Monthly Archives: April 2011

So – as with many things here in Japan – I have to reassess the concept of a bread shop. Bread here is as much a gastronomic item as fish or  a pig’s ears. It is made presented and eventually … Continue reading →

I am sorry to keep writing about bags. I don’t really know why this should be but it is. Check out: http://spikekalashnikov.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/my-bag/ https://quietripple.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/one-of-the-lads/ Here is another bag. It was given to me by my learned friend Barbara Warmbein which means … Continue reading →

I get up with the sun and cycle over to Zakimi Castle. This 15th Century site is only 5 minutes from where I live and is surrounded by a park where everything is covered with Morning Glory and butterflies. The … Continue reading →

Strolling down a street in Oran, Algeria in 1975, I screech to a stop in front of a shop that sells sports stuff. In the window there is a yellow ‘Spirotechnique’ diving bag. It looks incredibly cool and somehow I … Continue reading →

Saturday – it is all planned, we go by boat to the Kerama Islands, about an hour sail from Okinawa, to do 3 dives. The  reef around the isles churn with turtle and other monsters of the deep, silver beaches, … Continue reading →

Okinawa is absolutely covered in Morning Glory. Lamp posts, houses, hillsides are bedecked with the plant. It climbs tens of meters up trees and the drive to work in the morning is a joy as all the flowers are out … Continue reading →

I still have nightmares about failing exams. These  nightmares are never staged  in the examination room  itself but some days or weeks before and are characterized by a realization that I have not done sufficient work and I am going to … Continue reading →

In Okinawa there correct formal dress in the Summer months is not the ubiquitous shirt and tie, I am told, but the Kariyushi shirt. These a highly patterned affairs with lots of flowers and things. I bought my first one … Continue reading →

As I ate lunch by the sea shore yesterday I noticed people coming up to a freestanding stainless steel box against which I had leant Big Red. The box has a very long tube attached that leads up to the … Continue reading →

I like to go for a ride on my bike on Sunday morning. Nothing too athletic but a gentle snoop around the region that hopefully includes eating fish and some discoveries. It is a beautiful day. I head off behind … Continue reading →