As per my current lifestyle, this is more pictures and less prose. A weekend in Bath visiting old friends. They're not old, but I have known them for a long time. I've known Tom/Laura for about 20/15 years. They forsook Cheltenham when they got back from travelling and set up an organic deli in Bath. It's been running for three years and is going strong. I'll shamelessle plug it a bit (and it's worth plugging)- sandwiches, salads, cakes and soups, tea and coffee, cheeses. If you're in Bath...just everything except the cheese is home-made. www.bestofbritishdeli.co.uk So, Friday. Zipped [View Full Entry]

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Lightning blog, this one, just sharing photos of a stag party which also doubled as something of a reunion... One of my best and longest standing friends, Nick, is getting married at the end of this month, and this was his stag. Some people made all too brief appearances, others stayed for the full duration. Thankfully, someone had realised that we're too old for strippers and vomiting on ourselves. This was a slightly more mature affair, but we still managed much hilarity. Also, Nick himself works more hours a week the entire Italian civil service out together, so we were fortunately [View Full Entry]

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This really is the absolute last minute; we're moving into our student flat tomorrow morning. This will have to be my fastest blog of all time- less than an hour. You may think that I compile these things with a casual abandon that somehow magics everything together seamlessly, but it's not true. I usually chop, change, edit, hack and re-edit these many times over before they're released into the wild. Anyway, after five years, I have no idea how many countries, two jobs and a wedding, we're England again. Having realised in New Zealand that I had to do a Master's [View Full Entry]

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I find myself at more or less in the 59th minute of the 11th hour (well, this might be a minor exaggeration), but this blog will be a lightning summary of an idyllic ten days in Northern Cyprus. Also, the photos are in pretty raw format, apologies. We arrived in Cyprus a little later than planned, delayed flights and so forth. My big brother Charlie, and his lovely lady Lesley were also out for some of the time, and it was the first time Mum had had both of her boys together for...longer than we could remember. Most of what we [View Full Entry]

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These fellas deserve a blog of their own. They're not exactly strays, not but house cats, either. The locals tolerate and accommodate them (we didn't see any rats!), and they brighten the place up considerably. Friendly, hungry, fun and funny. [View Full Entry]

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Day Three: This is going to be a curtailed version, our flight leaves in a few hours and I haven't started packing yet! Our final day required another early (for us) rise and twenty minute walk to the waterfront. We were taking a Bosphorus Cruise, laid on by the Turkish government and thus quite reasonable. It leaves at 1030, but you have to get there earlier to get decent seats- don't want to be wedged between the dunny and the boiler room with nothing but a skanky porthole to look out of. I thought I knew where I was going, and [View Full Entry]

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Day Two: Having been asleep by 10 the night before, getting up early was no problem. We needed to be out sharpish to beat the crowds at the Topkapi Palace. This was the home of the all-powerful Ottoman Sultans for most of the history of that incredibly wealthy empire, and is quite something. It’s not so different to Mughal palaces- layout, architecture and so on. Although the walls are somewhat thicker, and they need impressive fireplaces here in European Turkey! The Harem was home to the Royal Family (not just a place for scantily clad women to hang out, much to [View Full Entry]

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So, we no longer live in Japan. Departure was dreadful- gut-ache and tears as expected. It was a day we’d been dreading since we got engaged, although it wasn’t quite as bad as we’d thought. Anyway, we had three eagerly-awaited days in Istanbul to look forward to. A few spare hours of transferring in Singapore gave us a chance to grab a quick beer with a friend of mine, then it was on to the second leg- via Dubai. This will be split into three days- too many must-see photos for one blog. Day One: We arrived in a soggy Istanbul, [View Full Entry]

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Last year's trip to Suzuka for the bike race was a wet business. This year, it was marginally overcast but dry. There were also a thousand cyclists in the our race- up about 600 on last year! For those not famililar with the format, you have an hour, and have to go as fast and hard as you can until the time runs out. The first run at this was a way of currying paternal-in-law favour, but it turned out to be quite fun. So, armed with the knowledge of what it was like and a general need to exercise, I [View Full Entry]

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I know I've been promising a blog on Japanese fashion, and here it is. Everyone who comes here is bowled over by what people can get away with wearing, the ridiculous hairstyles, cloured contacts, false eyelashes, massive heels, tiny-tiny skirts, super-tight trousers and pointy shoes...it's like the 80s never stopped. There are a few different styles, but people who follow them do it almost by the letter. Dressing by numbers, as it were; you can get whole groups of people who are wearing almost identical outfits. You sort of get used to it at times, as it's so ubiquitous, but you [View Full Entry]

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