Things I learned this year

for me in  2023 there was

rather too much dampness

sad intervals 

and toothache

a weirdly hot 1st week of September

a new king 

 

the nice bits involved swimming and Christmas cake

 

I learned about the Japanese expression Kuuki wo yomu -  'reading the air' 

This is not simply an ability to 'read the room' 

In Japan this is an extreme and excruciating mind game, mainly used to establish and maintain hierarchical structures, the underling must become telepathic.

Kanako illustrated the concept with a story about when she worked for a small fashion company - her boss liked to perform the idea that his employers (the women) were his equals. Every day they would all go out for lunch together. Every day he would ask one of the women to say where they should go to eat. Each woman dreaded her turn to say because it was all about guessing correctly where the boss wanted to go  - the inability to 'read the air' has it's own specific and derogatory term - KY (like being called 'backward') and is apparently a career-killer 

 

Kanako returns!!!

The lure of bacon baps, donuts and quirky tableware was too much and she returned from Tokyo to come and stay with us for June and July. 

She tried swimming in the murky chilly water of the Bristol Channel, we also did Art and Musical Theatre but the main event for Kanako was a thorough investigation of England's cafes, cakes and charity shops. 

Accumulating pretty plates, tea sets that look like cottages and royal souvenir mugs during her visit - Kanako's homeward flight to Japan included a hefty clankage  of ceramic goods.

I miss her!

Yesterday at 5 am

I drove the Man to  where his filming crew, a big pile of suitcases and a bus were waiting for him to start a journey to Costa Rica where they will make another film about animals.

Today at 5 am I drove Kanako to the airport so she could start her journey back to Japan, we did a lot of crying and then I went home and cleaned our empty house and then I filled the car with logs and jumpers and cake and drove to London. 

I drove to Putney, to the house I am taking care of during school term time - the house with the Rude Mad Man next door. Currently it is also the house-with-a-broken-heating-system-until-a-Man-comes-to-fix-it.

Kanako is going back to Japan tomorrow

we are making sure that we have exchanged as much vital information as possible. I have introduced her to oxtail and steak-and-kidney and she has discovered English sandwiches and jam rolypoly for herself. On Christmas day we did crown-wearing at dinner.

Yesterday we held a conference

have you had mince pies?

yes at least seven pieces they are very delicious

Christmas cake was missing from the list but luckily we found some that I hadn't eaten yet, we also covered bramble jelly, fried christmas pudding, sponge cake and marmalade.

We moved on to some Japanese essentials

1) Dried firefly squid tastes densely old fishy and gluey, the tentacles have a nice crunch but the wings and body have the texture of a plastic blister pack - this aspect is a bit sore on the mouth.

2) The Japanese winter sock routine involves four pairs of exquisite white socks, the silk and cotton socks with toes - footgloves - first put on the silk then the cotton. Then the silk foot mittens then the cotton foot mittens until you have a pair of very fat and warm feet.

This is the secret to being able to continue wearing little thin flattering easy-to-move-about-in clothes on the top of your body in winter.

3) The Japanese omelette is a delicious and beautiful thing. 

Put a fish-and-seaweed teabag in a cup, pour on a little hot water, add this infusion to eggs in a bowl and beat with chopsticks.

Heat a little vegetable oil in a frying pan (at this point my drawing skills fail)

Pour some of the fishy egg in the middle section of a pan, muddle it around until set then add a small pool of egg mix to one side, as this part sets the middle section can be rolled onto it then you can lay down another side section of egg and roll again, if you add seaweed at each part the omelette spiral becomes more evident and very beautiful. The end result is a fat egg sausage to be sliced up like a Swiss Roll

Today there were visitors

we ate satsumas while waiting for our crumpets to cook on the stove