I saw a man wearing a TV

Yes this is true, I was ambling around town on Saturday when I saw a robot like creature come towards me. The man in question was wearing fluorescent orange shoes, matching orange space suit and on top of his head a silver helmet with a 14 inch flat screen TV attached - and yes the TV was even switched on ! As Murphy's law would have it this was one of the rare moments in Japan that I did not have my camera. So amazed by this vision and aware that it would make a great picture for the blog I went back on Sunday armed with my camera and was determined to track him down. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be seen but I did spot this little man.



He was really cute and did some nifty little moves - note how small he is, must have been a midget or a very small child.

This was definitely light relief in comparison to how I was feeling on Friday morning. I had a coffee morning in the apartment for 26 people and as they would say in Limavady "I was up to high dough" - in this case mini chocolate muffin mixture (as soon as I put them into the oven they slid to the back and looked more like ski slopes than domed shaped muffins). As you can imagine with 26 women, including Japanese, Chinese, Korean, American, Australian, Greek, South African, Romanian, British and a New Zealander, there was plenty of coffee (about 90 cups drank), eagle eyes surveying my home ( I was offered tips on dusting, even though I had cleaned from top to bottom in anticipation of such remarks) and idle chitter chatter. Nevertheless, it all ran smoothly.

Not much else to report on, only three weeks until we're home!

Here's a random picture to keep you satisfied until next week.



This is the gym I go to and it is every bit as luxurious as it looks. When I go the only thing I have to take is clean underwear as everything else is provided including shorts, socks, tee shirt, swimsuit, towels, trainers, bathrobes, cotton buds, razors, toothbrushes, toothpaste and lots of nice lotions and potions. It is so nice that every session usually takes me about 3 hours and only 45 minutes of that is spent exercising. The relaxation room is so relaxing that I fell asleep there for an hour one day - but then again I always did know how to take it easy!

Love until next week, xo

Plum blossom - not to be confused with cherry blossom

Just a quick blog to say hello. We had some friends for supper last night so we are feeling a little tired today and a little fat due to the huge chocolate fondue that we made (it was sooo good though and I will have to work very hard at the gym tomorrow). This morning I had to get up bright and early, abandon the mammoth amount of dishes to be done and head off to Ikebana, it was a lovely afternoon so afterwards I visited Shukkeien garden to see the plum blossom in full bloom. The garden is really lovely and such a peaceful oasis that you would never believe you were in the middle of the city.



Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries so I didn't get a chance to take many pictures except for one of my coffee. Even though it came from a vending machine they still put it in a little cup and pretty tray!



I went to the pretty little town of Takehara on Friday and picked up some cute things for the house. The first shop we went into was an antiques shop but in reality it was the tatami room of someone's house, which made it all the more interesting. I don't think the woman had ever seen so many people in her shop at once - there were nine of us rifling through all these wonderful teapots, kimonos, prints and pottery. I managed to pick up a wonderful Obi for about 20 pounds, Obi are the sashes tied around kimonos and they make wonderful wall hangings, the colour and detail are amazing.




Then we went to a Sake brewery, where we tried not to get too drunk on the very strong sake samples. There was a fantastic gift shop attached and I bought a little salad server with tongs and a bamboo bento box.





That's about it for now. It is White Day tomorrow which means that the men buy their women biscuits or cookies (on Valentines Day the women buy the men chocolates). However, Martin knows me better so he bought me chocolates and true to form, I have already started to eat them.



Ps. With all this talk of chocolate and fondue, you probably think I have turned into a big, puffy heffaflump. Fortunately, this is not the case and I have been working up quite a sweat at the gym three times a week.