Writing this blog has been established as my routine task. Once established, daily routine is hard to give up. Once lost, it would be hard to resume, I suppose, so I cannot skip it. To keep something stable is one of the things I do well a…

We tend to regard durable goods as eternally durable. It is absurd to think that something physical is forever, but we always err. Once we begin to use something, we take it for granted that we can be with it always. It is better suited to…

B some time ago would often say that Mansfield Park does not have anything to do with Katherine Mansfield and the Garden Party. By the way there is a historian, Katherine Park. I first learned the name of Lord Mansfield when I read about h…

The exhibition was rather small scale as it occupied only one room. It was considerably crowded and fairly popular. At the entrance of the exhibition there is a boat which was washed away from Tohoku reaching American coast. It looked OK b…

The Sound of Music is one of the favourite things we enjoyed while Kanako was small. She taught me that one never gets tired of favourite things. She read books again and again; she watched films again and again. She liked Mary Poppins sti…

We are booking our seats at a restaurant. I intended to try a new restaurant, consulting some websites. However in the end we have decided on somewhere we already have been to several times. I know it is ridiculous to behave like a young, …

I like listening to the radio programme, A Point of View. BBC podcast has made life easier and more interesting. One of the speakers, Lisa Jardine is my favourite. Her programme is full of clear insight, profound knowledge, fascinating fa…

B is reading out from a new dictionary he bought. OALD is a longtime friend of English learners. We love to use it. What he is trying to do now is to get to know how to use the new Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English. It does n…

What makes somebody a good actor/actress? We know who affects us with their performance, but I do not know what they actually learned or have. Why are British performers so good? According to Hillary it is time to go to bed.

Almost every two or three years my fingers are swollen during the coldest season, usually in February. A Parisienne said French people do not suffer from such unsightly skin conditions. Can chic people refuse to be affected? I thought it w…

I switched from the old style mobile phone to a smartphone today. I am now in the misty labyrinthof too many possible functions of the versatile device. I already miss the simple ガラケー. What has made my situation difficult is the lack o…

I was not familiar with Jumbo Encho before I came to live in Shizuoka and I take it for granted that it is a local DIY store. Maybe I am wrong. B's father has got old but until several years ago he was an enthusiast in DIY. He had dexterit…

We were taking the washings in at about three when we saw Hillary walking. We were on the verandah; she was in the house next door. We thought she was let in by our neighbours. We waited for her to return. She did not come back home long a…

Today I was to jot down about the 'Enchoistic' but Hillary went up to the attic of the neighbour's and she had something to worry her. She stayed there for hours. We saved her from there. B describes it was 'a neurotic cat in the attic' ca…

I have a lemon tree which bears nearly 100 fruits. Before this I bought one or two that did not have or show us any flowers. The trees only with leaves were bought at Sakata. I always appreciate seeds and saplings from Sakata as they are o…

Snowdrops are for us about the memories of our life in Aberdeen, where we stayed over the winter when Colin Firth's P&P was on. Fritillaria was also the one that evokes associations. It was surely there but disappeared quietly. Fritillaria…

The wooden bird we have seems to be very popular. I looked for some particular wooden bird by 'Discipline' from Italy, which B saw in the Alitalia magazine when we went to Sicily. The first shop I visited was on the Brompton Road, selling …

Getting ready with the hina dolls. B wonders if we are expected to keep the dolls or Kana will take these with her. Traditionally, does a bride bring her dolls with her? In this case how authentic is that tradition? Is the tradition, so ca…

When did I begin to use Nottinghill in my English class? It is true it is a good teaching material as the characters speak British, Welsh and American English. It has a happy ending and the students feel happy. However it is high time to s…

The rich tea biscuit is one of the best to go well with tea, or so it is named. It is a pity we cannot buy the British one. Maybe it is too inexpensive and the trading companies think it is not worth the effort and cost of international sh…

The very beginning of my blog.