I took a picture of what seems a cheap and cheerful wooden climbing frame made of poles and half cuts bolted together.

Imagine my surprise, while surveying the minutae of the vegetable patch, to find a stray husky dog leaping and bounding about the place, running backwards and forwards along the electric fence, terrorising the chickens. I clapped my hands, but it didn’t appear to notice. I started chasing it, but at that moment, one of the chickens, in  a serious error of judgement, decided to leap outside the electric fence. The husky was onto it in a flash. I redoubled my efforts to catch it, and we parried back and forth among the vegetables. I cornered the dog, and aimed a kick at its flank. I hit it well, with a satisfying clunk, but this species is made of stern stuff, because it didn’t seem to register that I had even made contact. It barely glanced at me, but shook its head violently, presumably breaking the neck of the chicken lodged in its jaws, and then legged it for the open spaces, pegging it out through the open gate, which the thoughtful postman had omitted to close.

Meeting the owner across the road, where he had prised the carcass free, we both sucked our teeth in mutual exasperation. He offered to pay, but really, the bird had only cost £1. I took it back, and the resident butcher’s assistant drained the remaining blood and plucked and prepared a cari poulet.

i am currently in Korea, where it is a delightful minus 6.5 degrees. i think i have lost a good deal of my face to frostbight. its still rather nice here as the food is fantastic and in general its very cheap. there was some suggestion at the airport that i would need an outgoing ticket on my return to japan but i have printed out my statement and am hopeing for the best. that said could you let me know a likely date i should book a ticket home in case i have to by one in narita or something unpleasent.

…And so after 2 hellish terms in office the Bushman triumphantly left office having doubled debt, having invaded two countries rather badly and having left the country and world in an incredibly deep financial crisis. But what will history make of this great “not intellectually curious” man?

From the BBC…
By Paul Reynolds
World affairs correspondent, BBC News website

I suppose the underlying question here is whether George W Bush has been one of the worst US presidents.

A British historian of American politics, Professor John Philip Davies of de Montfort University, says: “George Bush’s problem is that he hasn’t had many successes and he has made mistakes.chong qi cheng bao

As far as history’s verdict goes, Mr Bush must now hope that the Truman factor will come into play.

Harry Truman was highly unpopular when he left office in the early 1950s, but most historians now recognise that he was a great president who was dealt a losing hand by history and who played it with skill and style.

When I asked one eminent American historian if he thought there would be a Truman effect for Mr Bush in the future he paused for a moment, then burst out laughing. <

i took a few videos too – will upload those later.

Pre injury

Oz

dodgy knee

Chris and Lynne

Me

halfway down “the tunnel”

the snow comes in

on the way home