rhosset Ghyll. The last one was over seven hours and included a lot of hard climbing but was well worth it. Oh, and we got utterly belted every night in preparation.
Obviously great to be up there with Chard, Bert and Doctor Dog (who starts the new job on monday, good luck). Now back in Clanfield with family and watched England stuff the 'Boks on Saturday. Great stuff.
More updates to follow soon.
Well, BA won't be getting much of my business from now on! No upgrade! Can you believe that? Maybe I should have dropped unsubtle hints like, "give me an upgrade or our business goes elsewhere". Ah well
This is only a quick one to update everyone. The climbing in the lakes was fantastic. Monday we did the Old man of Conniston again, but actually got to the top this time, after much hard blowing along the way. Tuesday was Helvyllen (spelling?) via Swirral Edge and then across to St Sundays Crags for a really good pull. Wednesday was a local climb around Troutbeck around the valley. Thursday was the big one, from Dungeon Ghyll up to Three Tarns, onto Bow Fell than across the ridge to Esk Pike before dropping down and then climbing up to Sca Fell Pike (we stood on top of the country) and then down via Rhosset Ghyll. The last one was over seven hours and included a lot of hard climbing but was well worth it. Oh, and we got utterly belted every night in preparation.
Obviously great to be up there with Chard, Bert and Doctor Dog (who starts the new job on monday, good luck). Now back in Clanfield with family and watched England stuff the 'Boks on Saturday. Great stuff.
More updates to follow soon.
Friday, 10 October 2003
I'm off
Well, not quite yet, but have been to the BA thiung and am a little drunk. anyway, will be off in about 12 hours and be back in blighty not too long after, so see uk people soon.
dropped very subtle hints this evening so hopefully...
but will try to update the blog with tales of derring do and getting lost on the old man of conniston whilst in blighty, but you voracious things may have to wait until the end of october for your next installment...
(unless you are with during the real life installments, but then you won't be there for them all, unless you are a limpet, which i would prefer it if you weren't, i'lls top now i think)
Well, not quite yet, but have been to the BA thiung and am a little drunk. anyway, will be off in about 12 hours and be back in blighty not too long after, so see uk people soon.
dropped very subtle hints this evening so hopefully...
but will try to update the blog with tales of derring do and getting lost on the old man of conniston whilst in blighty, but you voracious things may have to wait until the end of october for your next installment...
(unless you are with during the real life installments, but then you won't be there for them all, unless you are a limpet, which i would prefer it if you weren't, i'lls top now i think)
Tuesday, 7 October 2003
the little chaps
Just following up golf-playing-brother's comments on the last post, the little chaps have got a good 30 minutes of sloshing about in their half pint glass apparently.
Luckily there is no waiting around in Japanese hospitals, so I can do the business, hand the half pint glass (with a bit of clingfilm over the top to stop spillages) relay fashion to Minako as she sprints out the door to her waiting bicycle (sit-up-and-beg style). She then peddles furiously to the hospital and hands to the doc, all in 11.5 minutes - giving ample time for the doc to select the Ian Thorpe's and Mark Spitz's and give them their boost.
Easy.
Also, moving on, have just watched the dvd 'bend it like beckham'. Corny, true, but quite good fun and certainly a recommendation if found at a lose end on a Tuesday night in Kawaguchi.
Only 2 days of work left to go before I get on a plane back to Blighty. And, one thing that I didn't mention before is that BA have given me another onerous task. It is a real hassle, but on Thursday, when I should be in the office until about 9pm finishing everything up before I go, I have to (have to, mind, for the good of the company) leave the office at exactly 6pm and go to seminar/meet and greet/free BA booze up at a swanky hotel in the centre of town. The things I have to do! I will have to sit there and listen to some dry chap waffle on for 45 minutes about planes or something, then immerse myself in free wine and canapes and drop extremely subtle hints along the lines of 'these new first class reclining seats look awfully nice, I wonder if I'll get to see one tomorrow...'
You can dream.
Just following up golf-playing-brother's comments on the last post, the little chaps have got a good 30 minutes of sloshing about in their half pint glass apparently.
