Malawi & More

  Saturday was a joyous day. My lovely husband wandered down the high street with me to encourage me to try on almost every dress in the one good womens clothes shop on Gorleston high street and in the end I bought a great outfit for my niece's birthday party.  We did then go into a retro shop and got a few more things, followed by a rather lovely lunch and then a lay down in the sun in mum's garden before getting ready for the party. Oh and it was so lovely. We all looked fabulous, I think we made for a very attractive family. Perhaps not quite as attractive as our first taxi driver looked, sounded and smelled. He was like the lead love interest in a Jilly Cooper novel. The party was full of laughing, drinking, loud music of mostly us older ones era and then of course, dancing. My sister was on top social form, hosting brilliantly and getting everyone on the dance floor at some point and because I was surrounded with people I love and love me I went for it but oooff my feet d...

Despite not getting enough sleep, I woke up on Saturday feeling productive which I put down to the sun rising into blue skies and so I spent my morning in the garden. It brings me so much joy and with each week more grows up again. Once BigA returned from frisbee I had an unsuccessful trying on of dresses and felt rather disheartened by dresses that, to be fair are older than the children I teach, not quite fitting and had a little cry. But I was cheered quickly by my lovely husband telling me he'd booked us a get away for our anniversary. That afternoon we wandered over to D's passing the football fans off to watch Tottenham fight for their place, and then we all walked through the Tottenham marshes to meet up with other pals for what turned into a long and very fun night in the brewery zone in Waltham Forest. It seemed extraordinary that there are so many places serving drinks in Warehouses - strange and lovely all at the same time. We met a very kind Israeli barman who was s...

 Post holiday blues are real, I tried hard to fend it off by doing stuff, but after mum left on Saturday I just slouched about for a while with very little motivation to get on with the day. It didn't help that it was cloudy and cold. But after a bit of sorting A and I went out for lunch and we watched a silly film and once she left I played some tunes recommended by my pals.  On Sunday I decided I would head to the rookies skating having woken up really early. New job nerves kicking in big time. I spent a bit of the day going over my plans for the first week. Mindful of the importance of setting the right tone. I didn't do much skating and skills, but enough to feel useful and to have moved my body a bit. The plan after the session was to go to the pub to chat to the new skaters and give them a chance to ask questions and hopefully persuade them to sign up for the full 10 weeks. I treated myself to a very nice pizza, not expecting to eat it all - but managed. There I had a ve...

  Our hotel room had, instead of a western bathroom set up, a Osen - a shower/bath set up that is very typical for this part of the world. I enjoyed using it in a relatively traditional way and also the privacy of it being in our room.  After an enjoyable breakfast we set off to the memorial museum to find a very long queue. So we decided that the wait was not quite on. Instead, despite the rain, we wandered through the memorial garden and saw the flame of peace, that will burn until all nuclear weapons have been destroyed or decommissioned. It is when great sadness that we all thought the same, it will never be extinguished. Then for our next mode of transport - a boat to an island - Miyajima. Sadly no view to speak of but the TV screen on board pointed out what we would have been able to look at on a sunnier day.  The island itself was beautiful even in the rain, with plenty to do for the day, a museum and shops to entertain us all well, we saw the famous floating templ...

If you read these, or have been reading mum's shorter and funnier ones you may want to get a nice drink and strap in for a long read. Or skim read the highlights!  Our first day was travel, because of the time difference that was all it was and we got to Tokyo on Sunday. We'll of course gain hours on the return. I managed to get some sleep, A, BigA and mum only about 15 minutes each, perhaps a little more. We easily got our taxi transfer to the first hotel of the trip and dumped our bags.i like mums style is travel!  Once slightly refreshed (it's true what the say about the toilets) we headed out on a mild evening as the sun was setting for a wander and some food. Although we are so very privileged to have quite a lot translated for us, it is hard to realise you know so very little and have the crippling embarrassment of not being able to ask in the most polite way possible. This translated to us having a less than satisfying first meal out where mum unwittingly ate tuna an...

  What a week... The end of a year.  Our blissful weekend at the W's feels like a lovely but distant memory. Those beautiful puppies, country walks, pub lunches and fire pit joy. Our extraordinarily British insistence that the sun shone so let's have a BBQ - which was lush but very cold and in the dark with torches lighting our way. And here I am on my way to Japan. Life is full and full on.  Two mornings this week have been getting up early to deliver the training sessions online to international adult students learning how to be a leader. I enjoyed them both and it reminded me of the elements of leadership I enjoy.  At school there have been lots of goodbyes and many last lessons with classes. I wasn't sorry to have my last lesson with one particularly hard year 9 class, but the drama club were sad and many students wished me the best of luck. I got some sweet cards and a few nice emails as well, quite a lot of chocolate, flowers and probably my...