September Update

September began like most months for me - with a bloody funny TV show. This time it was one in which various women from various backgrounds tackled an obstacle course, with mixed results. Naturally, there were professional sportswomen and veterans who do this sort of thing for fun, but their runs were pretty run of the mill. The real fun was in the amateurs, and especially the amateurs who were SHIT. Such as the large lady below.



You're probably thinking the same thing I did.. "not a fucking chance, love!"




And you'd be right... woeful jump, even for a big lass..



Ahh, now I like this photo.. somehow I managed to capture the precise moment when the girl's face met the cold hard wood of the log. With a better camera I'd be tempted to enter it in a competition..



You can probably guess which one I chose..



A bit of a house party at Ewan's, one of the highlights being Roald's boardgame forfeit - eating a natto roll..



A snap of my dad's favourite shop in Kurume, taken from my wife's car..



The lovely Miwae returned to her old workplace to show off her little baby to us.. I could almost pick him up with one hand..



I went to a great bar called Cottonfields in Fukuoka with a chap called Peter. Our wives met eachother on the Japanese site Mixi, and we were soon out on the jag..

Fantastic bar, Cottonfields.. over 600 bottled beers from around the world, including, shock horror!, my favourite beer in the world, Theakston's Old Peculier!

For her health, my wife ate some pickled onions with her curry, and this was her reaction...

Tasted better than the name...

August Update

August began with two middle aged men on TV building a train set...



Apparently the show was well over an hour long... much of the ten or so minutes I watched were of the guy above growling at his train to go faster..




A few days later I found myself working at Kurume Youme Town, and with Kaori suffering from a touch of the hiccups.. a folktale from my childhood reared it's head, and before she could say "yatta!" I had slipped a cold key down between her shoulder blades and cured her. Here she is with the said key.
(note - putting my hand down a pretty girl's blouse was purely in the interests of Science)..



A few days later, and to local haunt Zawatami, for a few beers with Dunstan, Gerard, Roald and Ewan. We all worked together at Kurume Ekimae back in 2004 so it was something of a reunion for us, and it was a damn good night, despite the lack of pouring prowess of the waitress..



Another amusing TV show. By the way, if any young girls are reading this and thinking about going into the TV presenting game, be aware that you will most likely be surrounded by lots of men, probably men dressed as condoms, and they will take great delight in slapping you or tying you up or pushing you into pits of coloured water... still, this show was really memorable for one guest:

THE GUY WHO PLAYED MONKEY IN MONKEY MAGIC!

Later in the week, and to Yanagawa, where the lovely Hirono was enjoying her last day at Nova. Great English, a sharp dresser and wonderful to work with (as is Saki, wearing her trademark red "furip-u furop-usu")..

I watched quite a lot of TV in August... this was a great game, like Mario Party... contestants had to jump around the markers of a giant clock, trying not to get twatted by the vast hands..

Whilst at my inlaws' family graveyard, I happened upon a cicada shedding it's skin... kind of creepy..

Another party, this time it was Eloise's farewell to Nova thing... pictured are the little fingers of Brian Wilson. Believe it or not, his fingers are unbent... the ends of the little fingers jut out at angles, due to a rare Scandinavian genetic condition, apparently..

And finally.. a leading historian once said that our most poignant question was "what ever happened to Catholic England?"

Surely that is nothing next to "What ever happened to Jo-Ann's students?"

The blogger returns...

Ah, it's been a while... more than two months in fact. With no job presently due to the farcical end of Nova, I find myself with ample time to spend on my blog... though it took a verbal kick in the arse from Jon Spiker too. So, Jon, and for anyone else out there who reads this, here we go...

With two months having passed, I think a photo recap for August and September is due...