Well, that's us.
Regular blogging will resume from Cheshire in January.
Wish us luck and cross your fingers.
I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and New Year.
I will pop back to update from time to time but it will depend very much on the mood of the web connection of the people we are staying with at the time - bye bye, 10 Mbps connection.
Now I must leave before I cry.
Lisa at 13:50
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Well, he did karaoke. But I forgive him (because I always do) because, even though I had to leave at 7.30 I had a very nice evening (until it was time to go when I cried - the taxi driver thought I was a loony but was kind enough not to say so) with nice chat and people taking charge of Maggie and lovely food for the last time. (Not the last time I will have lovely food, I hope, but it will probably be some while before I get raw mackerel, deep-fried lous root or one-day dried squid again.) Today has been moderately productive: kitchen cupboards nearly sorted, office nearly sorted, electricals nearly all in a heap, most plants repotted ready for their new homes, chest of drawers found a home, paper clips removed from Maggie's mouth and lots of recycling ready to go. Christmas shopping continues to loom largely undone: I'm going to have a go online this evening but I am considering combining it with the sorting-for-the-packers. Who wouldn't be thrilled to received half a jar of Branston pickle and some out of date flour? I'd wrap it nicely.
We have some people coming tomorrow afternoon to provide some respite (and, little do they know, take things away such as half-jars of pickle and recently repotted plants). But this evening Cameron has gone out so I am not going to slave either: I am going to read some magazines so I can get rid of them and consider which books have to be packed and which have to go by air. I might consume some of the ice-lolly mountain too.
Cats safely in Scotland. We'll see them in 12 days.
Lisa at 08:38
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As if there wasn't enough to do...
I have started worrying about cockroaches. While disgusting here, they would be indescribably horrifying at home: I have spent the morning clearing out the backs of drawers so we won't inadvertantly ship any home (oh no, but eggs. There could be eggs. There won't be eggs, will there.)
Somebody reassure me (even if it is unconvincing and weak) that they wouldn't survive 5 minutes in the British climate? That would be really kind.
Other news: Maggie continues to run on little food and no sleep, not seeming to appreciate that Mummy has to pack all our belongings. Daddy having a leaving do every night is not helpful either. At least I get to go along to the one tonight: unfortunately Maggie is coming too so I will be home again around 8 while Daddy enjoys the rest of the evening. If he gets to do karaoke I will be really sick. We did consider a babysitter but it doesn't seem very fair: she still wakes late evening and I don't think I would like it if I went to sleep with Mummy but had a stranger there when I woke. We must find a regular sitter when we get home, somebody she knows and is happy with (ahem. Grandparents?!).
When Cameron got home from his lab leaving do yesterday he had the most beautiful Japanese lacquer tray so I almost forgave him for waking Maggie then falling asleep and snoring as I tried to get her back off again. I am looking forward to January, when he'll be off work and can stay up at night too.
Cameron is going to play his second last ever game of football tomorrow but he is to be home by midday on pain of a very unhappy wife. And yes, this is the last ever last ever, not just the last ever in Japan. It is qualified by 11 a side in small print, however, and I just say I'll believe it when I see it.
Cats arrived safely at Heathrow: "a bit freaked out but no worse for wear". Leg two today - they fly to Scotland, where they will wait for us with Cameron's parents. I hope the car we have hired is truly enormous to fit them plus Maggie plus All Our Stuff in after Christmas.
13 degrees here with gorgeous blue skies. London is going to have to pull its socks up before I get there.
Lisa at 04:26
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Sad
It doesn't feel like home with no plants and no cats.
Lisa at 10:22
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Well it seems we really are going to have to go: the cats left this morning. I hope I gave them to the correct chap - when he telephoned he said nimotsu which, I think, means luggage (I know my Japanese is poor so perhaps it also means something else. But he definitely didn't say dobutsu (animals) or nihiki (two animals) or neko (cats) or anything else sensible). And then he seemed a little surprised that there were two. I do hope he wasn't a random passer-by. He spoke no English whatsoever so I entirely failed to communicate that their collars had to be removed before they flew. I know I am a fretty mum and surely somebody at the airport will see to that. I did manage to explain that red collar = Islay and blue collar = Jura and that they didn't need water in the van but would do at the airport. I think. I hope. I won't be calm now until I know they have reached Scotland. (Who am I kidding; I probably won't be calm now until the end of January when we, cats and all our belongings are safely back home. And then we'll probably be house-hunting so I will be un-calm again.)
I am spending the week saying goodbyes as that seems more important than organising and packing. I may regret this on Monday when the packers come but surely not long term. In many ways it is easier than packing to come here as at least this way we know everything has to go: if it all arrives in completely random order then we'll just be busier at the other end. All I have to do is keep an eagle eye on the packers to ensure they don't take any of the rented furniture as that would be bad.
Last baby group this lunchtime. But it's OK, Maggie doesn't know so she will be quite happy. I wonder if any of them would like some slug pellets and houseplant fertilizer? Or ice lollies (why do I have three boxes of ice lollies in my freezer?)
Lisa at 01:43
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Freaky weather at the weekend kept us guessing. Saturday - 12 degrees, jumpers and boots, we walked in Ueno Park, fed pigeons and ducks, then mooched through the market. A cunning plan was devised: we'd put Maggie to bed early where she would peacefully snooze away, leaving us to enjoy a civilised meal, a film and just possibly a glass of wine. 10 o'clock found us pacing the corridor with a Very Wide Awake baby, having taken it in turns to eat slices of reheated pizza. Sigh. Next time we devise a cunning plan, we'll do it out of earshot.
Saturday night - torrential rain and wind that rattled the house. Maggie slept through it, though we woke her up discussing it and how Cameron's last ever game of football might be cancelled.
Sunday - 28 degrees, bright sunshine, T-shirts and sunglasses. The last ever game was played (and a memorial picture of the team will be forthcoming) and I did loads of Christmas shopping. Not much fun with a pushchair, though I was glad I had it when it came to transporting all the shopping up the hill to our house. I also went to visit So-san and the midwives because I wanted to say goodbye, so a very pleasant hour was spent at the clinic. Maggie was very comfortable: I imagine she remembered the smells and sounds at some level, although she did scream when a midwife with no face (about to get on her moped) said goodbye. It was quite scary.
Monday - back to 13 degrees, back out came the jumpers.
Later today I will be found lying in a darkened room with a cool cloth on my forehead. This afternoon is Maggie's sayonara party. I have to say I am not sure quite how many people are coming but I think in the order of 15 mummies and 15 babies plus a couple of toddlers. Have I taken leave of my senses?
Lisa at 02:20
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Doomed from the start
A friend just emailed me a page from a rather useful book she has, suggesting ways of transcribing Lisa in kanji (Japanese characters). I can choose from a list that includes the following meanings:
Great intelligence at rest (need I say more?)
The intention to avoid failures (well of course)
An elegant female doctor who is seated (not just this minute but give me a run-up with a hairdryer and some mascara)
One who fails in making profits (woefully apt)
A badger doctor who is sitting (what?)
A carp which remains in the well (ye-es)
Lisa at 13:37
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Well I found some lovely people to take away used clothing, satellite receivers, the bed and maybe the chest of drawers. They have 10 children who they home-school, which I imagine explains why they have such an enormous van, and they run a charity for the homeless. Very pleased, much better than throwing them out and easier than shipping them home.
Had a lovely day again today, although I hate saying goodbye to people. Playgroup first - it was the christmas party so even more chaotic than normal, but lots of fun. Maggie enjoyed pulling out the entire contents of the toybox while other babies played in the sink or lay about watching with big eyes. Mummies ate their pot-luck lunch and chatted. One thing I hate about leaving nearly as much as I hate saying goodbye to friends is when you meet someone you click with - as I did today - and know there is little point making friends because you have all of 10 days left. Sigh.
We then had a couple of hours to kill so had a bit of a shop round Shibuya: new boots, a top and a skirt, and some Christmas pressies, before heading across town to meet Amanda who wanted to show us an origami shop. Wow! Amazing. Immediately - and predictably - decided origami was going to be my new hobby and spent a small(ish) fortune on lovely paper and things. Hey ho. I suppose you never know, I might retain my enthusiasm for it.
I know I said I wasn't going to itemise the things I would miss about Japan, and I meant it. I will, however, say this: I bet men at home aren't nearly as nice to Maggie as they are here. Will middle-aged men wave and play peekaboo when we sit next to them on the train? Will young men hold her hand and smile indulgently when she grabs for their headphones? (Well yes, probably, when she's older but that isn't what I mean). Will shop assistants (male and female) as well as all the old lady customers rush over to play with her when I abandon the pushchair in order to browse the aisles, as I did today (for that matter, will I abandon the pushchair, baby and handbag within, to browse the aisles at home? I imagine not.)
Lisa at 09:04
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I had a lovely lovely time last night. Lovely lovely company; lovely lovely food; lovely lovely wine and a lovely lovely cocktail. Oh and a lovely lovely, very patient, waitress. Lots of chat and laughter (and I managed not to cry) and I had a dessert they set fire to: you can't go far wrong with that.
Cameron had a rather less lovely evening with an unsettled Maggie. I haven't enquired too closely because he was Mr Grumpy when I got home but I fear it may be some time before I am allowed out on my own again.
I've been sorting out all my photographs. I need to buy one more album for our Japanese pictures then sort out snaps from last summer's grand tour. Do something with the negatives so I can carry them home myself (in case the ship with our albums on sinks or drops our crate overboard or something awful). Then I can cross that job off and get on with the next.
I am not allowed to keep my laptop when we return home (I had been hoping to buy it - it is currently owned by the company I used to work for and still do most of my freelancing for) but no go, they want it back. Hope the January sales are good this year for we now have to buy one computer as well as two cars and a new house. And it means I have to transfer all my photos and files onto CD: the to-do list expands continuously. I have remembered to cancel the milk.
Maggie continues to refuse food unless she can do it herself. Last night I was reduced to smearing pumpkin puree onto biscuits for her and oh my, what a mess. Goodness knows what sort of message it is teaching her (hold out for long enough and Mummy will give biscuits).
Lisa at 04:48
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Today I am very excited indeed: I am going out tonight! On my own! Well no, not on my own - that would be quite sad - with friends, you know. But without Maggie. Cameron is going to put her to bed all on his own. I am going to have a glass of wine and not fret about them (in theory).
Of course I haven't a thing to wear...I dutifully trooped all round both floors of Zara (clothing in sensible sizes) today, trying on random items, but I have clearly lost the knack through lack of practice. I am looking forward to regaining that skill when we get home, along with re-learning British English: I thought today, asking the shop assistant for em-size, that I'd have to remember to call it medium once again soon.
Had a lovely lunch today too, to say goodbye to a couple of friends. I hate goodbyes (but I like all the nice meals). With two weeks of goodbyes followed by Christmas I'll be the size of a house come January.
My to-do list is getting longer not shorter (perhaps because I am mainly ignoring it so little is getting crossed off). Must focus.
Lisa at 07:23
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Today I am very excited indeed: I am going out tonight! On my own! Well no, not on my own - that would be quite sad - with friends, you know. But without Maggie. Cameron is going to put her to bed all on his own. I am going to have a glass of wine and not fret about them (in theory).
Of course I haven't a thing to wear...I dutifully trooped all round both floors of Zara (clothing in sensible sizes) today, trying on random items, but I have clearly lost the knack through lack of practice. I am looking forward to regaining that skill when we get home, along with re-learning British English: I thought today, asking the shop assistant for em-size, that I'd have to remember to call it medium once again soon.
