Taking positive action to bring about change

As many of you may know, I’m an audiobook junkie. Due to my attitude towards the use of time, reading physical paper and ink books is difficult. I feel uncomfortable using my time in that way. If friends give me books, I start to read them, but usually by the time I reach page twenty […]

Gaijin Bubble – Being a good husband – Taking action

Sunset from our front door The intense feeling of ‘being a foreigner’ is starting to fade. These past few weeks there have been several occasions when I’ve been out and about, and completely forgotten that I’m a member of the 2%(ish) minority population of non-Japanese residents in Japan. Upon arrival back in Japan last September […]

Wondering what’s around the corner

I’m about a third of a way through the 27-hour audio version Murakami’s The Wind-up Bird Chronicles. Murakami is the first fiction author whose books I’ve read more than one of – this is my third (following Kafka on the Shore & Norwegian Wood). I’m finding this one as involving as the previous two, and […]

Norwegian Wood reaches a close

I had a really enjoyable morning today. So enjoyable in fact, that I never really moved on. I’m still there, in this morning, and in Japan. Anyone who’d seen me wouldn’t have thought I was in Japan. They would have thought I was on my knees in the garden, weeding, covered in mud, getting absolutely […]

After 14 years they rose again

Anne Tame the artist, at work I’m back on the Welsh garden Project site today. It’s good being here and doing some physical work. My hands smell of cow skin, and I have a delicious feeling of knackeredness. Thought I’d take advantage of the lack of rain and get the chainsaw out; spent an hour […]

Norwegian Wood, Religious Weddings and the Canvas of Life

Latest addition to my mum’s art portfolio Fascinating, thrilling day today. It is so great to see family after such a long time. I caught the tram at 6.30am, train down to Hereford, bus to Wormelow, car to Orcop. Thoroughly enjoyable journey. Not only did I get to indulge in one of all-time favourite hobbies […]

The ups and downs

I’ve been playing with my zoom lens. 1 second exposure, zoom out whilst the shutter is open. This was yesterday… Strange feeling of finality today. It could be due to my having taken part in my last ever SEAS open day, an event I always enjoy a great deal. As with every time, it was […]

Organic vegetables, Nelson Mandela, and your own thought processes

Ha. It’s another of those nights. Those nights when I go to bed, but feel so excited about everything and nothing that I have to get up again. Part of it’s the music, I know. I’m listening to Everything But the Girl – Walking Wounded. One of the few CDs I ever owned. Bought it […]

Time for a new book

This morning, whilst attempting to do more than 15 press-ups next in the park, I finally finished listening to the 13-hour audiobook version of Steven Covey’s The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. It’s been a great listen, and I can understand why it has been received so well since its publication in 1989. Naturally, […]