michael lambe

More pictures are posted on Flickr for your perusal. Also I’ve gained my first Flickr contact (well the first one who isn’t Rik anyway). I was all excited about it for all of five minutes, especially when I realised she’s a comics artist (www.fartparty.org) but then I realised she has over 5,000 contacts already, so whoop-de-doo.

I’m pleased to report that Chris Cotter has managed to write me an email without any errors in spelling or punctuation: “Just watched the most recent Dr. Who, the one with Sarah Jane & K9. My that was a great, great, great episode. And Sarah Jane didn’t scream and get herself into trouble, like the stupid ninny she used to be.” Yes indeed, Chris. I was actually quite moved myself. Sarah-Jane Smith got all deep and growed-up: “The universe has to move forward. Pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it’s a world or a relationship, everything has it’s time and everything ends.” Wow. Bit of a contrast from: “Aaaaaaaaaaaaarggh! Doctor! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrghhhhh!” The writing really does seem to be getting better and better on that series. How did K9 get out of the car, though?

Last Wednesday, I went to Eiga-mura with Philippe and Hyon Ju. Eiga-mura is basically, a bunch of shabby old film-sets you can visit and watch some actors dressed up in Edo period outfits, running around having pretend fights. It’s a bit crap to be honest but I can’t complain as the tickets were free and I did get some good pics.

Philippe and I, finishing our ice-creams.
The actor 福本清三 gives it what-for.
Philippe and Hyon-Ju centre with two actors at Eiga-mura. The guy on the right is 福本清三 who played the “Silent Samurai” in the movie “Last Samurai”… So that’ll be me taking the picture then.
This lady was kind enough to supply myself, Philippe and Hyon Ju with free tickets. Ta.
Secrets…
There’s also a big Kamen Rider section for the kids. This next one’s for Kumar…
I posted some more pictures of a similar ilk on Flickr, which you can see by clicking “My Pictures” on the right of this page.

On Thursday, Hyon Ju and I went round to Suwa-san’s Temple to see if he really is a monk, and, strangely, he is. His family lives in and runs this little temple tucked away in one of the side streets right in the centre of town. One minute you’re in a busy shopping district, the next - sanctuary. There’s something very odd about sitting in a temple drinking beer and nibbling snacks. The lady behind me is called Keiko and she’s completely insane.

Thursday evening: a long promised visit to The Flying Keg with Hyon Ju, Sun Hyon, Takeshi and friends. The Flying Keg (http://keg.boo.jp/) is a superb beer emporium on the crossroads of Mikage Dori and Higashioji Dori. Here’s a picture of myself, pre-imbibification of beverages. Sadly, all post-imbibification images are somewhat blurred. This beer is a Tripel Karmeliet from Belgium. Lovely.
Just look at the range. Ah, tis a beautiful thing:
After that we went on to karaoke but I don’t remember much about that except for singing something by James Blunt and that’s just wrong.

Working at the mental clinic on Saturday morning one of the questions that came up in conversation was “If you could be the same age forever, what age would you choose?” Most people chose 21. But I’d pick my age now. In my twenties I was a bit of a daft bugger. But now I have a small measure of common sense, good friends, enough work to keep me and a very nice life thank you.