Had a lovely lunch today too, to say goodbye to a couple of friends. I hate goodbyes (but I like all the nice meals). With two weeks of goodbyes followed by Christmas I'll be the size of a house come January.
My to-do list is getting longer not shorter (perhaps because I am mainly ignoring it so little is getting crossed off). Must focus.
Lisa at 07:23
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Every time I think about leaving my stomach knots up and I can't breathe. (Probably best not to think about it in that case.)
Good news, however, from Cameron's parents who visited our house on a recce. Seems it is in perfect condition and ready for us to move back in - even the oven is clean (I get the impression that Joyce was a little disappointed not to get the chance to wield her cloths!) Garden is a state but that is only to be expected and, once I've figured out how one gardens while looking after a baby, I will soon knock that back into shape - in fact, I am looking forward to it. Though it has to be said that Januray is perhaps not the best time of year for it.
We worked out how to get food into Maggie last night: let her do it herself. It took over half an hour but she managed to eat the best part of a bowl of mashed potato and broccoli with sweetcorn (not your typical finger food but hey ho). What a mess! She has a rash today though, which my nurse-friend Heather says sounds like an allergy. Are people allergic to sweetcorn? I've never heard of that one.
Yawning while eating her breakfast, she would not go to sleep, until she eventually conked out in the sling at 12.15. Even two cycles of Baby Mozart didn't work (they worked rather well on Mummy: I had a nice 15-minute doze). Now I have to run about wildly to sort things out for the recycling man who is coming to collect a chest of drawers, some random electricals and bags of old clothes.
Lisa at 04:11
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Maggie said da-da last night. Of course we know it is just babbling sounds, and she spoilt it rather by going straight into ta-ta ga-ga, but Cameron was thrilled!
She has been whispering ta, da and puh for about a week, and saying huh! and agoo for ages but this was officially her first out-loud two-syllable vocalisation (apart from agoo, but agoo, what's that?!)
Whoever came up with the idea of measuring animals was clearly dealing with a dog not a cat.
Lisa at 00:53
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OK
Manuscript away - check
Maggie asleep (again!) - check
House tidied because we have a visitor tonight - um...
Million other things - pffft.
Never mind, the manuscript was the only one that will pay and Maggie is the one that matters so now I have returned to clarify my post below. Doug and Verity, though mildly barking in a very fun way, are not artists and do not make their own clothes. They did hold an exhibition of Shoi and Colleen's work at their house in May: S & C hosted us on Saturday.
I realise this doesn't matter to you but I like to get my facts straight.
Now I have to go and measure the cats. Yes, really. I'm sure we didn't have to do that when bringing them over but in order to get them home they must be measured. Nose to bottom, floor to top of leg, floor to nose and ear to ear. I have no idea.
Lisa at 08:31
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Today started badly when I split, toasted and covered my fig roll in cream cheese, only to discover on biting into it that the label should really have read fig and walnut roll. Walnuts are the devil's food.
Actually it started badly before that: Maggie's cold (that kept us up Sunday night with a high temperature and unhappiness) turned into a cough last night, so not much sleep was had. Then we overslept so I am even more out of sorts. And I have to finish editing the manuscript today too.
I suppose what I am trying to say is: I'm typing fast and frantically; 'scuse typos.
She might sleep for 2 1/2 hours (like she did yesterday); it could be 40 minutes (like normal). Whichever it is, I have to do all today's jobs in that time! Including blogging (high on my to-do list).
It is proving surprisingly difficult to get rid of excess items. We have a double bed, chest of drawers and various other bits and bobs (including lightly used clothes) that we don't want - a British 3-bedroom semi can only hold so many double beds after all - and don't want money for, just want rid of. Apparently the Salvation Army won't come because we haven't given 6 weeks' notice, so we have to have it taken away as garbage. That is ludicrous! (but oh, so Japanese) I refuse to have perfectly good furniture taken away and chopped up/burnt/buried/whatever they do with them: I am considering shipping it all home to give to charity there. Is that insane and just the stress talking?
We had a wonderful day on Saturday. Doug & Verity are leaving around the same time as us but are far, far more organised so it was their leaving 'do'. You might remember back in May, we went to an exhibition at their house (um. I've just skimmed back through my archives and it seems I was so preoccupied with sleep and nappies at that point (what do you mean, no change there) I failed to mention it. OK. They are a lovely couple who make and wear their own clothes - from antique fabric I believe - and make gorgeous lamps from washi paper and antiques. I bet they don't have a website. I'm kind of selling them short, you'll just have to trust that they are very special.) Anyway, we travelled down to Zusshi, on the coast and very rural, to the house of the artists, Colleen and Shoi (sp?) Oh. My. God. They live in a converted temple with their lights and antiques everywhere and it is just amazing. In fact, the house will feature in an interiors book to be published next year so watch this space for a link to it. Shelley took some photos, which you can see here - I only had the 'real' cam not the digi so no snaps from us. We had a barbeque (yes it is November; yes, we were outside in shirtsleeves; yes, I am wearing a T-shirt again today. Britain is going to seem Very Very Chilly next month.) and champagne on the train going down, and games and chat and oohed and ahhed over their house (could it be recreated in Warrington? I wonder) and of course over Maggie who was an absolute angel. No sleep but still smiling at the end of the day when we went outside for miniature fireworks.
Right I have spent far too long here (I did in fact correct some typos, I just can't help myself) and I really must Get On. I keep forgetting to breathe.
Lisa at 02:21
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I am such a stereotype. There I was, trying out our new Maya Wrap (as sported by Courtney Cox, no less; I've got fabric 37 and it's gorgeous) in a bid to stop Maggie wailing, and simultaneously simmering tomato sauce for our tea, when the phone rang: a manuscript for me to edit. I was quite proud that I managed to sound vaguely professional. Is this having it all?
She's been wailing a lot these past 24 hours - either the black eye is troubling her or there's more teeth on the way (or something else, it is so hard to tell).
Today's list: random things that have to be sorted out. What does one do with old mobile phones, for example?
Lisa at 08:12
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Radio 4
Sunday papers
Indian takeaways
Lisa at 11:37
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Maggie has her first shiner! She fell head-first onto her toybox yesterday and her cheek got gradually more and more purple - she woke this morning with a bruise running from cheekbone to eye. It doesn't seem to be bothering her though (I just wish she'd managed to get it somewhere that could be covered up because everybody is commenting, including one irritating lady at playgroup who asked if it was dirt and then looked utterly horrified when I said it was a bruise. Does she think I've been battering her? She should just wait until her baby is crawling, standing, pulling over plants and trying to empty the hoover bag, see how on top of things she manages to be. Bah).
Today I am working on the list Things To Go Air Freight. What on earth does 225 kg look like? It sounds quite a lot to me but by the time we've got the cot, highchair, bedding, towels and saucepans in I suspect there won't be much left over. It would help enormously if I could remember what is in the house: I know we left it part furnished, whatever that might mean, and I know the loft is full of, well, stuff is really the only suitable word. Things we didn't want to bring but didn't want the tenants to have. Goodness only knows. I remember putting about a million of Cameron's magazines up there, and some photos, but they are not going to be much use to us.
Cameron is zipping about all week at companies outside Tokyo, all of which involve a nice meal out. He is not enthusiastic about meals and drinks out (because he has to go); I would LOVE to go (because I am always in). Ah well, at least I don't have to cook.
Lisa at 02:03
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Baked potatoes
Having a proper grill (and, come to think of it, a nice oven)
Using our 'new' bathroom (now 2 1/2 years old but we've never used it)
Supermarkets
A fire
Christmas
My frame of mind is much better right now - in fact, I couldn't sleep last night for getting excited about going home. I am still going to be distraught to leave; I think the culture shock is going to be much worse the other way, but it won't be all bad. I do hope we can have broadband though, I don't think I can bear to return to dial-up after the 10 Mbps connection I've enjoyed here.
I can't stop making lists. Things to get rid of, things to organise, things to do and things to buy. And I suppose I'll have to do something about Christmas presents in all that lot too. Tips on dealing with insomnia have you making a list, getting it out of your head and onto paper, then drifting off into a delicious sleep. Making the list once doesn't seem to be enough for me: writing it down doesn't make it leave my head. I find myself listing and re-listing the same items every time I have a pen in hand.
More Japanese weirdness: I found some baby yogurts ('baby danone'; they look like petit filous) in the supermarket. I rejected tomato flavour as being too, too peculiar but on close inspection the variety I bought appears to be, not peach melba or fruits of the forest as one might expect, but spinach mix. Yum yum. On the bright side, they shouldn't have too much sugar. I'll offer it and see what she thinks.
Lisa at 02:24
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OK now here's a silly question for all your clever IT types out there. All my photos and webpages apart from this one are stored on my Japanese ISP. I have space at the millpond I can use, so that they won't all disappear when we leave Japan. How do I move them from one to the other? Do I have to ftp them all back to my pc from the Japanese server then up to the millpond, or can I log in to the Japanese one then somehow ftp again? And then is there an easy way of updating all my links or do I actually have to do them all by hand, blog post by blog post? Thank you.
The packer, sarky so and so (at least, it would have been sarky at home. Maybe here it was an innocent comment), observed that we must have bought some things during our time here. Sigh. We have. Where on earth are we going to put it all when we get home? I have found a home for the baby monitor and one small plant but frankly that is a teeny tip of a monstrous iceberg. Anyone want a 6-foot ficus or a double bed? No? How about a large box of video'ed British telly? Christmas lights? A toaster?
I think I have a stalker...there's an American woman here who I initially met at yoga. She was very nice but a little Too nice, if you know what I mean. Overly friendly and one of those people who assumes you think the same as herself so keeps telling you what you think. Only, usually, you don't. I managed to 'lose' her until she turned up at the pregnancy group...then I 'lost' her again until she came to baby massage. This week I received an invitation to her little girl's birthday party, which is a bit strange given that I have't seen her since we stopped going to baby massage a couple of months ago and I have never met the little girl. Anyway. I was chatting to my friend Sarah today and she told me some woman stopped her on the street to look at her baby, and said, in passing oh, you know Lisa don't you! A process of elimination identified her. Am I over-reacting to be a bit freaked by that?
Lisa at 06:54
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Oh my goodness, less than a month to go. The packers came to quote today...strange man rang the doorbell and asked if I was Mrs Watson. I said I was (of course) then he giggled and said I didn't have my name on my door. No, I said, but I really am Mrs Watson, then he said he was going to wait outside. Fine. But when he rang the bell again, ten minutes later, he had a surveyor with him so I suppose it sort of made sense in an oddly Japanese way. I don't think I will encounter that sort of behaviour at home. It seems we have somewhere in the region of 25 cubic metres, well within our allowance, so I can continue to shop. (OK, he didn't say that but I reckon I can squeeze in a few more things.) 'To-do' list is growing daily longer: at the top, send the cats back and find a home for my plants.
Mum and dad left this morning and Maggie is either missing them enormously or teething again because she has been wailing and not wanting to eat. And I cooked her delicious lentils too.
I am determined not to spend the entire month mourning over 'last time's. In the spirit of which, a short list of things I am looking forward to at home (and no I am absolutely not compiling a similar (longer) list of things I'll miss about Japan, not even in my head. Honest.)
Not crying when people leave because they will be hundreds not thousands of miles away and in the same time zone
Chocolate hobnobs
Having a garden
Parsnips
Lisa at 07:12
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Busy busy busy.
First to Nara:

