Tag: marriage

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 […]

Our first professional engagement as a couple

The lack of broadband at home has finally driven me out to an Internet cafe. I would just use our iPhone, but it’s a bit tedious when it comes to long texts, and also I needed to use Skype …although now I’m here I find that you’re not allowed to talk in this place. Oh […]

Married Life: Day 9

When in the past I’ve asked newly-wed friends if marriage changes things, most of them have said ‘sort of but not really’ or ‘no’, having been living together before the marriage for an extended period of time. It’s my experience that it changes everything. But then, our marriage occurred in rather unusual circumstances, and so […]

Married for the second time in a month

As mentioned on Twitter this morning, *Twinkle* and I got ‘married’ again today. I was in bed, asleep in the north of England. *Twinkle* was in her local town hall, Japan. I was happy (I mean even happier) All she needed was our original wedding certificate, my original birth certificate and copies of my passport. […]

The night before my wedding

It’s now ten minutes to midnight on the night before my wedding day. I dropped *Twinkle* back to the cottage we’ve rented for her parents, where she will spend her last night before she becomes my wife. It’s been an amazing day. Thinking back over the last 16 hours I feel tearful – we have […]

Marriage – from the pre-wedding perspective

The past couple of days have started to see a change in the relationship between myself and *Twinkle*. I think I know why that could be – the Marriage Effect. It first struck me yesterday when we were driving home to the holiday cottage that we’ve rented about 500 yards from mum and dad’s place. […]

Back in the Alps

As part of my prep for leaving for Japan, I’m going though my box of diaries, which also contains a few DVDs of TV programs featuring me or my friends, and converting them to MP4 format which I can keep on my laptop. One of them I’ve not seen for years is the documentary made […]

I’m marrying *Twinkle* in 15 days

Ha. Everything but the girl. Nice. Last week I upgraded my Macbook’s hard-drive to the 320GB Toshiba MK3252GSX. At £66 it was a bargain, and being a Macbook the upgrade can be done on the kitchen table in about three minutes. One result of this is that I can now fit my entire music collection […]

The shouting lady

I spent much of today in the library, hammering my dissertation into shape. We’re getting there. All but the conclusion written. This week, the weather has been just beautiful. Real warm sunny days, no need for jumpers or jackets. This brings me such enormous pleasure. It’s been a very long winter, and I was getting […]

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 […]

Heading North, one last time

So this is it. I’m on the train for my last trip back to Sheffield. In seven weeks, it’ll all be over (that is, apart from one exam and my graduation). Just seven weeks. It’ll fly by. That’s kind of comforting, because I know that no matter how many things I have on my to […]

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 […]