Bye Bye January 2024

Bye January, the month that promises so much and hello February, the month that makes me realise that the promises were all empty.

Kasai Rinkai has loads of daffodils out at the moment near the big wheel.

We got a new futon! I don’t want to be dramatic, but when we first moved here, we bought a very cheap futon and have been using it for the last 7 years. When I say it was flat, I mean, it was almost pointless sleeping on it, we probably would have felt just the same level of comfort sleeping on the floor! ...

Happy New Year: 2024 take 3

We spent the remaining days of Italy back in Vicenza.

My very clever mother-in-law made afternoon tea and crème brûlée for us – amazing! Cakes on the top layer were from a local patisserie.

We went to see the fabulous lights in Vicenza town centre – beautiful as always. It feels so magical and they are everywhere.

We had hot chocolate which in Italy means thick and can be eaten with a spoon. I much prefer this to the hot chocolate that is common in the UK which is usually also very sweet.

We headed to a park where there ...

november memories and december wish list

Everything seems to be going so fast this year.  I feel like I hardly had a November.

warning: If you don’t like parks, I wouldn’t bother reading on.

november memories

I had a good November despite it going by in a whirl.  I have been spending a lot of time in nature which I recommend you to do if you are feeling stressed, unbalanced, unhappy, etc.  Just go and spend some time outside, it’ll be worth it.

Birthday park and other parks and nature.

We went to Turtle Park which was on my november wishlist.

I got some mikan ...

october memories and november wish list

I’m a bit late to the party on this one but I’ll keep it short.

october memories

I went to Sumi-Bio with my friend for lunch – don’t let the name put you off (sounds like the sort of place they might do experiments on you).  They cater for vegans, vegetarians, meat-eaters, everyone (maybe)!  It was really nice – I had a mixed veg set/BIO野菜(ビオやさい) 5種盛り.

Then we went to Tully’s and my friend had not a clue what I was on about when I said ‘Tully’s’ in my English accent. タリーズ in Japanese, obviously.  We had a similar problem ...

birthday adventure – takano fruit parlour and shinjuku gyoen

So, I celebrated my birthday this weekend (not on the actual day) with my husband. We went to Takano Fruit Parlour in Shinjuku and had a wonderful fruit platter and a berry ice cream.


We’d never been in the parlour before, just the buffet. It was nice and busier than we were expecting. Of course the buffet was a lot busier with at least an hour wait time.

Then we headed over to Shinjuku Gyoen. Neither of us had ever been before and I’d been wanting to go. I’d read about it being quiet because people don’t want to pay ...