Then Matsumoto:

Lisa at 10:24
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Sorry chaps. I've been trying to put together a nice page of our Beijing trip all week - so far it is one sentence and a photograph. Sigh. My parents arrive today and it remains to be seen whether that increases my blogging (because they are looking after Maggie) or decreases it (lots of nice trips and outings). The week has been fairly mundane on the whole: a photography exhibition, a trip to the organic shop (where the nice man bowed to Maggie and said he respects her then, when he found out I was English, told me he likes the Beatles (fair enough) and Bob Marley (erm...)), baby playmates, lunches out and the like. Maggie had her first lunch out: sweet potato and pasta got spread all over Pizza Express.
We've been receiving increasingly frantic notes from our relocation agent: she wants us to decide when we're leaving so we can book flights, hotels, packers, shippers, and sort out all the other million things that have to be done when you move across the world. We're kind of trying not to think about it: not a constructive attitude, I realise. Shell have given notice to our landlord, however, so we really do have to be away from here by December 20th. Less than 2 months!
Lisa at 01:49
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Here we are at the Great Wall (it was great). More to follow once I've excavated the kitchen.

Lisa at 02:52
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I am so tempted by this. But it would be wildly extravagent, right? I even failed to sound convincing to myself when I was explaining to Cameron how it was really financially sensible (compared with buying each season individually, that is). He says it's up to my conscience whether I buy it or not (foolish man, he knows I don't have one).
Lisa at 08:22
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Eek! And double eek! (I am sure they don't mean millimetres - although can we really have had half a metre of rain this month?)
Lightning has just started up; the rain has got steadily stronger through the evening and now sounds like it is battering through the roof. Cameron, once again, is out in it.
Lisa at 12:48
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Random paragraphs
Yawn, yawn, another typhoon. Quite tired of them now. I am considering investing in some snazzy wellies to cheer up necessary outings. Not going out in it to playgroup this afternoon, but that's OK because the vet wants to come and have a look at Jura. We think she is getting a bit better - it is quite hard to tell - but he wants to give her another massive dose of hormones.
I had also intended going to the supermarket (I am supposed to be providing dessert for tomorrow's baby group) and buying something nice and Japanesey to take to our friends in Beijing (on Friday, woohoo!) but I'm doing none of it, will just have to run about manically tomorrow morning instead.
Maggie has graduated slightly prematurely onto lumpy mashed food instead of puree; the liquidiser jug leapt out of the cupboard at me and became smithereens. She doesn't seem to mind. Favourite thing to eat to date: pureed carrot with mashed banana. I tried a bit and it is better than it sounds, quite nicely sweet in fact. I don't think I'll be serving it up for dinner though.
I read the no-cry sleep solution last week; got to love a book that makes you realise that you don't really have a problem (and is rude about 'other people' who make you think you do). Apart from daytime naps so we are trying very hard to get in two a day this week, see what happens. According to the book she should get 3-4 hours of nap each day and she rarely approaches that...of course, it is possible she just needs less sleep than average. She is, after all, brilliant. Speaking of which, she sat herself up from her tummy yesterday for the first time; you should have seen her little face, she was utterly delighted.
Feeling sad now. We just got an email from our relocation agency with a (long) list of stuff we have to do before leaving. She wants to know our flights and leaving date and everything! How can we possibly plan that now: I am strictly not thinking about it. Although one thing I must do is shift all my photos and update *all* my links before leaving this ISP (does any clever IT-type person out there know an easy automated way of doing that or must I do it by hand?)
I picked up our very cool Chinese visas yesterday. The embassy sensibly decided that M was not a threat to their national security and could be allowed to submit a non-official photograph. Very excited, but very much hoping the typhoon has moved out of the way of the plane by Friday.
Lisa at 01:06
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Today's injunctions
We don't empty everything out of the bin and chew it (x 3)
We don't pull things off the coffee table to chew (x 2)
We don't grab people's hair on the train (even if she did push rudely past) (x 1)
We don't bang the cat (ad nauseum)
Lisa at 07:47
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Fantastic.
I imagine most of you in the UK have seen this already but just in case you haven't: the krankies sing Bowie has to be seen to be believed.
Lisa at 01:36
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Maggie was clearly very taken with her uncle Chris when we wer home this summer and has decided to model herself on him. Why else would it take over 30 seconds to chew, consider and swallow a spoonful of yogurt?
Lisa at 01:18
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Because I'm the mummy
Maggie with her Sakura sleeping pillow, beautifully embroidered by Cameron's lovely colleague Hara-san; Maggie in her nappy; Maggie and Daddy out and about.

