JAPAN

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I’ve just come back from a couple of weeks in Japan. Oh boy what an place that is!
After a 12 hour direct flight I arrived in Narita airport and headed straight to Shinjuku to my hotel – my room was on the 22nd floor!!

I spent 5 days in Tokyo where I browsed the department stores. Japan is cool. Fact. Everyone and everything is pleasing to the eye. Even the JCB’s doing the roadworks were purple and bubbly and had a definite air of Hello Kitty about them, amazing.

Lot’s of shop assistants screaming ‘Sumi Masennnnn!!!!’ at me, quite bizarre! Apparently it’s considered beautiful/ attractive to hold sound for as long as you can in the highest pitch possible.

Played a bit of Pachinko whilst there, it’s a kind of cross between and pin ball game and a slot machine, to be honest couldn’t work out what the hell I was doing and I had lots of scary old Japanese men staring at me, they take the game very seriously and often play 4 or 5 machines at once... So scampered on pretty quickly from there Eek!

I spent a day in old town call Nara where I visited a Buddhist temple and Shintoist one. The word Shinto was borrowed from the Chinese (神道) combining two kanji; "shin" (神), meaning gods or spirits; and "tō" (道), meaning a philosophical path or study (originally from the Chinese word tao).
The earliest Japanese thoughts do not refer to a unified religion and still many people today consider themselves both Shintoist and Buddhist.

Of course lots of amazing food was sampled. Also lots of strange delicacies such as chicken grissle, chicken heart and octopus balls for breakfast... No! not actual... Well, you know what I mean.

Also check out the pic above, it seems I family over there!

Arigato Gozaimasu Japan! Gee whizz I had an unforgettable time!

Ta Ra for now
Leicester xx

Like a Fysh Needs A bicycle

Warm congratulations to our Kelly – who made her first cycling commute from Brixton the Three Blind Headquarters this morning – and lived to tell the tale!

Although she was over-taken by quite a few other cyclists as well as some pedestrians on the route she made it here in one piece and with her pride intact. The only quite scarey moment was an interesting battle with a big shiny double-decker on Waterloo Bridge that was witnessed by Chris, who has supplied this sketch of the moment, now that he has stopped laughing long enough to hold a pencil.

Come on Kel! Keep those little legs spinning...

St Patricks Day

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Hello Folks,

Today I will be mostly sipping Guinness as we are of course celebrating St Patrick's Day. The patron saint of Ireland is perhaps best known for being credited with driving all the snakes from the Emerald Isle.

If you're in London town this lunchtime why don't you hop on down to Old Spitalfields Market where celebrations include snake charmers who hope to hold a similar sway over the serpents in their care
Also live music, Irish dancers, stilt walkers and jugglers

Runs from 12pm - 2pm, Tuesday 17th March 2009. Admission to the market is free.

Ta Ra for now
Leicester xx