it's not a well-kept secret that i am a sucker for summer. like a typical british native, i moan frequently about the rain, the grey, the cold, the chills, the long dark winter nights. but i have a feeling that an awful lot of people actually don't mind them too much, harbouring a love of mashed potato or stew or hot coffee or pulling the curtain ( Read more... )

after my initial few downbeat jetlagged days in tokyo, i am learning to love the city again. far from my expectations of being a let down after a spacious stone-built europe, the concrete paradise is bewitching again. why? because i'm letting myself be a tourist again. i have come to terms with the fact that if i was only mixing with japanese ( Read more... )

must remember this times horoscope in weeks to come ( Read more... )

we crossed over russia, and i celebrated my anonymity in international airspace by acting resolutely english and ignoring japanese social etiquette for as long as i could; loudly blowing my nose in public, despite being wedged between a window and aisle seat, and coughing my guts up whenever the tickle came rather than forcefully suppressing it as ( Read more... )

what a difference a day makes ( Read more... )

my life of late has descended into a squalid mess of beer and peanuts, sleepless nights and bad skin. i wish i could say it was all in the sake of fun and debauchery, but unfortunately i'm only being sloppy and self-destructive. i feel like a fly trapped under a glass, barely aware of what constrains me and desperate to escape. overdosing on ( Read more... )

i apologise for my absence; but there were several reasons for it ( Read more... )

quick shout out for some advice ( Read more... )

i still can't get a hold of this city; every time i try to unravel it one end of the string ends up down the rabbit hole, mixed up in the miso soup, tangled in the dying cherry blossoms. it's a maze, it's a mystery, it's myriad opportunities and openings and confusions. oh, i flow with the mainstream; i wander slack-mouthed among the temples of ( Read more... )

so, after all, the guinness slogan and my mother's advice were right; good things come to those who wait, and "desperation doesn't smell too good, darling, so calm down and let things take their course ( Read more... )