Lisa at 04:52
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A Better Day
Thanks goodness. In fact, I think she might have a second little tooth, though I wouldn't absoluely swear to it: she won't let me look. Playgroup was good this morning - we were late by virtue of being in a daze and getting on the wrong train - one of the little boys had his first bithday so we all had cake. Iona, playgroup leader and fellow hippy-but-not-too-hippy, has a secret blog here: secret no longer since she told me. I did warn her I'd blab.
After playgroup Maggie and I zipped across town to Mr Kudo the travel agent. Maggie's photo was inappropriate and I didn't need to fill in the forms (apparently) but I didn't find the fax telling me that until I fished it out of Maggie's mouth this evening so never mind. Hopefully the Chinese embassy won't actually demand an official-style photo of a 6-month-old baby (but if they do, I can take it to them on Monday).
The weather was so fantastic - Autumn has finally arrived properly without any of that nasty rain - we had an impromptu picnic in Kitanomaru park. Maggie thought the crows were very funny indeed and an elderly Japanese couple stopped their walk to admire her. They then stopped on their way back to take some pictures of her (oddly sinister in any other country but normal and par for the course here) and looked scandalised when I failed to show any concern after they pointed out she was chewing a dead leaf. (I did remove it, but honestly there are worse things she could be chewing. It was probably rather tasty.) Maggie giggled and rolled about and got muddy feet; I read my book, ate an aero and enjoyed not being too hot or soaked to the skin.
Autumn really is on its way with the progression of the Koyo front on display in the trains. Tokyo still has a green-leaf logo but not for long, I'm sure.
Lisa at 08:05
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What a morning. Had to cancel my lovely coffee with my lovely friend Sue because I thought I should get myself along to the Chinese embassy and see about visas. All set to go, just wiping avocado off Maggie (btw, what is the done thing with mucky babies? I bought her some nice sensible long-sleeved tops now the weather is getting cooler but of course they always get covered in breakfast. Is it acceptable to leave her all stained, especially if we aren't going to see anyone special - today she is sporting a nice pucci-style swirly avocado and calpol design - or is one supposed to change one's baby so one's baby remains pristine?) Then our relocation agent rang to tell me the dvd player is coming back this afternoon so I mentioned the visa thing to her and she told me she knew a man who could sort it out for us. Which saved me a trip I suppose, especially since, according to said man, it is not permitted for individuals to apply for their own visas. I am dubious about this but don't care enormously: I am always pleased to support the local economy by having somebody else do things for me. And I had been building it up into an enormous source of stress (what if the embassy staff and forms only have Japanese and Chinese and no English?)
OK. So I rang Kudo-san only to find that he isn't there: nobody was there apart from a chap whose English was as good as my Japanese, ie pretty rubbish. I think I managed to communicate that I would come tomorrow and hopefully he is going to fax me a form. Why couldn't Emma and Dave have moved somewhere easy to visit?
Anyway. Sorry, feeling somewhat unfocused. A good job we didn't go out because Maggie howled for 90 minutes. Most uncharacteristic; I assume it is teething pain (hence the calpol swirls on her clothes. There are bonjela ones too but they are invisible, just sticky. She smells like a pharmacy.) None of the usual tricks worked; eventually I came over all Dr Sears and popped her in her sling until she was calm. She seems to have dropped off now; no wonder, poor litle mite must be exhausted.
Looking forward to the return of the dvd player. Timely indeed, since our Father Ted box-set arrived yesterday. Although its absence has caused us to revisit some videos which has been rather nice: we've been watching the Beiderbecke Affair all week.
Update Seems I wasn't as communicative as I thought. He's just sent a lovely fax map to find his office. In Japanese (but hoorah! Japanese I can read). And much as I would love to fax him back, my printer has decided it can't see the paper tray any more. Time to hit the gin, I think. And it's a really good thing that M is asleep as there is going to be Language. Is it Friday yet?
Lisa at 04:42
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Cameron has been giggling to himself ever since the quiz on Saturday night. One of the other teams, when asked what did Solomon Grundy do on Wednesday?, answered won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Lisa at 13:05
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Teething troubles
At least, I hope it is teething: M has been whinging and wailing all day today so there is definitely something wrong. Unless she is fed up of the rain too. She cut her first little toothypeg overnight on Saturday without too much trauma (just excessive waking) so I'm thinking number 2 is on its way now.
Or it's possible she is just upset by my having to pay 20,000 yen for her to fly to Beijing. Yes, we are going too but we can travel on airmiles (thank you Mr Branson) while she has to pay 10% of the full no-discount adult fare (even 10% seems a bit cheeky to me: she doesn't have a seat, doesn't eat their food and weighs less than a piece of handluggage). When will Easyjet et al make it to Asia I wonder? (And eek! Do we have to get a visa?)
It was a(nother) bank hol here yesterday; we'll miss all these holidays when we go home. Tried to take Maggie swimming, at the local pool that has a lovely kiddies' pool, only to be told that she isn't allowed until she's 3. Sigh. I wonder if there is anywhere we can take her that isn't the american club?
Lisa at 07:33
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I said it was bad out there. It seems it was the worst typhoon to hit Japan in a decade, with 7 cm of rain in an hour and over 100 landslides. There was an item on BBC World and everything.
Cameron went out, as predicted. But well waterproofed (actually it had stopped by the time he got there) and it must have been worth it because his team won the quiz! Hoorah.
Lisa at 08:38
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We are having another typhoon. How many has that been so far this year? And why always at the weekends? Maggie and Cameron have stayed in all day; I braved it to get a haircut and some food but came back wishing for the first time ever that we had a car. Utterly revolting out. Cameron says he is going to go to his football club's quiz night regardless; it feels a bit like being on board ship here with waves lashing against the portholes and lightning flashing all around so I rather wish he wouldn't. Though I have nothing to give him for dinner so perhaps he has to.
Lisa at 08:17
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A big day
For Maggie, who woke up this morning determined to move forwards (as a change from rolling or shuffling backwards). First thing, she managed to flop along in an odd inelegant but effective manner: knees up, let go with both arms , bang! onto her belly and start again. Works rather well: I spent the morning removing things I didn't want her to eat - electrical flexes, a well-chewed cat toy, empty coffee cups (Mummy has to learn to not put her cups on the floor any more). Then at baby massage she decided she wanted the demonstration doll and off she went! Proper crawling! Very exciting - Juliet (who runs the playgroup and the class) was excited because she says she's seen loads of babies take their first steps but none start to crawl; I was excited but also sad and aware that my life is about to change drastically (and just when I've got used to it again). Of course, this morning I put her in a pretty dress because I thought we should make the most of it as she would start to crawl soon - now her poor little knees are all red.
Then we went to the supermarket and she sat up in the trolley like a big girl (picture below).
One side-effect of chronic sleep-deprivation seems to be the inability to make the simplest decision (you should have seen me dithering about what sort of washing-up liquid to buy). In particular, I am unable to decide to throw away leftover food with the result that my fridge is packed to bursting. Were the five thousand to turn up unexpectedly on my doorstep there would be no need for any funny business with loaves and fishes: each could have his (or her) own individual clingfilmed bowl or tupperware pot of stew, braised stuff, beans or an unpleasantly lurky pie that wasn't even nice when fresh. Feeling a little better today so perhaps I could tackle it - she slept from 11.45 to 4.30 without waking at all. I think she wouldn't have woken at 11.45 had I not flung myself on top of her in response to the quake; my subconscious had me over ready to protect her from fallen masonry even before I was awake.
Does anyone know if a big bottom is a good thing in the Philippines? Hope so, else our maid is playing a game with me - she keeps telling Maggie that she has a big bum "just like Mummy". Today we were discussing who she looked like - she has Cameron's eyes but otherwise is like me and I was telling Yolly about a photo of me at around her age that actually could be Maggie; she said that she has my legs and bum too. What does that mean? I don't have a baby's bottom.
Lisa at 07:03
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Shopping trolley 

Lisa at 07:03
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Maggie had a nap (hoorah!), I updated my blogroll. Removed some I don't read any more (nothing personal chaps) and added some I do - some because they are interesting and funny; some because they are real-life friends; some both. You'll just have to go and see for yourself.
Some I removed because they are dead even though I am still going to keep popping bck in hope of signs of life (you know who you are).
Next nap: Lisa Does The Laundry.
Next one after that: Lisa Fills In A Timesheet and Prepares an Invoice.
Ho hum.
Lisa at 04:21
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The vet came to look at poor Jura today. She's been losing fur from her belly, tail and back legs: I first noticed when I got home from the UK and it has been getting gradually worse. One of Cameron's colleagues told him this is something that happens to cats here but C's Japanese was not up to understanding what it was or what to do about it, and we have a very nice vet who makes house-calls, so we got him out. He didn't mention it being something that happens to cats here but thinks she is doing it herself: not biting or pulling it out but just licking and licking (I can't say I've noticed her doing this but perhaps she goes off and does it in secret). And he thinks it is either a hormone imbalance or stress that is making her do so. Result: a hormone injection and a very large dose of vitamins and we have to keep an eye on her. Fair enough but the whole time I was just thinking about my mum's old cat Oscar. Oscar developed odd alopecic patches on his neck and was given, initially, hormone injections, which then progressed to steriods and all sorts. He was even forbidden his favourite cheese snacks in case the dairy was causing it. Until one day my mum spotted him squee-ee-eezing his way under a fence in the garden in order to access the catnip plant (fenced off to recover from his ardour) and rubbing the fur off his neck in the process. I can't help but wonder whether Jura's hair-loss is somehow related to her creeping about the undergrowth after lizards.
We braved the rain today to visit the Victor and Rolf Colors exhibition - lots of rooms of colour-coded fashion through the ages with explanatory signs in English (hoorah!) and funky music. It was very interesting and I say bring back the bustle! But am rather glad that paper dresses never really took off, given the amount of rain we've had this week. Incidentally: do you think fashion has all been done? The past couple of decades haven't seen anything new or radical (combats do not count) and it is hard to imagine what is left that hasn't been seen before at some time. Of course, maybe the noughties (is that this decade?) has a strong fashion that you just can't really see while you are in the middle of it (did people in the sixties know there was a definite 'look' or not notice until afterwards?) - but all I can think of is the smallness of trousers: low of waist and cropped of hem. And I can't imagine that is definitive. Also: did past eras have people who didn't really follow fashion too? We imagine Victorians all to have been swanning about in long gowns and corsets but was that just the fashionable set while 'normal' people wore the Victorian equivalent of M&S jeans and a T-shirt? Or was it true, as it seems, that fashion was much more important (or that there was less choice available) in those days?
Oh, and we visited Sarah and baby Tom in hospital. I had completely forgotten how teeny-tiny and helpless they are now that Maggie is quite capable of getting all her toys out of the box unaided (and even moves things out of the way if they are on top of the toy she wants). Putting them back is going to take a bit longer to learn.
Lisa at 09:06
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I actually do quite like Mondays. Mainly because I am rarely organised enough to have filled the social schedule, meaning that we can do exactly what we like, nothing if we feel like it. And although they often, like today, consist of load after load of laundry, that's OK. Raining too hard today to do anything much even if we had been feeling full o' beans, so we just pottered. Around the house and down the road and got some of that 'to-do' list ticked off because Maggie was so bored she had a really good morning nap. The vet is coming tomorrow and a man to look at the DVD player on Thursday. No functioning DVD player is a *big* problem: no Baby Mozart! Maggie had her first evening meal (much more keen on that than she is on breakfast - mummy's girl) and I booked us all on a lovely daytrip to Fuji when mum and dad come out. Hoorah!
Now, who knows anything about naming ceremonies?
Lisa at 10:27
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So tired
Hello, sorry I've been ignoring the blog but M has decided that sleep is a sign of weakness; consequently I am stumbling about in a haze, barely able to construct a coherent sentence (yes, even less able than usual). I have no idea what is going on with her but fervently hope it stops before I lose it completely. I have actually been doing what the books suggest for a newborn - which I seldom did when she was one - and sleeping when she has a daytime nap.
Anyway. What has been going on here? My 'to-do' list is as long as my arm but I've been ignoring it, mostly. I'd intended getting a haircut yesterday but five (FIVE!) people told me my hair was looking nice on Thursday and Friday, so I didn't. I am not used to hair compliments, don't recall receiving one since I was about 17 with a perfect geometric bob. I thought it was looking a bit scruffy myself, but perhaps that is fashionable just now, I have really no idea. Of course, the next window of opportunity for a cut is about 3 weeks away, so it will definitely be long-overdue when it finally happens.
Not looking forward to this week, with Cameron out every night but Wednesday, up to and including next Saturday. I might just climb those walls after all. Plus, I can feel the stress of a move starting to build already: decisions decisions. What to take? What to sell? What to throw out? What to do with the cats? Where to spend Christmas? What sort of state is our house in and do we have to go and live in a hotel for a bit? (Breathe slowly into a paper bag.)
Nice news: my friend Sarah had her baby, a boy, yesterday (just in time as the big induction threat was scheduled for today!) No name yet. And our chums Fraser and Anita back home are expecting.
Oh and Mia-the-midwife has a blog of her very own now: I present the tour manager. Do go and visit.
Lisa at 04:22
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6-month Maggie 

