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The upcoming move

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Hi all, I’ve been absent a while as we’ve been super busy with our upcoming move to Sweden. I have loads to tell you about all sorts of things but time is short and brain space is currently non-existent. Instead here are some flowers from our garden, well, what is left of our garden. As it’s mainly gravel and the faux grass had to go to a new home it’s gone from green to grey. But we have this tiny little flowerbed that I made and here are some of its delights. Perfectly timed to keep up our cheer. One of the hardest things for all of us is having to get rid of stuff we like but can’t take. Every move it seems to be plants that can be hardest. I’ve always found that plants really make a house a home and make all the difference to the feel of a place. Because of this plants tend to be one of the first things we buy when we arrive in a new place so we can get quite attached. Also, they’re one thing I’m always happy for the kids to buy for their rooms. A really good way of letting these g
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Sweeping away the old year

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Hi all, how are we all? We’ve been watching the developments in the U.K. and the new strain of Covid-19 which is affecting everyone and everything again. I heard form my brother yesterday that others are calling the U.K. plague island which makes me sad. Mind you it makes my blood boil with how the government have handled the whole Covid-19 situation. They are fools and if you disagree then scroll on. You won’t change my mind on this.  A w hile ago my dad told us not to come back to the U.K. for Christmas. It was a very emotional conversation and none of us were happy about it. I’m really close to my family and not seeing them for 18 months is really hard. BUT part of the new year celebrations everywhere wish to look at or review the old year. In fact I’ve been looking at lots of different new year traditions in different countries. Many countries and cultures clean or cleanse their homes or selves on New Year’s Eve. I’ve focused on the traditions in Japan as that’s where we’re spendin
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Takayama travels - part 3

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One of the most exciting parts of our trip was my random find of the Ninja Cafe  in Takayama. After we’d had a good rest we headed back out with the aim of dinner “somewhere a little different”. I surprised the kids just before we got there, mainly so they could help me find it! In typical ninja fashion the cafe was a little hidden away and we initially thought it was closed until suddenly a ninja appeared at the door. Luckily he was friendly and greeted us warmly. We were his only customers so we had his full attention. They didn’t have many food options but the kids didn’t really care. One thing I thought was utterly brilliant was a very subtle change in the menu- it was a scroll and they had it in English too. Also, instead of having ginger ale available the cafe had ninja ale! It was coloured black, tasted just like ginger ale and had a samurai sword sticking out of it and was put on a ninja star coaster. The excitement was already building. The two younger kids elected to go for t
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Takayama travels - part 2

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I honestly meant to write this about two weeks ago but I got distracted. Some friends of ours moved away from Japan and back to the U.K. and therefore we were busy seeing them as much as humanly possible. The good bit is they live fairly near family so we will see them again....when we’re allowed to actually see people again that is. Isn’t COVID-19 just rewriting this whole year? Well luckily I’m here to distract you!!! Takayama travels - part 2 (in case you didn’t guess from the title above). After our travels to the  teddy bear museum and the folk village I spoke about last time   we needed a little rest the next day. Sooooooo much walking. So we had a day exploring the town of Takayama itself.  It’s a beautiful little town and has a specific area that has been preserved in it’s original state. In some streets you can only tell it’s 2020 by the road surface and people on their mobile phones (all wearing face masks and socially distancing, of course). It’s a lovely place although it w
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Takayama travels

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Last week the older kids had half-term. It’s wasn’t half-term in the Japanese school system so, because it would be quiet, I decided to take the kids away for a week. This was partly to keep them busy, partly to explore this beautiful country which we are lucky to live in and partly to give husband-mine a break so he could concentrate on work and his friends because he’s always putting us first (he’s a good boy). So the youngest was excused from pre-school and we packed our bags and the car and off we went. I had thought about getting the train as I’m not always keen on being the sole driver on long journeys as I get really tired driving a long way and also find it a little boring. But, knowing we were going to be walking the whole week (and we did - oh so much walking) I chose the car for flexibility and ease and comfort in the midst of a pandemic. Also, this meant that I could plan a couple of outings on the two long journeys, one going there and one coming back. I’ve so many places
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