I’m in England. More specifically I’m in Birmingham, at my sister’s, but we are driving up to Middlesbrough today. What with all the fog-bound madness at Heathrow Airport I’m quite lucky to be here at all, there was a brief period when I thought I’d be stuck in Helsinki for the holidays, but after a mere 3 and a half hour delay… I arrived. I arrived to good food, lots of beer, too much wine (ouch) and Pogues videos. My brother-in-law John is a massive Pogues fan see. Anyway, I’m headed towards an internet free zone so my best wishes to all of you, have a smashing Christmas, don’t get into any family arguments and good luck for the New Year. Here’s a classic video from the Pogues to put you in the mood:
You go for a drink with Philippe… and the next thing you know… you have art on your arm.
Something to put you in a good mood. I recommend watching it first thing in the morning and setting your mental jukebox to The Selecter.
These are some pictures of Eric Mandala last night at Pagode. Good Times!
Tomorrow I’m going to go and see this: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_wind_that_shakes_the_barley/
On a friend’s recommendation. Made her cry apparently…
Still I have no computer (writing this at school) so no more (or very few) blogs for a while. Probably. The shop called and told me changing the CD-Rom drive was going to cost ￥40,000 (that’s about 200 of your Earth pounds - no sterling sign on this damn yankee imperialist poota!) and would take about two weeks to fix. Just what I wanted for Christmas.
My schedule over the holiday is as follows:
20th - Flying home to England (via Helsinki). It takes about 14 hours. So I’ll be watching lots of movies and partaking of the free airline booze. I’m staying at my sister’s in Birmingham and enjoying her fine cooking until…
23rd - Middlesbrough. Family gathering. Ding-dong merrily on high etc…
4th/5th January - Going to Cambridge to see old buddy Rik Abel for the first time in four years. RIK! MAIL ME YOUR PHONE NUMBER AND ADDRESS!!!
9th - Flying back to Japan. Arriving on the 10th. Back to work on the 11th.
Should be a good trip. I will of course be taking many pictures and videos and so on, so be prepared to be regaled.
Another last class today… Here’s a picture of Monday’s girls… good luck!
Above: cheese fondue.
Making Tako-yaki (balls of wheat flour batter cooked with pieces of octopus).
Hyon Ju is off to Korea today, so last night we went to the Yagi’s house for dinner.
Here are some cute family photos…
These are the gingko trees on Kawabata (before the nasty men come along and cut all the leaves off).
This is a lamb. Baa.
My most recent photos (taken in Arashiyama, around Yoshida and also Shin-nyo-do) have been uploaded to Flickr, and can be viewed here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/46253270@N00/
Enjoy!
I asked my students if they had a message for the world…. and the word was PEACE!
These are my 3rd Year Senior High Students. The course I taught them finished today, and soon they will be graduating and going on to various universities. As they were a nice class to teach, we took a couple of pictures together. Good luck ladies!
