Among other things....

This weekend I went to Hiroshima, and visited the beautiful island of Miyajima, in the Hiroshima prefecture. Unfortunately this lovely day was juxtaposed next to a previous day of complete debauchery, in which I shamefully revealed to most of Hiroshima my incapacity to handle my Sake. I was a disgraceful excuse for a Northern Girl, and hang my head in shame at what a shocking lightweight I am in the face of the authentic Japanese drink. After just one hour of throwing back the sake, "babylou" had to be escorted back to the hotel where she proceeded to fall into a comatosed state from 7pm onwards. The only reason I am admitting this here is to prevent anybody from trying to blackmail me in the future should I campaign for hardest Northern Girl in Fenham. Like that could or would ever happen, but. Just in case.

So back to Miyajima. It is famous for it`s Shinto Gate which sits in the ocean during high tide and looks like it is floating.

It is also famous for the deer which roam the island and allow anyone and everyone to come up and stroke them. It is incredible how tame they are; I actually think they have the look of "child" in their eyes and one day they`re going to pounce.

Another moment to record from last week, is the fact that I have made friends with a little old lady at the gym I go to, she pounced on me one night and asked if I was THE english teacher, as she had "heard" about me. Word spreads fast when there is a gaijin in town, and joins the local gym. She is called Mitsuko. And you know what? She could be reet off Sidney Grove. She has her own allotment, her own chickens, her own flower beds, her own herb garden, etc. And believe me, in the city centre of Japan, this is extremely rare. She is just wonderful, and i'm incredibly lucky that i've found a lady with green fingers. I'm going to go over to her house one night a week, and get this, she is going to feed me in return for talking!!! Well, it will obviously be a bit more structured than just the usual blabber that comes out, and hopefully it will be her blabbering a bit aswell, but there is definitely going to be food involved. Alreeeeeeet!!!!!

Met a Geordie this weekend aswell. Sigh. It was so good to sit and reminisce about charvas and to hear his impressions. Made me highly nostalgic.