Normal temperatures are a distant memory. In Tokyo, rainy season ended 22 days early this year and we have had record-beating temperatures of 34/35 daily. Add the humidity into that and it’s felt like 39/40/41. It’s so hot – I really wasn’t made for these temperatures.

june wish list

• Study hard for N1
• Start studying Italian every day
• tidy the back room
• finish up sewing my skirt
• finish up sewing my dress
• keep on top of vegetables from the veg box

june memories

I got a couple of peonies this month. I don’t normally buy flowers (I had quite severe hay fever as a child and I think flowers are still seen as enemies). They were beautiful, but they did make my eyes itch, so unfortunately, flowers are still just to be viewed from a distance.

We are lucky enough to live near some very nice walkways and during rainy season in Japan, hydrangeas are in bloom.

We went to a Doutor Coffee Farm. It’s a bit different to other Doutor shops – different food choices, table service and pricier. It was nice inside and more spacious.

For lunch one day, we went to Popolomama. It’s a chain pasta place and not bad. They have a a little tablet that you order from, so good for anyone who doesn’t like to speak too much. The waitress did actually talk to me here which was really nice – Dad was not needed on this occasion.

Odaiba beckoned – we hadn’t been in a couple of years. It was absolutely rammed and it was awful. We trotted over to Venus Fort where we used to go when we were dating. It’s all closed up now but it brought back memories – namely wandering around, feeling like we were back in Europe.

We decided to go on the big wheel, another thing we used to do when we were dating. It was ¥1,000 each and it lasted for 15 mins. There was a small queue, but not much.

It was also my husband’s birthday this month and being the pretentious pair that we both are, we headed to Royal Host, the more up class family restaurant of the bunch. I had the apple mango parfait.

july wish list

• get fitter
• finish sewing dress
• choose one more thing to sew
• have kakigori

media consumed

• Nomadland (film) – I’d seen this before and I wanted to show my husband
• Weezer: Summer (music) – I love it
• Stranger Things (tv) – it’s great, I can’t wait for the next part.

That was June – it’s all racing along. I’m hoping you had a great month and that you’re excited about summer. The older I get, the more I enjoy and appreciate the seasons, I suppose it just comes with age.

Take care,
Emily