2023 memories

I’m late to the party but here’s the year.

january
I was in Manchester

february
Trip to Hagi – Izumo – Matsue – Sakaiminato – Kurashiki – Takamatsu.

march
Cherry blossoms and a nighttime cruise.

april
Nezu and azaleas and uni friends.

may
Yokohama to see Scott Murphy.

june
Some family were in Tokyo and a trip to Chichibu

july
Hiroshima to see…Rivers Cuomo and Scott Murphy – I think the highlight of my year.

august
=W=eezer in Odaiba and fireworks

september
Back to Manchester.

october
Friend’s wedding and chomping my way around Manchester.

november
More food, this time ...

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! ...

2023 books: a year in review

Books

  1. Ghost Story – Peter Straub 
  2. Falling Slowly – Anita Brookner
  3. Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe 
  4. Thin Air – Michelle Paver
  5. Kitchen – Banana Yoshimoto
  6. Breakfast of Champions – Kurt Vonnegut
  7. The Last Children of Tokyo – Yoko Tawada
  8. The Witches of Vardo – Anya Bergman
  9. The Bullet that Missed – Richard Osman
  10. Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng
  11. Rule, Nostalgia – Hannah Rose Woods
  12. The Wild Goose – Mori Ogai
  13. Ravenous – Henry Dimbleby
  14. Invisible Women – Caroline Criado Perez 
  15. English Pastoral: An Inheritance – James Rebanks
  16. Life for Sale – Yukio Mishima
  17. All the Lovers in the
...

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 ...

Happy New Year: 2024 take 2

Day two in Turin saw us going to The National Museum of Cinema which I didn’t really think would be anything much BUT it was! It was really good but again, you must must must book tickets in advance. The queue was crazy! I think it was due to the special exhibition being Tim Burton.

The museum is in the Mole Antonelliana – a fantastic building inside and out. You can go in the lift which you can see in the middle for a view of the city. The third picture is there because it reminded me of the lyric ...