Another Ride

The weekend's weather was fantastic. So, despite the temptations of the newly acquired Wii, yesterday we (!) decided to meet up with our friends Greg, Fumie, Kristian and Mika and go for a cycle around the villages of Bramley and Wonersh. We had a very delicious lamb curry at Greg and Fumie's house before setting off for Bramley. After a very pleasant ride, we stopped off for a quick drink at the pub and then enjoyed a nice chilli made by Mika. Oh, we finally met Marley, Kristian and Mika's new cat. They rescued him from an animal shelter. He is about the same size as my dad's cat Bob, which is to say big!
今週末の天気は良かったので、昨日 Wiiのかわりに自転車に乗ることにした。最初に友達のグレッグさんとふみえちゃんの家にふみえちゃんの美味しいラムカレーを食べに行った。それからブラムリで住んでいる友達のクリスチアンさんと実かちゃんの家に行ってサイクリングに出かけた。ブラムリとワナッシュと言う村のあたりでのんびりした。後で、パブで一杯飲んでクリスチアンさん達の家に戻った。そこで最近かい始めた猫のマーリちゃんに会った。お父さんの猫のボブちゃんと同じ大きな猫なんです。写真を撮り忘れちゃった。実かちゃんの美味しいチリコンカー二ーをいただいて家へ帰りました。やっぱり、自転車で運動したのにまた食べ過ぎちゃったんだもん。。。

What the hell! なんじゃこりゃ

I finally managed to track down a Nintendo Wii on Saturday. Thus the remainder of the day was spent playing tennis, boxing (great fun that one!) and other sports games. I also spent several hours slaying zombies in Resident Evil 4. (Oh yeah!) Nozomi and I decided to do the fitness age test on Wii sports. Oh dear. As you can see from the photo, I didn't do very well. Nevertheless I am apparently younger than my wife by some several years. I will spare her blushes though :-)

やった。土曜に任天堂Wiiを手に入れた。それで、遅くまでのんちゃんと僕はゲームをやっていた。僕は何時間もバイオハザード４でゾンビを打っていた。（なんでそんなに面白いかなへへ。）でも、Wiiスポーツの体力年齢テストは大変きびしかったなあ。僕は老人のようだった。でも、のんちゃんより若くできた。ははは。僕はやさしいからのんちゃんの年齢は秘密にしておく。

What's that smell?...

I awoke today to discover the Mrs was not in the bed. Most unusual. Furthermore, tantalizing smells and the sound of pots and pans clattering indicated some serious activity in the kitchen. Sights and sounds unseen in our household (at 7 in the morning!). After my morning ablutions, I padded downstairs to witness Nozomi engaged in a masterful juggling act in preparation of a bento box for my lunch! What a lovely wife I have. It was absolutely delicious.

今日、僕は起きたら家のはベッドにいなかった。えっ！どこかな。そして、一階から美味しそうなにおいとともにガチャガチャ音が聞こえた。台所で何か起こってるようだった。この家で朝早くにそんなこと初めてなんだ。シャワーの後で一階に行ったらのんちゃんがシェフみたいにバタバタしていた。僕にお弁当を作っているところだった。なんていい奥さんなんだ。お弁当はうまかった。それは僕の大好きなおにぎり弁当だった。

Changing Gears

Today the weather was positively spring-like, being very sunny and not particularly cold. For the first time in ages, I decided to take my bike out for a spin. I haven't ridden at all since we moved here last May. After giving the bike a quick service, I hit the road with no particular destination in mind. It was good to feel the air on my face. Initially, I explored the various cycling paths near here, but that got boring quite quickly. Eventually I just picked some fields on the horizon and headed out. Good decision. There was very little traffic and the scenery soon opened up. This was more like it. I passed many farms, with sheep, horses, cows and even Lamas! Eventually, I arrived at Old Basing village. This has got some lovely old thatched cottages as you can see.

今日の天気は春みたいなので自転車に乗ることにした。この町に引っ越してから全然自転車に乗らなかった。自転車をちょっと点検して別に目的地もなく乗り始めた。新鮮な空気でいい感じがした。最初に家の近くのサイクリングレーンをさんさくした、でもすぐつまらなくなってきた。それから畑などへ行ってみた。それは良かった。交通はあまり無くて景色もよかった。色々農場を通って羊も馬も牛もラーマさえ見た。その内にオールドベージングと言うきれいな村に着いた。可愛い建物がたくさんあった。上の写真を見て。可愛いでしょう。

I finally arrived home after about three hours, feeling very relaxed. Hopefully I will be able to ride a lot more this year (weather permitting). I wonder if Nozomi will join me next time?