Lisa at 09:10
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We finally got around to watching lost in translation this weekend. I had heard people say they thought it was slightly derogatory, bordering on racist, towards the Japanese but we didn't think that. Merely extremely well-observed and accurate and also very affectionate. I have to say I really loved it; it made me feel natsukashi (melancholy, happy nostalgia) for Japan - almost homesick for Japan even though we haven't yet left. The only thing that was wrong was the two-dimension-ness of it: Shibuya crossing is never going to look right on film because when you are there it surrounds you with noise, lights and people on all sides.
Lisa at 08:50
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Happy half-birthday to you
Maggie, that is. 6 months today! I took some lovely photos to mark the occasion but unfortunately the battery has gone in the camera so I can't upload one for you. Maybe later. I won't get all slushy and emotional - I'll save that for her first birthday or Christmas or something - but will just say that 6-month-old Maggie is more fabulous by the day (and the just-born M was pretty darn great): she sits, balances beautifully on all fours, and is starting, rather grudgingly, to eat food. She bangs her hands and sings and smiles at anyone and everyone who catches her eye. And she was angelic through my yoga class today (sat next to my mat on a blanket and played quietly).
Big stir at Cameron's work as they deducted 401 yen from this month's salary instead of the usual 400 yen - shell club fees (what is the shell club?). But it's ok, they are going to deduct 399 yen instead next month. Phew!
Lisa at 08:54
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A big weekend
For little Maggie: not only did she chat up a sumo wrestler, but she had her first haircut (just the fringe where it was hanging in her eyes) and her first taste of food. She found the baby rice very interesting indeed. Sweet potato is on the menu for tomorrow; we'll see if that requires as much concentration.
Sumo was good although we had to leave before the really exciting fights - but we don't know enough about it to know which are really exciting so that was fine. I was Very Cross though as I lugged the heavy bag containing tripod and zoom lens only to discover I had failed to pick up my camera.
I'm wishing I hadn't taken on that manuscript now: it is lurking in the back of my mind and causing me stress. It is all done on paper but do you think I can find a couple of quiet hours to amend the electronic file? I cannot. (The more alert reader will no doubt observe that I have just spent 10 minutes writing this and reading my email; my sister will probably chip in and reveal that I was on msn for an hour earlier. To which I can only say that all of these activities were engaged in whilst getting up and down and up and down and entertaining Maggie and bouncing her on my lap while typing one-handed and feeding her and so on. Which does not lend itself to accuracy in editing but rather to whole lines of text that read ggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh jjj as she loves to bang the keyboard. So there.)
Lisa at 08:12
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Bank hol today so, as planned (by me), it's Cameron-looks-after-Maggie day. Hoorah! They got up and went downstairs this morning so I got an extra half-hour lie-in, then they went to baby massage (Cameron is learning the ways of the expat wife) while I sat quietly in starbucks enjoying drinking from a cup that wasn't being chewed by anybody else and eating a biscuit off a plate right in front of me! And editing a manuscript as part of my stealth-back-to-work thing; I've just started taking the odd long-deadline manuscript, which has saved me from actually making a decision about whether to go back or not. I don't do decisions, workwise. I quite enjoyed it, oddly. And hadn't forgotten how (though I do seem to have forgotten why it matters; I hope I remember soon).
A nice lunch out together then home for an afternoon of peeling-steaming-blending-sieving as I prepare to start Maggie on solids. (Organic, naturally!) Maggie and Cameron both went off to sleep; it's an exhausting thing being at home all day. And this evening is my yoga lesson again so Cameron will be doing bath and bed while I go ommmmm and try not to giggle.
Lisa at 07:25
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Is Baby Mozart Evil? I borrowed it in curiosity from a friend and it has a strange and hypnotic effect on Maggie. Of course I don't approve (telly Bad) but I must admit to rather relishing those 20 silent and mesmerised minutes while I can make and eat a sandwich, or just sit and gaze (sitting and gazing being a much under-rated activity that disappears entirely on childbirth). I don't fully understand why it is so fascinating (mostly film of executive-type toys and train sets) and can only conclude it must be some special subliminal effect of the music: Mozart, recorded and arranged specially for "little ears". Quite irritatingly bingy actually; why not use an orchestra? We suspect budgetary issues dressed up as psychological developmental twaddle. It isn't possible to buy a simple toy for a child these days, everything but everything must be educational. Even if that is just teaching them that there is more than one colour, or similar. (Some of the Lamaze toys are scented! Green apple being the favourite aroma for developing a super-child. Which is, after all, what we all desire.)
A nice lady helped carry the pushchair into a subway station today. I could see her wishing she hadn't offered about 2 steps down, what with my bags of newly purchased Japanese ceramics strung on the back it was rather heavy. And I was harangued in the street by a forceful man concerned that M's head had flopped to one side. (Of course it had flopped, she was asleep. You only have to glance around on a train to realise that sleeping heads flop.) She's fine, thank you I replied politely yet forcibly also three or four times before he wandered off to harrass a middle-aged woman about the saucepan she was examining.
Other news is slim. Cameron sneakily had me sign his pass-out for football last night when I had forgotten about this week's two 'business dinners' (=nights down the boozer). But I will have the last laugh as Thursday is a bank hol and he will have no legs to stand on regarding who is IC childcare that day. Friday, we are going to go to the sumo, it being our last chance (boo). With Sarah and Timo if their baby hasn't turned up - due today but her doctor is very kind and sensible and hasn't mentioned the I-word yet. Cameron's absence has revived my interest in sequential watching of Buffy (series 4!*), which had wained with Maggie's current insistence that daytime sleeping (and nighttime sleeping for that matter) is for poofs and must only be done in cases of dire emergency around the time that mummy needs to prepare dinner so can't sit and relax.
*when did tv serieses become seasons? and why?
Lisa at 11:52
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The trouble with a private yoga class, just you and the teacher, is it is rather hard to skive off and spend half the class resting in child's pose. I enjoyed it actually, even if we did spend a good 15 minutes going ommmmmm at the beginning, which left me feeling oddly disembodied. I'm not usually very keen on the ommm-type teachers, but Hikaru was rather nice. Some fairly gentle stretches which I had to hold for far longer than was comfy and that was the hour up, but I felt good for it! Home just in time to see Maggie putting on her jimjams and help get her into bed. Hoorah.
Playgroup yesterday morning...rang my chum Sarah on the way home because I was passing her house and thought we could meet for a cuppa, and managed to wangle myself an invite to a lunch she was hosting for all her baby friends (hers is due next week). Yum.
And now it's a bank holiday weekend! In the spirit of which, Maggie's highchair has arrived all flat-packed so we have to play at DIY later.
Lisa at 04:17
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I really must stop looking in panic at an empty diary then spending my weeks dashing about frantically in compensation. An hour off here and there would really be a Good Thing. Today, for example, we left the house at 9.30 (in itself no mean feat with a baby who has woken up every 2-3 hours for the past 3 nights), whizzed around the supermarket as quickly as I could to allow a 15-minute starbucks break. Note to the miserable old man sitting next to us: no matter how important an international executive you are, if a baby throws her rattle on the floor within an inch of your toe it would be kind to pick it up rather than looking on disdainfully as said baby's mother tries to retrieve it without groping you or smacking her baby's head off the table. Sigh. Off to baby massage; not terribly relaxing due to a number of screamy babies (not Maggie of course!). The lady next to me had a 1-month-old; I'd forgotten how tiny and helpless they are. Sweet.
From baby massage we went to Sue's house for lunch (how nice to be fed) before going to the doctor for Maggie's next set of vaccinations. Home after 4 and at 7.30 I have to dash down the road again for a yoga lesson. Cameron is putting Maggie to bed.

