Fruit and Veg in Japan

It's cooler now (24C) and has been raining for days at a time as we get buffeted by the typhoons that sweep the Pacific Ocean - autumn is clearly on its way.  It's a time for wet shoes, wet feet, wet legs, umbrellas and looking like a drowned rat.  So, hiding in my apartment from all that, it's time for a few short snippets on the practicalities of life in Tokyo.  Starting with what my American friends call produce (pronounced pro-doos).

Have I ever told you how wonderful the fruit and vegetables are here?  What's on sale in the shops is mostly grown here somewhere and the great thing is... if it's not in season, you can't buy it so it's absolutely perfect for the time of year and I have to say the quality is extremely high, mind you, so is the price.  My local greengrocers stocks a wonderful array of plums, pears, apples and other odd looking fruits (and veg) I am not quite sure of!

It's grape season here at the moment and about 5pounds (UK) will get you an average sized bunch.    They are beautiful.  They are sweet and juicy and if you are very lucky you can get the seedless ones.  They are in three colours too so make a fabulous arrangement in the kitchen - black and green, obviously, and some pretty little pink ones which are so sweet.  I firmly believe they are better than chocolate! 

Sumo, English Tea and visitors

Early September saw the arrival of Matt and Kirsty to stay with us and experience a little of what Tokyo has to offer.  They were the perfect visitors - up for anything and, even in the very high temperatures, seemed very happy to be dragged from place to place to see temples (lots of those) and buddahs and stuff.  Matt had expressed an interest in sumo before they arrived and as luck would have it the BIG tournament was going on while they were here.  Because of all the bad press around sumo at the moment, getting tickets was not so difficult and we were lucky enough to get a tour guide as well so we could learn a bit about what was actually going on. 

To be honest, I was not at all sure it was going to be my thing but Dave was keen (he loves any kind of sport), Kirsty was up for it and Matt was hugely excited!  So I toddled along for the ride.  Anyway, when we got there I was totally taken with it all.  Just seeing those giants of men strolling around the place and then learning about the discipline of it all was a huge eye-opener. 



Can you see that tiny ref in the middle?

The art of sumo is steeped in tradition linking back to its Shinto roots. The wrestlers bout may only last a few seconds but their sense of respect for each other and the sport comes across to you in waves. The tournament lasts fifteen days and we are now at day 12. I have to confess that I am to be found watching it on TV whilst I iron!

Who would have thought it? 

It was Matt's birthday whilst they were here and what do you do for a bloke who has everything?  We took him to the Ritz for Tea!  Yep, English Afternoon Tea at the Ritz in Tokyo - what a fabulous experience that was.

 A big thank you to Matt for the photos

Now the Welsh bit....

We returned from Bali, only to fly out a few days later to visit Wales.  Now this was something really exciting for me - I had never spent longer than a weekend in Wales and I was to be allowed almost two weeks this time.  We rented an absolutely state of the art apartment in the Swansea Marina (.... should that be on the Swansea Marina? Beside the Marina is probably a a more accurate description!).  It was part of the tallest building in Wales.  To be honest, it was a bit of a blot on the landscape and truly visable from miles around - very clear form the Mumbles so not worries about getting home after a good meal at Patricks!

Back to the apartment...  there were a few very strange little foibles in this brand new apartment.  For example, if you put the TV on and then opened the french windows you lost half the channels and if you opened the french windows AND hung onto the handrail you lost them all!  Quite an amazing inbuilt feature we thought.  It's not one we have come across before or would wish to again.  Then there was the very noisy extractor fan in the bathroom which was linked to the putting on of the light.  Fine during the day but at night it really wasn't going down too well.  Found a solution though - we found the fuse!

We saw lots of the Gower during our stay.  It was beautiful.  My first glimpse of Three Cliffs Bay was quite breathtaking - and there were very few people about.  The sun shone, we topped up our Bali tans and had a fabulous time. 

We were there to support Dave's brother and we saw a lot of him whilst we were there.  He is in the later stages of Alzheimers and we both felt we made a difference to his day - he certainly knew who Dave was and his face would light up as we came onto the Unit.  As the weather was good we took him out for a walk most afternoons and even took him in the car a couple of times.  On one occasion, Dave pulled up behind traffic just outside a pub.  Roy took one look at the pub and had his seat belt off in a heartbeat - "Going for a drink, are we?" he said with a big smile on his face.  Sadly not.

At the end of our stay in Wales Dave's son got married in Cardiff. It was a lovely day for them all.

After all the family stuff we decided a break in Bournemouth would be just the thing.  We booked the De Vere - a place we know well and have stayed at many times before.  Imagine our surprise when we discovered that it had turned into Fawlty Towers!  The room we booked was supposed to have a seaview - it did, just, but was very hot and had two tiny little windows that could open. The bed had two very flat pillows on it and no evidence of any spare pillows in the room - it looked like a room you might have in a B&B fifty years ago.  The TV had a mind of its own and kept turning itself off after a few minutes and the final nail in the coffin was the ironing board which was a struggle to put up and then collapsed as soon as any pressure was applied!  I complained and we were shown three more identical rooms - we opted to stay where we were until the following morning when we were offered the most amazing room with a huge balcony to sit out on.  It was a gorgeous room and although it looked a little tired we were very pleased we'd made a fuss.There were grumbles through out the hotel - no one seeed   happy with their time there.  It was very sad for us - it will be our last visit.  There must be better places to stay!