Honesty is always the best policy...

I'm afraid I'm in a ranting kind of mood which hs just this second been severely exacerbated by the fact that the "a" key on my computer has decided to stick.
Recently i've been feeling kind of irritable and have not been able to put my finger on it. I think it may have started when i was at school showing some photographs of when i went back to England. Everyone was being very complimentary and appeared to be interested when one older male teacher decides to pipe up with "your brother is very handsome, but you are...well, maybe a little bit fat." He then laughed and smiled as if he had just given me some invaluable advice and that i should be grateful...quite frankly gratitude was the last thing on my mind. The Japanese for "f*#k you, you rude idiot" escaping me (always the way), I grimaced and said "yes, my brother is handsome".
I'd been warned about this kind of comment before i came to Japan but never really thought someone would be tactless or ballsy enough to say it. After all, we're in the land of restrained emotion and chronic politeness. Perhaps, far from being offended, I should in fact be embracing these comical moments. Unfortunately, he got me on a bad day and i just wish this kind of honesty and frankness could be put to good use someplace else...grrr.

THE JOY OF PORK!!!!

While I was perusing the shelves of Japan's answer to Homebase I came across these beauties; soft and fit "Pork Joy" leather gloves for professionals!

I'm not sure what kind of profession we're talking about here but i'll say one thing...there are NO sheep in Japan...

So it looks like summer has arrived in Japan which means two things...English style picnics accompanied by bemused Japanese onlookers and gardening.

Maybe I should explain the latter; since coming to Japan I've really noticed, and missed the lack of green open spaces. There is no garden of any description at my apartment, unless you count a concrete forecourt but I am surrounded by other people's vegestable patches and in a true 5-year old "I want what they've got" mentality I have decided to try and grow tomato plants...in a window box. (I figure these can't be that different from those grow bags.) So, on Thursday, off I trotted to Japan's answer to Homebase to pick up what have already become a very important part of my life. Sad, sad, sad. I'll keep you posted on their progress. The current situation being that I fear for their potential sweetness having being flooded by 24 hours of torrential rain. I suppose I should have bought them inside but it meant carrying a muddy, and now sodden, box over my tatami mats which would then inevitably need cleaning. Really wasn't worth the hassle. So much for summer and those green fingers!