Lisa at 07:22
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We got our local residents' association newsletter, complete with the latest crime figures. Of ten burglaries, one was a sneak thief, eight were creeping in and one was other. (Armed robbery, perhaps?)
Lisa at 12:30
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Hooray! For getting off my bum and to a yoga class. Yogamoms, in fact. Kind of chaotic, babies everywhere, but nice to stretch for the first time this year. Thought I wasn't going to make it as I cleverly left the map to the studio sitting on my printer at home, but Cameron googled it and talked me in. Basically a very gentle yoga-stretching class that you could drop out of as your baby required. Apart from one lady who left her baby to cry on the floor for 45 minutes while she stretched, oblivious to the grinding teeth from the rest of the class...so that wasn't terribly relaxing. But hey ho, I feel better for doing something and on Thursday night Cameron is doing Maggie's bedtime while I go to a private lesson nearby.
Otherwise I can't say we've done much. Made the epic journey to babies-r-backwards yesterday (an hour each way) to stock up on feeding paraphernalia; hopefully I will not now have to go to another baby shop this year (though I'm bound to have forgotten something important). Starting to make lists of things to get rid of before we leave Japan...some of the things on my list I haven't even bought yet!
Lisa at 08:55
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OK here's the first few - hover for details as usual...

Lisa at 11:52
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Well, I've gone from no yoga class to a choice of many. Should I go back to my old class, where the teacher has kindly agreed to let me put Maggie at the back and hope she stays quiet; to the official 'mums and babies' class across town; to the private teacher who lives nearby; or should I look for a Tuesday-morning class because the nice lady who feeds our cats when we go away has Tuesday mornings free and is looking for a babysitting job? Perhaps I'll do them all and become super-fit and serene.
Heh heh heh. It seems supporting Rangers is bad for you.
Lisa at 07:31
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Even though we are years removed, September still feels like back to school. Expat Tokyo shuts down for the summer. Everybody was back for playgroup today (with their newly large, needing-entertaining babies; it was like bedlam) and baby massage, rather than being a private class for one or two as it was all summer, had eight mummies and babies squeezed into a tiny room. Maggie loved it! I feel exhausted.
Went to an art exhibition on Tuesday, Masterpieces from the Guggenheim. Some of it was lovely, some very interesting - and some reminded me that I really must do that art-appreciation class one day. I know you can do wine appreciation at our local college in Warrington; must investigate when we get back whether art is available also (or perhaps wine might be more fun). I just don't understand pop art and failed to comprehend why some of the other things were considered masterpieces. One chap painted nothing but squares for 25 years! OK he got jolly good at them - straight edges, 90-degree corners and all - but why does that make him an artist not, say, a painter-decorator? (They were quite large squares.) And most of the really abstract stuff, to me, looks like it belongs in the lobby of a large corporation. Ah well, I never claimed to be anything but ignorant.
I had been looking forward immensely to starting a yoga class tomorrow but the girl who's teaching it told me today that I can't bring Maggie, so that's off. Which is a real shame. I'll just have to get off my bum and drag us across town to the one class where I know babies are allowed. Seriously lacking motivation though.
Ftp problem with photo host is not fixed (and may not get fixed) but we've worked out a way round it - ftping by hand. Laborious, but I'll get some snaps up very soon.
Lisa at 09:24
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And she's off!
Something seems to have fused in Maggie's brain overnight and she has woken this morning able not only to roll from front to back, a skill she has been practising exclusively in bed for a week, but also to put this together with her well-developed back-to-front roll and some wiggles and work herself from A to B (where A = the playmat and B mostly = Jura). I, along I imagine with every mother ever, am thrilled and delighted with each new skill but also saddened by the speed at which she is growing up. We really do have to remember to cherish each day. Having said that, her sitting-up skills have regressed again - yesterday afternoon she managed a good 10 minutes while today she has toppled flat on her face after just 2 or 3.
I am also feeling grateful that I haven't had to go back to work although I must admit to a small, bitter huh when, on King of the Hill last night, Peggy was told that a PhD would gretly increase her earning power. Cameron tells me I could go out and earn lots of money if I so desired: think he is motivated more by a desire to make me feel better than by any true grasp of reality.
No typhoon yet.
Oh, and I've put the next bit of Maggie's birth (in which she is born!) over at baby blue for those who are interested.
Lisa at 00:41
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Batten down the hatches
There's another typhoon on its way - though perhaps it won't reach Tokyo this time. Neither of us noticed the first, large quake yesterday (at that time Cameron was washing dishes and I was reading Meg and Mog to Maggie); we both felt the second though it went on for ages so we rightly assumed it was far away. 20 inches sounds like a wee cute tsunami but must contain a lot of water and presumably could cause a lot of damage. Glad we live on a hill. We had a horrendous thunderstorm for several hours on Saturday night; rain like I have not seen since Vietnam but no wind so presumably it was a storm not a typhoon. Poor Jura was outside in it but came home dry so she must have found shelter. I might go and buy some wellies (for me, not Jura).
I am still waiting to show you some lovely photos of our trip home...my photo server won't let me in for some reason so I am waiting to be remembered. Tum te tum.
Otherwise, just very very tired. Maggie hasn't slept without waking for more than 2 hours since we got back (thus, neither have I). I sincerely hope it is jetlag and will go away soon; it is like the early days all over again only then, nobody expected me to do anything but look after her. Managing to make a cup of tea, get dressed, etc, was all seen as doing terribly well indeed but I fear those days have gone. Yawn.
Fiona Watt has the best job ever. She writes the Usborne cloth books: we have Snail and Hen (snail is much better than hen if you are considering a purchase). Now, bear in mind that these books are for babies so don't exactly have a complex plot (Stan the snail follows the trail...past the flowers...along the path...etc, until he ends up peeping behind a bucket and finding his friend Sam; Penny the hen follows the seeds until she finds her chicks in the henhouse. You get the idea) but she doesn't even illustrate them, just writes the words. I want that job.
Lisa at 08:25
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Maggie has really become interested in the cats this weekend. She was aware of them previously but in a kind of 'black furry thing that occasionally moves through my field of vision/tries to share my bed/can be batted by a flailing arm way': now she is absolutely fascinated by them, watches them incessantly, twisting around to see them, and tries to grab them whenever they come within about a foot or so. Not being stupid, they tend to stay about an inch further away than she can grab. She is also this close to sitting up well enough to be left without being surrounded by cushions.
I had something else to tell you but I can't for the life of me remember. Tum te tum. No, it's gone.
Oh, and happy anniversary to us today.
Lisa at 10:45
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I'm a celebrity again. And there I was, thinking I'd lost my touch. Quite miffed at home to be able to walk down the street without being stopped by old ladies and, oddly, construction workers overwhelmed by Maggie's extraordinary qualities. Glad today to be smiled at by all and sundry.
Speaking of celebrity, Cameron features in this month's Racing On, a high-quality glossy magazine that unfortunately doesn't appear to have a website (but there's a picture of its front cover here). He had a press conference while we were away, because of Ferrari winning the formula one doodah, and his interview is printed along with his picture (posing with a can of oil) and a little profile.
Lisa at 11:20
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Dazed and confused
What day is it? Is it really September? Am I back in Tokyo?
Maggie seems almost entirely unaffected by jetlag, just a little sleepy, so hooray for that but pity her poor mother who doesn't know where or when she is. Only that it is hot.
Had a fabulous time at home (apart from Cameron not being there of course). Maggie was a star and didn't even seem to notice the time difference, but smiled happily at the steady progression of new faces, while collecting a fine range of new clothes and toys. Thank you everybody and sorry to those I couldn't fit in - we should be home for Christmas so I hope to see everybody we missed then.
Scotland was freezing (13 degrees is not any more civilised in August than Tokyo's 30-something); I had to borrow a cardy from my mother-in-law. Maggie got to sleep in her daddy's old cot, which was sweet, and bathed in the kitchen sink. My favourite encounter whilst there was a neighbour of Cameron's dad's cousin Sadie: an old lady who told me that Maggie was a dreadful name and why didn't we call her Margaret. No beating about the bush there.
And Surrey was lovely lovely lovely too, I got to shop (Mothercare, woohoo! Clothes in my size, woohoo! Tescos, woohoo! Books, woohoo! Had to bring an extra bag back - and have left a pile for mum and dad to bring in November) and Maggie attended her first barbecue (British, thus we sat in the house while Duncan braved the rain to cook burgers). We also had a two-tier picnic: my parents are now grandparents so get to sit on nice folding chairs and eat from proper picnic plates while the rest of us slummed it on the floor.
Best of all was meeting my beautiful niece Mia. So gorgeous to see the babies together. Not that they took a huge amount of notice of each other: Maggie did manage to grab and hold Mia's bib in a strangling attempt and Mia bashed Maggie over the head a few times and showed off with her clever rolling-about and eating-food abilities and high-quality toys. I have some sweet photos to follow; best of all is them asleep side-by-side in a Mothercare double trolley seat.
I'm being terribly gushy I know but I must just say once again how fabulous Virgin Atlantic are. They couldn't have been more helpful, even sending somebody on the plane to meet me and help with my vast amounts of luggage (3 bags and a carseat checked, 3 pieces of handluggage and a buggy on board. Plus a baby, a jacket, a baby sling and some spare toys. And a toblerone for Cameron.) The new upper-class suite was fitted on the home journey, which made for the comfiest flight ever, and Richard Branson himself told Maggie she was a lovely baby! He and some contestants were filming some gameshow: he also patted me on the shoulder and asked how I was doing when he walked past. Unfortunately I had my gob full of bacon sandwich so could only nod and grunt in reply.