とにかく出てから３時間ぐらい後で家に帰りました。いい感じがした。天気が良ければ今年もっと乗るつもりだ。今度のんちゃんも付いて来るかなあ。。

Door Wedge

I think the diet may have taken a bit of a tumble. We have just bought a bread machine. This rather nifty Panasonic Breadmaker SD254 has so far produced us two fabulous loaves. This morning we awoke to the smell of this lovely bloomer! I decided upon a door wedge ham salad sandwich for brunch. mmmmmm

I think we are going to have to play lots of table tennis this weekend..



ダイエットはしっぱいしちゃったかな。今週パナソ二ックSD254のパン焼き機を買った。今日までに美味しいパンを二つ焼いた。今朝このブルーマと言うパンのいいにおいで起こされちゃった。僕はドーアウエッジのハムサラダサンドにした。（イギリスではドアウエッジと言うサンドは分厚いサンドの意味です。）とても美味しかった。でもね、今週末卓球をたくさんやったほうがいいと思う。

A bit of a pong.

Time to shed the Christmas weight gain. Whilst we were in Japan, Nozomi and I spent a very enjoyable evening with our friends Yuri and Kazuki. They have a Nintendo WII and after a feast (and plenty of beer) in an Izakaya we went back to their house to play Wii Fit. It was great fun, although my ski-jumping efforts made Eddie The Eagle look like a champion. Anyway, yesterday, we popped into Toyz R Us to see if we could get hold of a Wii and the Wii Fit game- ha ha ha ha ha. It seems that there is something of a shortage of Wiis in the in the UK. Furthermore, it seems that Wii Fit is also not yet available. The irony is that when we went to Yamada Denki, they were piled up 10 high near the cash register. So, instead of the elusive Wii, we settled for a cheapo table-tennis set. Today we spent a couple of hours ping ponging on the dining table. It was almost as fun as Wii Fit (but not quite)!

日本ではやっぱり美味しい料理を食べ過ぎて太ちゃったんだ。それでのんちゃんと僕は一緒にダイエットをするようにしていた。日本では友達のゆりちゃんとかずき君の家で任天堂のWii Fitと言うゲームをした。大変楽しかったんだ。だけど僕のスキージャンプはとても下手なのでEddie The Eagleでさえ上手になちゃったんだ。とにかく、Wiiをよくやれば体力とダイエットに取っていいだろう。それで昨日Toyz-R-UsにWiiを買いに行った。残念でした。売り切れだった。イギリスではクリスマスプレゼントでWiiは全然なくなちゃった。日本に山田電機に行ったらWiiはレジの近くに山積みだった。イギリスに送っていただけませんか。おねがいいい。。。それで、Wiiの代わりに安いたっきゅうセットを買った。今日二人で家のダイニングテーブルにピンポンをした。やせたかな。

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone. o-shogatsu omedetou! We began our New Year celebrations on New Years eve by eating a delicious bowl of toshikoshi-soba (New Year's Eve buckwheat noodles), prepared by Nozomi's mum, Akiko-san. Noodles signify a long and successful life and are traditionally eaten on New Years eve. After seeing in the New Year, we hit the hay. It was a cold night and Nozomi and I were wrapped in many layers of blankets as well as a futon. Slept very well.

In the morning, we sat down together for o-sechi ryori This is traditional Japanese New Year food. The feast began with a toast of o-toso which is a spiced sweet sake followed by a bowl of Akiko-san's delicious ozouni. I partook of a glass or two of the red wine that Nozomi's dad had bought specially for the occasion. It was a blessed relief from the lemsip I had been glugging the previous day.



After our bellies were full, we had a bit of a rest before heading off to YouMe town, a huge retail store a few minutes walk from Nozomi's parent's house. It was extremely busy (despite New Years Day being an official holiday). We bought some omiyage (presents), and Yoko bought me some five-finger socks as a birthday present. (Imagine gloves for feet and you get the idea). Thank you Yoko-san! The should keep my feet nice and toasty. We stopped off for a coffee before heading back home. I had a Curry Bun with mine. A sort of doughnut with a curry filling. Much tastier than it sounds.

In the afternoon, we met Nozomi's friend Setsuko with her husband Tasheki and their two daughters Lin-chan and Hikari-chan. Lin-chan has grown up loads since we saw them at our Wedding in Oct 2006. Hikari-chan is already walking. Time really is flying by.

Later on, we dropped by Yuri-chan's mother's house to collect Nozomi's boots (she left them in the car after our onsen trip). There, we met Aya-chan and Wataru-kun and their parents. We stayed at their house during our last trip to Japan. Waturu-kun is now at middle school and his English has really improved since we last met. They were both happy to receive o-toshidama, (New Year gift money which is usually given to Japanese kids at this time). It was nice to see everyone again. I hope they will be able to come and visit us sometime.