Category: Travel
London Trip
I had to go to a meeting in London yesterday; the meeting was about trade fairs and gave me the opportunity to meet with the person in charge of the fair. I was not going to miss this! I set off from home by train. I live in Taplow very close to the station so…
Bushmoot 2010
Our short 2010 holidays in Wales… Wild camping at the Bushmoot
The Ryanair disease is catching up…
Being charged for buying something from a shop….
Would you say something?
the joys of air travel and antisocial behaviour
Queen in Japanese
Freddie Mercury eat your heart out…..
Summer Holidays
On the 9th of August we made our annual trip to France. For our first night, we stayed in Novotel near Senlis, the first bedroom we were given was not quite clean enough as we found some hair in the bath, I went down to reception and asked to change. This was done without too…
The exam
Like 15,000 other victims I took the mismanaged and poorly organised Japanese Proficiency Test last December but this is not only a test of Japanese Language but also a test of patience. I’ve no gripe with the test itself. It’s that the breaks are too long, it’s once a year, the results take too long,…
The rubbish problem
Have you noticed when you come to Japan that everything you buy in the shop is packed for you nicely? Even chewing gums in a packet are individually wrapped!But this mountain of packaging material needs to be disposed off. Everything is therefore recycled.In Europe we are at the infancy of recycling, here in Japan all…
Japlish
I have a language problem, not because I find it difficult to get on with the Japanese language but to do with English.Please don’t misunderstand me. I appreciate all the efforts our Japanese hosts have made to help us around this country, from bilingual train and road signs to plummy announcements on the underground.My problem…
The invisible Gaijin
Nothing seems to phase us, Gaijins, as we skillfully skip past that seventh pool of vomit; not that mass of people racing towards us like world-class athletes nor the high-pitched ringing of that bicycle trying to weave its way through the crowd. No, today we are invincible, we are Gaijin gods strolling through Tokyo.Invincible, that…