British Midland on the other hand...sigh. I hope my kindly fellow passenger who helped me with my luggage despite travelling with two small children himself managed to reclaim his buggy and carseat in time to catch his connection to China. He had just 30 minutes to collect it all and change terminals when I left. 40 minutes on the tarmac while they tried to close the door, having bashed it when taking the boarding stairy thing away; 40 minutes waiting by the carousel for our luggage to appear. And I know it might make me sound spoilt but if you are paying extra for a business class service including priority unloading of luggage, especially when travelling with a littl'un, it is a bit annoying when all the non-priority luggage comes off first. I might write a letter. (Or I might just whinge about it to anyone who will listen.)
Anyway. Good to be home. Photos to follow shortly.
Lisa at 04:04
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Hello, yes sorry that was a bit vague wasn't it. For those of you who didn't twig (and emailed to complain!), the maiko holding the baby is me. I went with my chum Amanda to the Katsura dress-up place, where we decided to be rather elderly maiko rather than more seemly geiko (what can I say, the frocks are better - but it was such fun I might go back and be a geiko another time!)
We had to pick a kimono then sit still while our faces were painted with 3-inch brushes; the wig was very heavy and excrutiatingly uncomfortable; photographs were very carefully posed (tilt your head...eyes down...turn your foot in...). I look rather disturbingly like a man in drag: I never realised I had such a square manly jaw.
The weekend consisted of organising, lists and packing, with diversions to see the Tokyo Bay fireworks on saturday night and a quick whizz round some shops yesterday. Cameron played football and was rather proud of his spectacular own goal. And I'm all set to leave once my hand-luggage is packed and Maggie's nappies have been washed.
Lisa at 08:31
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Lisa at 02:21
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Santa Claus is not coming to town (yet)
But I am!
Sorry to keep you all on tenterhooks; I'm sure you all imagined something far more exciting. But I didn't want to jinx it...
Maggie and I will be in Surrey for 2 weeks from Tuesday, apart from the 23rd-26th, when we'll be in Fife. I'd love to see anyone who wants to see us and is in an appropriate part of the country, just give us a shout. Unfortunately Cameron will not be coming - meaning I have very mixed feelings about the trip, from so-excited-I-can't-sleep (it's been a whole year!) to sad; we haven't been apart for a whole fortnight since we've been married and I feel bad taking Maggie away from her daddy. Though he swears he won't miss us one little bit, I am choosing not to believe him.
A stressy day today with the travel agent being really really weird, until I worked out that we were at cross-purposes and he thought Maggie was 4 years not 4 months. It was him ringing to tell me that I couldn't travel in upper while my daughter was in economy that made me double-check...what sort of mother would I be? (Answer: a well-rested one.)
Lisa at 11:07
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Mmph mmmph!
Heh heh heh.
Lisa at 06:23
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Bah. Why did my wipes box wait until I had hit the perfect combo of african non-fast-dye hippy bag (rather than my usual sensible nylon backpack) plus nice white trousers before springing a leak? Anyone know how to get dye out of linen? Or will I just have to bung them all in the wash together and have swirly red and purple trousers instead?
My other news is mmmph mmph mmmph! Not telling until it is definite but let's just say I am very excited indeed and I'll keep you posted.
Lisa at 09:07
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Hello Kitty
In a bid to raise a Proper Girl and counteract the effects of all the football and silly old men with guitars that she is sure to be persuaded to appreciate later in life, I took Maggie to a Hello Kitty exhibition at Roppongi Hills today. She is 30 this year (Kitty, not Maggie; the linked site contains her history) so I had expected an exhibition of Kitty tat and paraphernalia, not the Kitty-inspired art that was actually on display. A bit hit-or-miss; I liked Kitty Rotten and Kitty Lydon (and was quite upset they weren't available on postcards) and I liked the Kitty stones - a corner full of white paperweight-sized stones painted as Kitties but some of the rest was a bit secondary-school arty.
Lisa at 08:06
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I made the nicest chocolate cake I've had in ages yesterday: anyone who has the domestic goddess book, make the dense chocolate loaf now! It was so delicious there is none left today. (But we did have people over yesterday, it wasn't just us being piggy.) The best choccy cakes seem to include hot water in the recipe, I wonder why that is? I would guess something to do with dissolving and dissipating the chocolate, except that it was already nicely melted by the time it was added, so I don't know. Any food scientists out there?
Much excitement here as we discovered (after 2 years of griping) that the Observer crossword has been made accessible online - a mere £25 and well worth it. We were extremely glad when it appeared yesterday as we'd been struggling mightily with the really hard Guardian ones all week (as warm-up): relieved to find we haven't completely lost the knack and can still do the Observer one - all but 2 clues, anyway. And actually the Guardian ones are improving with practice: one clue a week ago, three by Friday and today I have got five. They are good for a bit of mental stimulation while feeding Maggie.
Speaking of feeding, I found myself angrily reading excerpts of what to expect the first year to Cameron last night (poor Cameron). I hated their pregnancy book, should never have bought the next one (but next door had a garage sale, what could I do). It states that after the first year, breast milk ceases to be adequate and that infants require the nutrients in cow's milk. Excuse me? I like cow's milk as a drink but surely the authors should think logically about what they are saying, especially before setting themselves up as an authority. Humans must have evolved before domesticating cows (unless they were forced into domesticating cows by the need for said nutrients, perhaps?) - and what about societies that don't use cow's milk; they are presumably not all malnourished. Sigh. Oh I'm getting quite cross again just thinking about it. (And no, I am not intending to feed Maggie until she is 15, that's irrelevent.) (Not as cross as I got last week watching series 8 of friends, the one where Rachel has her baby. Poor Cameron - I realised I was being a ranty madwoman so contented myself with muttering look at that! no it's ok I'm not going to say anything. Thoroughly enjoyed it.)
Lisa at 08:34
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We want Doom 3. It doesn't look anything like the other two (no stampy pink pixellated spider?) but still cool and scarey (I played Doom 1 on a PC hooked up to speakers and ended up ducking and screaming when the bad men breathed behind me). Only we can't get it because it will result in a neglected child - bad parents. Or I suggested we could only be allowed to play after she goes to bed...but that would mean squabbles over who gets to play and temper tantrums (me) and us never seeing each other. So sigh, no Doomy fun for us.
I was woken at 5 am today by a baby gnawing my elbow. It seems rolling towards me hadn't attracted my attention so she decided to kill two birds with one stone and ease that aching gum at the same time. Oh, and she's learnt to giggle: possibly the loveliest sound I have ever heard!
Cameron is away playing football and probably getting severely dehydrated: I just walked home from Shimokitazawa and was drenched after the 15 or so minutes it took. Really humid and disgusting. Walking to ShimoK seems to be becoming What We Do On Saturdays - I never get there during the week but at the weekends we expat wives and mothers tend not to meet up so if you have a footballing spouse you get some time to yourself. It's a nice place to mooch about, full of cool cafes and shops selling things you definitely don't need but quite want all the same. I was good and just bought a pair of cheap loungy trousers (for all my complaining about the miniscule sizing here, it is a great country for buying trousers if you are of a short-legged persuasion like me. I can buy off the rack and they don't drag on the floor!) Came home a different way from normal and discovered an organic-food shop that I will have to start frequenting though possibly not for their fruit and veg given that they just had some dodgy-looking daikon and an old lettuce.
Lisa at 05:06
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Stories
This morning we went to storytime at the children's hall. We had the enormous turnip, the very hungry caterpillar and something about an elephant taking a walk - oddly, with a hippo and a crocodile and something else balanced on his back until they all fell in the waterhole - all in Japanese at just my level of language (apart from the last one; the rationale for the balancing act escaped me). Then we had where the wild things are which was a bit too long and something boring about trains that a little boy wanted so Maggie cried. And we made another nice new friend there.
Biggish ("fairly strong") earthquake at 3ish last night - is that Maggie's first? I can't remember. She was awake and feeding anyway and didn't bat an eyelid.
Lisa at 08:16
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I've had a lovely lovely day. I made a lovely lovely new friend and we had a lovely lovely lunch. For 3 hours. And Maggie is back to my normal happy baby, no more all-day screaming. And I have squeezed back into my last pair of thin trousers (just don't look at me from behind) so am officially back to normal.
Hoorah!
Lisa at 09:13
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Cute though she may be, she has just puked over her bib and onto my trousers and the chair, and pooed out the back of her nappy all over her clothes (for the first time in months - next size required?) in the space of 2 minutes. Still, at least she slept for more than 90 minutes in a row last night (she did. I shouldn't have had my daily coffee at 5 o'clock; I lay awake most of the night and when I did sleep, had horrible dreams.) - we've had two nights of wakey baby with screamy-baby days in between. I blame her teeth because she will chomp on anything that comes close - even the finger of a nice lady in the HMV lift - and she's drooling like crazy, soaking through bibs in a matter of minutes. I told her before we went to bed last night that we'd try to have a better day today and, so far, we have.
Today's constitutional was around Yoyogi Park to look at trees and funny people. Great hordes of Australian teens milling about for some reason. A gang of 20-odd elderly men in reflective coats sweeping dry leaves into binbags. One of them had an enormous beetle crawling over his arm. He asked if I knew what it was but rather than saying, as tempted, it's a bloody enormous beetle, why are you letting it crawl on you (I wouldn't be able to say that in Japanese anyway, all I could have managed was a feeble it's an insect. Very interesting.) I made a smiley 'yuk' face and passed swiftly on before he made me hold it. What is it with Japanese men and large beetles? There are shops selling them at this time of year and they are always full of men and boys oohing and ahhing at big black spiny things that make my flesh crawl. The obligatory drummers - I think they must have a rota as there is always, always at least one (today, five) drummer in the same spot next to the fountains. A group of 12 girls in jeans and funky tops doing synchronised chicken impressions and the charlston. Maggie was most unimpressed with the fountains but she rather liked the crows. And we listened to the cicadas which are now dying in droves.
Lisa at 07:26
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Gratuitous Maggie photo. Is she cute or what?! 

