Completely unrelated, but i thought you all might like to see the simply fabulous summer shoe that my friend Andy sported the last time we met. It defies description and sanity.

It puts “crocks” into perspective.

Hello! Here are some photos from the recent trip to Mayumi’s family home. About half an hour away by bus and situated near the coast it has very pleasant weather and is very close to the beach. We went for about 5 days and had a very jolly time. I didn’t actually take that many photos. And although e\we went to the beach every day i never thought to bring my camera. The beach was very nice. crisp and sunny days and the water was for the most part pretty clean baring the occasional band of detritus that would wash past sometimes. Presumably brought to shore by earlier storms that we have been having. The waves were very strong and Mayumi and I, and sometimes her friends,  had a great time leaping about in the waves. After swimming we would then go to the bath house nearby and soak in the hot pools for a spell.  Despite the rampant nudity its very relaxing and after the extremely hot pool i would stagger into the icy cold pool to cool off. Good for the system and gets the old heart going.

Here is the coastline of where we went fishing. interestingly shaped concrete blocks.

This is Maymi and her friends Nororin and Jun setting up the fishing rods. Mayumi caught a puffer fish, but it was too small and not to mention poisonous so we threw it back. Jun caught a crab. I caught nothing…

This is us again enjoying a convivial beer before the start of the BBQ. This was to be a pretty epic BBQ with about 30 of mayumi and her brothers friends.

Early stages of the BBQ. As you can see Mayumi’s Parents have quite a nice garden. In the back it even has a vegetable plot.

The evening wore on, much tasty meat was consumed!

Just before we head back to Tokyo. The chap on the right is Mayumi’s dad. As you can see i invited Alex. The stuff mayumi is poised to pour onto my head is mayonnaise.

It was a great visit! Mayumi’s mum made tons of scrummy food and it was very relaxing.

Thank you for the letter mama! It was nice reading! Mayumi says hello!

my packet just arrived! thanks Tan! we are really enjoying the saucisson, so cheers very much for the resupply. 🙂 the statuette made it almost in one piece. there is a clean break at the neck wich should be easy to glue. i think Mayumi has some paints, but im still not sure what colour as yet. ill show it to her when she gets home tonight!

happy birthday tan! prezzy is in the post!

had a delightlful meal last night of bread, french cheese and sosi… saucisson! absolutely scrumptious. Mayumi is still in desbelief that it tastes so good in comparison to the bilge cheese we get here. she says thank you all so much for the nice gifts!