Luckily there is no waiting around in Japanese hospitals, so I can do the business, hand the half pint glass (with a bit of clingfilm over the top to stop spillages) relay fashion to Minako as she sprints out the door to her waiting bicycle (sit-up-and-beg style). She then peddles furiously to the hospital and hands to the doc, all in 11.5 minutes - giving ample time for the doc to select the Ian Thorpe's and Mark Spitz's and give them their boost.
Easy.
Also, moving on, have just watched the dvd 'bend it like beckham'. Corny, true, but quite good fun and certainly a recommendation if found at a lose end on a Tuesday night in Kawaguchi.
Only 2 days of work left to go before I get on a plane back to Blighty. And, one thing that I didn't mention before is that BA have given me another onerous task. It is a real hassle, but on Thursday, when I should be in the office until about 9pm finishing everything up before I go, I have to (have to, mind, for the good of the company) leave the office at exactly 6pm and go to seminar/meet and greet/free BA booze up at a swanky hotel in the centre of town. The things I have to do! I will have to sit there and listen to some dry chap waffle on for 45 minutes about planes or something, then immerse myself in free wine and canapes and drop extremely subtle hints along the lines of 'these new first class reclining seats look awfully nice, I wonder if I'll get to see one tomorrow...'
You can dream.
Sunday, 5 October 2003
Thursday
Was such a beautiful day this week that I took half of it off to masturbate. No really
It is that time of the month again when Minako tries her hardest to get pregnant (obviously with my, ahem, input). Having tried the usual, and far more pleasurable, method unsuccessfully for the past year or so, Minako decided it was time to take things to the next level, or something like that. So, luckily that meant that I had to come home early from work, on a lovely day let's not forget, and produce a deposit that Minako could take to the hospital which they would then encourage to do the business in some way (stand beside it with a megaphone I suspect).
This is not the first time I have had this marvellous opportunity. Way back in Spring I had to perform the same solemn duty, that time so the doctor could check the health and vigour of my output (very 'genki' was his assessment). If you have never had to do this, I can assure that it is not that easy especially as the receptacle they give is the size of one of the old straight half pint glasses - quite a feat to fill one of those I suspect! When I aired this view to Minako, she told me not to worry, then, on her return form the hospital, looked me in the eye and told me with a straight face that I had failed to fill the aforementioned flask and wondered if I could try again, this filling the flask at least half full...
I will not relate the conversation that followed that incident...
Was such a beautiful day this week that I took half of it off to masturbate. No really
It is that time of the month again when Minako tries her hardest to get pregnant (obviously with my, ahem, input). Having tried the usual, and far more pleasurable, method unsuccessfully for the past year or so, Minako decided it was time to take things to the next level, or something like that. So, luckily that meant that I had to come home early from work, on a lovely day let's not forget, and produce a deposit that Minako could take to the hospital which they would then encourage to do the business in some way (stand beside it with a megaphone I suspect).
This is not the first time I have had this marvellous opportunity. Way back in Spring I had to perform the same solemn duty, that time so the doctor could check the health and vigour of my output (very 'genki' was his assessment). If you have never had to do this, I can assure that it is not that easy especially as the receptacle they give is the size of one of the old straight half pint glasses - quite a feat to fill one of those I suspect! When I aired this view to Minako, she told me not to worry, then, on her return form the hospital, looked me in the eye and told me with a straight face that I had failed to fill the aforementioned flask and wondered if I could try again, this filling the flask at least half full...
I will not relate the conversation that followed that incident...
Sunday, 28 September 2003
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).
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).
Tuesday, 23 September 2003
...erm...can't think of a headline...doesn't bode well, does it...?
Gosh what a productive couple of days. I took Monday off and today is a national holiday, it's the autumnal equinox don't you know, so today I painted myself and Minako with blue woad and we wandered through the streets of Tokyo beating each other with mistletoe and birch twigs.
Not really, but it would be interesting to see what the good denizens of Tokyo would have made of that.
But it was a productive couple of days. I have finished assignment one, which is a feeling of great...well...anti-climax really. It is done, but there has been none of the last minute, up-till-6am feverish writing that seemed to characterise parts of my undergraduate days. Maybe I'm doing this all wrong, I don't know. The other thing is that I may well feel that the essay is done, but this is probably beause I have now read it about 40 times (at least) and therefore it all makes perfect sense and the conclusions are self evident - in short, objectivity has become a problem. But then again I asked a chap in the office to read it last week and he seemed to think it was ok (and he is a 'proper' teacher with a B.Ed etc), even though he didn't get the last 800 words or so. But it has been rewritten with the suggestions of the tutor in mind, so hopefully it shouldn't fail (actually, she said that if it was rewritten with her suggestions, it should be a solid 'b', which is far greater than the 'scraping a c' that I am looking for) so fingers crossed.