Lisa at 11:23
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Confessions
I am a Bad Mum: woke up this morning to find Maggie asleep on her front, having surreptitiously rolled over; not only that, a cat was curled up asleep next to her. Bad.
And the hem of my trousers is held up wih double-sided sticky tape.
Lisa at 04:39
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Slings and things
Our new baby sling arrived this morning so we test-drove it to playgroup and around the supermarket. It is cooler fabric that our existing one, and special UV-proof stuff to boot - which is why I wanted it - but I think it is going to take some getting used to and I'm not convinced I will ever prefer it. For starters, it goes over one shoulder rather than distributing the weight evenly; not only is this probably quite bad for your back, it makes it quite hard to carry a bag at the same time. I ended up with my bag slung diagonally across the other way, hanging off my neck. The fabric, nice and cool and UV-proof, doesn't have any give in it and is quite rough. I had Maggie in the kangaroo carry position, with her legs crossed in front of her - only her feet ended up by her chest; is that good for them? I know she was folded up like that in the womb but that was four months ago (!) so is it still OK? It was difficult when she fell asleep and she never felt as secure as she does in the other one (but, again, this might just be a question of getting used to it) and I had to keep a hand on at all times (at least until after I had been to the supermarket and no longer had a free hand available) - but on the plus side, I could put her down in the sling when she was asleep; the other one requires me to lift her out of it. And she seemed happy enough, flirting with everybody on the train as usual. I had thought I wouldn't like to take her in a taxi in it (I don't actually like taking her in taxis in the other one but needs must) but I came out of Hiroo station to a typhoon so I overcame that doubt fairly quickly.
Everybody knows that autumn is typhoon season but we've had loads this year already. Today's forecast was a mere 'light rain', the edge of a typhoon that is due to hit over the weekend, only it wasn't; even the taxi driver remarked that it was sugoi (terrible) as he could barely see his bonnet. Still 30 degrees though.
Oh and by the way - I have baby slings because I like them and don't much like pushchairs, especially on the liftless subway here in Tokyo. I never describe it as baby-wearing, unlike that sears chap; bad enough all of Hollywood has to have one without a baby being seen as some kind of accessory to be worn. So there. I wear the sling to carry the baby. And enough about 'primitive' tribeswomen, too.
Lisa at 07:56
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We spent a good half hour wandering around the health and beauty section of Loft* today - really just taking advantage of their airconditioning, plus Maggie likes their seasonal windchime display (what an odd country this is. Windchimes are seasonal because they make a cooling sound. Ditto ghost stories - being frightened is cooling - and eel - contains some ingredient that is good in the heat.) I was half-heartedly looking for some useful stickers I had last year for sticking your clothes to your skin - great for a shirt I found in the French Connection sale that keeps dropping off my shoulders. Didn't find them, but I did come across the following items:

mouth stretchers, to improve your smile

eyelid putty, for moulding that all-important western-style eye

foot cloths: from the picture on the front, it seems to be OK to take off your shoes and wipe the sweat off your feet in public

cosmetic cotton and patting cotton (patting cotton? I have no idea)
And, um, other things but I didn't have a pen or any paper with me so I've forgotten. Boo.
*Loft is an all-purpose shop: toilet brushes, antique furniture, spatulas, greetings cards, briefcases and nail polish, all under one roof.

Lisa at 07:46
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Happy one-third birthday!
That's right, Maggie is 4 months old today and I have finally written the last of my thank-you letters - the last three had to be in Japanese so I do have an excuse for taking so long over it. We seem to have been busy recently without actually having much to show for it. Apart from a new haircut on my part (first since February, hooray!). I am slightly worried it's a bit mumsy - given that it had to be a style that required no fussing whatsoever: the hairdresser kindly tried to reassure me by pointing out the 'funky fringe'; it looks like any old common-or-garden fringe to me but I'm not a hairdresser so I suppose she must know best. Maggie went to Tower Records while I was having it done and has been indoctrinated in the way of daddy's magazines (about silly old men with guitars; not like mummy's magazines which are usually about silly young women with shoes but sometimes silly celebrities).
Now she rides facing out in her sling I go everywhere to a chorus of kawaii! (cute). Usually I just smile to acknowledge that yes, I heard and yes, she is cute, and usually that's enough. On Sunday we were surrounded by four old ladies who were distinctly lacking in vocabulary as we were there for a good 4 minutes of kawaii, kawaii without any one of them feeling the need to introduce another word. Perhaps they were trying to mesmerise me so they could get in closer - they were having a good squeeze of her little chubby legs and stroking her little chubby cheeks. Last week I was a bit bemused to hear omoshiroi (interesting or funny) instead of kawaii but, given that it came from two women with pushchairs, I imagine they were talking about the sling not the baby.
Lisa at 00:56
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I wasn't making it up! Yesterday was officially Japan's hottest day ever (since, you know, records began and all). And the other news here is that Japan intends to increase the number of whales it catches for 'research purposes' (weigh 'em, measure 'em, eat 'em) despite the fact that whale meat is getting steadily less popular: the young people just prefer McDonalds. They even have to have whale-meat fetes to encourage consumption. Though they do stock hefty whale steaks and whale bacon in our local supermarket so somebody must be munching on it. According to the chap interviewed by the BBC, it's an essential part of Japanese culture. I haven't asked but perhaps when it gets cooler I'll conduct a quick pop-poll on the streets: I'm willing to bet nobody asked to describe what it means to be Japanese will say that eating whale is essential. But I might be wrong.
Lisa at 13:23
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Well, we had a fantastic weekend. Cool mountain air and greenery has made Tokyo seem even more unbearable today - I'd have stayed indoors sulking if it weren't for bills to be paid, parcels to post and an abandoned bicycle to be retrieved before the tow-people found it. I hadn't realised how tired and stressed I'd been feeling until we were out in the country with nobody around and I felt it all melt away - magic. 6 unbroken months in the city is just too long, and summer here is just too hot. The besso was one of a group of six small cottages, all but one of which are only used at the weekends , the other being the home of a man who commutes daily to his job in Akasaka. Lovely though it was, nothing would induce me to commute three hours each way every day! The houses make two sides of a rectangle, the middle of which is a huge vegetable garden: each cottage has a section and there's a shared potato patch and it's all organic. How lovely to eat fresh peas and baby carrots and potatoes that have just been picked: I've brought home a courgette the size of a baseball bat which is going to be my tea all week. And then I will write my book: 101 ways with courgettes. 
On Saturday we went to the promised farm (goats, sheep, cows) and walked a very overgrown path to a waterfall, stopping to admire Fuji on the way. It looks so unreal in its perfection, it's amazing to remember that we were up there just a year ago and it was rocky and dusty, cold and damp. Home via the supermarket where, balanced on the chiller cabinets, were small plastic boxes containing bell-beetles (presumably to be kept as pets?), which make a beautiful bell-like sound at sunset.  A soak in the o-furo (Japanese bath) - Maggie too! - and delicious local trout fished from the trout-farm on our way home. Sunday saw us about to sneak out for a walk on our own! when Maggie woke up, so we all had an excursion to a radio-telescope farm instead. Or so it appeared: small ones were in one field; larger ones in the next; four 10-metre ones stood in a group; then the mother, 45 metres, stood guard over them all. Kiyosato town centre provided 10 minutes' amusement, looking like a theme park and selling large cuddly stag-beetle toys in the one happy plaza, then we visited St Andrew's church (with tatami mats in place of pews) before stopping for icecream along with the rest of the Japanese population. Monday was a day for some manual work - Cameron cut grass and hefted wood, getting dirty and smelly and thoroughly enjoying hinself as he no longer has to do it every weekend: I vacuumed and tidied and did girl jobs in the house. Maggie rolled about on the floor.
Back home, Cameron had to dash off for the first of this week's five dinners while I spent the evening listening to water dripping through the living-room ceiling: filling the baby bath without putting the plug in was probably a mistake.

Lisa at 09:30
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No blogging this week, due mostly to the fact that it's been so hot we've not done a thing. Small outings to other mummies' houses where the airconditioning is on has been the order of it. This afternoon we were so flaked out by the heat when we got home from Kate-and-Alex's that we both fell asleep for an hour; I've just been woken by the most enormous clap of thunder and dashed downstairs to rescue the washing from the line. 50-pence-piece-sized plops on the patio saw me soaked in the 2 minutes it took and now it is absolutely throwing it down. Lovely; I might go out for a stroll and do singing in the rain dances down the street.
I do hope it stops soon and leaves the air clean and fresh, for tomorrow we are going on our Grand Weekend Away. Not so grand, perhaps, only that I've not set foot outside Tokyo since January so feel quite inordinately excited by the prospect. Maggie has never been outside Tokyo - in fact, I don't suppose she knows there is anything but Tokyo - so she is excited too, especially as she's been promised a walk to a farm where there are cows, sheep, goats and horses. Not that she knows what any of those things are.
We are going to stay with our Japanese teacher Takahashi-san and her husband Takahashi-san in their besso, their weekend home in the mountains. She assures us it will be cool - less than 28 degrees! As well as being very very excited I am distinctly anxious (6 months in one city leaves one with a certain dependence on the facilities): how much stuff does one baby need? And we have to carry it all on the train! And bring it back again! Including a weekend's-worth of dirty nappies! Perhaps I could get away with taking nothing for myself to cut down on luggage - or, even better, take nothing for Cameron.

Lisa at 06:00
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Oh my goodness. Sorry if I'm behind on the news, but Katy has just told me about Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart having a holiday on a barge in Wales. Can you imagine? Eating bacon sandwiches and sleeping on a converted dining table and taking it in turns to do the locks (pretty hard work with just two I would imagine) and singing in the rain!
Are wellies coming into fashion anywhere else or is that a Japanese weirdy thing? The salesgirl in the shoe department of Mitsukoshi was wearing pink flowered wellies with a short summery dress last week (must be disgustingly hot) and I spotted some brightly coloured ones for sale in an Omotesando fashion shop this morning.
Lisa at 08:34
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