But here's a weird thing. Sat and Sun were designated study days this weekend, so by Monday morning, my morning off, as it were, pretty much everything was done. We were heading out for lunch at about midday and so I after reading the paper and going over the internet, had nothing to do for what seemed like an hour at the very least! This was a most odd feeling and I found myself opening a text and starting to read a chapter that will be relevant for the next module...! Freaked me out, I can tell you.
Then I realised, take out the work and the study and there's not a great deal left.
This depressed me no end. But then we went out for lunch and then to buy a new pair of hiking boots for the trip to the lakes in October and a lot of things were suddenly ok in the world. (As you can probably guess, deep introspective self reflection is not one of my strong points). Except that I didn't get the boots yesterday as the shop we ended up at in Shinjuku (lit. translation 'new Inn) didn't have the colour I wanted (they only had bad-curry-turd brown rather than nondescript gray). So today we went back to Ochanomizu (lit. 'place for water for the tea' - no really) and bought the aforementioned boots - at 20 quid off to, pardon me, boot.
And then I got to walk home in them, about 10 kms through some jolly old bits of Tokyo, and some really quite bland bits of it as well. Still, this wander was good as it meant I got to break in the boots a little, not that they really need it as they are of the light/medium weight variety, rather than the heavyweight jobs, and also check to see if they gave me blisters, which they didn't, which is good news for the lakes.
Gosh what a productive couple of days. I took Monday off and today is a national holiday, it's the autumnal equinox don't you know, so today I painted myself and Minako with blue woad and we wandered through the streets of Tokyo beating each other with mistletoe and birch twigs.
Not really, but it would be interesting to see what the good denizens of Tokyo would have made of that.
But it was a productive couple of days. I have finished assignment one, which is a feeling of great...well...anti-climax really. It is done, but there has been none of the last minute, up-till-6am feverish writing that seemed to characterise parts of my undergraduate days. Maybe I'm doing this all wrong, I don't know. The other thing is that I may well feel that the essay is done, but this is probably beause I have now read it about 40 times (at least) and therefore it all makes perfect sense and the conclusions are self evident - in short, objectivity has become a problem. But then again I asked a chap in the office to read it last week and he seemed to think it was ok (and he is a 'proper' teacher with a B.Ed etc), even though he didn't get the last 800 words or so. But it has been rewritten with the suggestions of the tutor in mind, so hopefully it shouldn't fail (actually, she said that if it was rewritten with her suggestions, it should be a solid 'b', which is far greater than the 'scraping a c' that I am looking for) so fingers crossed.
But here's a weird thing. Sat and Sun were designated study days this weekend, so by Monday morning, my morning off, as it were, pretty much everything was done. We were heading out for lunch at about midday and so I after reading the paper and going over the internet, had nothing to do for what seemed like an hour at the very least! This was a most odd feeling and I found myself opening a text and starting to read a chapter that will be relevant for the next module...! Freaked me out, I can tell you.
Then I realised, take out the work and the study and there's not a great deal left.
This depressed me no end. But then we went out for lunch and then to buy a new pair of hiking boots for the trip to the lakes in October and a lot of things were suddenly ok in the world. (As you can probably guess, deep introspective self reflection is not one of my strong points). Except that I didn't get the boots yesterday as the shop we ended up at in Shinjuku (lit. translation 'new Inn) didn't have the colour I wanted (they only had bad-curry-turd brown rather than nondescript gray). So today we went back to Ochanomizu (lit. 'place for water for the tea' - no really) and bought the aforementioned boots - at 20 quid off to, pardon me, boot.
And then I got to walk home in them, about 10 kms through some jolly old bits of Tokyo, and some really quite bland bits of it as well. Still, this wander was good as it meant I got to break in the boots a little, not that they really need it as they are of the light/medium weight variety, rather than the heavyweight jobs, and also check to see if they gave me blisters, which they didn't, which is good news for the lakes.
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