OCTOBER 2002
Having spent the greater part of the month in Japan my view of the world is somewhat different from what it usually is as there has been 3 weeks of complete news blackout. Japanese media have absolutely no interest in reporting anything that does not directly involve Japan, so there was 24 hours coverage of the fact that 2 Japanes had got the Nobel Prize. It was nice seeing family and friends though, some of whom I hadn¹t seen for more than 10 years now. The country itself has definately changed even if most Japanese seems somewhat unaware of the serious economic problems they are facing.
I went up to Kyoto to see my old pal Gordon Wallace. He spends most of his time reading 3,000 years old Chinese manuscripts that even most Chinese scholars can't understand. Just to give you an idea, this is a chap who finds Professor Hawking's writings and view of the Universe disapointingly shallow. We spent the day talking Martial Arts, which is the only subject where I have at least an inkling of what he is on about, and I left with a brilliant translation of Yagyu Munenori's "Secrets of the Yagyu-Shinkage ryu" For those of you who are not into Martial Arts the Yagyu-Shinkage ryu was one of the major schools of strategy in Japan and Munenori was running the secret service for the Shogunate.
On the way back from Kyoto I dropped in to see Miyako Fujitani, Steve Seagal's ex-wife. I know she had had a hard time running the family dojo after Steve took off for fame and fortune in Hollywood, but it seems things are finally looking up for her. She had published a book that became a minor bestseller in Japan, and she and the dojo are being featured on a popular soap. Good for her.
Terrorist bombings in Bali, snipers in Washington D.C., hostage takers in Moscow; one wonders sometimes if one should just stay in bed for the duration of the so-called War on Terrorism. However, looking at the percentages of the change of being enbroiled in the fun they are so infinate small that it is much riskier to actually pull the bedcover over your head.
The first week in Japan we attended a rememberence service for Kiyoko's grandmother. The local Buddhist priest was chanting for half an hour or so, and I suddenly noticed that he was using the Herse breathing , something I had never seen before in Japan. I had a word with him afterwards and was told that he had learnt it as a child studying ballet with a gajin (foreign) teacher. Unfortunately he had forgotten the name and nationality of the chap. Frustrating.
I really did have a marvellous time in Japan. We stayed with Kiyoko's aunt and uncle up in the mountains above Osaka. I spent around 6 hours most days just hillwalking, dropping in at local shrines and temples to look at the architecture and chat with the priests.
There's nothing like a jolt back to the real world after basking in glorious sunshine and 26C every day for 3 weeks. We've hardly stepped off the plane when the storm struck, toppling trees and scattering roof tiles all over the place.Nice to be back in the UK
The clocks have gone back and winter with its flues and colds are upon us. What to do to stay healthy during the cold season? Here are a few well-proven tips from my mother.
1. Go to bed earlier. We need more sleep during the dark time of the year One of my mother's uncles basically went to bed after Yule and stayed in bed until April, but that's taking it a bit far; we are not bears. He lived to a ripe old age though, and was never known to be sick.
2. Take a cold shower every day. Strangely enough it can increase your body temperature with up to 3 degrees which will kill off most viruses and bacteria. My maternal grandfather had a quick dip in the sea every morning, even when he had to spend an hour chopping a hole in the ice first. We are all evidently getting wimpier; a shower is as far as I go, anyway.
3. Surround yourself with bright colours. There is a reason why the Yule celebration is connected with red and green and yellow.
4. Eat seasonal hedgerow fruits like blackberries and elderberries. (Some of you wasters might prefer to drink hot elderberry wine and that's fine ,too)
5. Get some oil into your bones. The dampness in winter makes the joints sease up and fatty fish oil or evening primrose oil will help to lubricate them. My mother's favourite was rendered whale blubber, but I suppose that is not on in these politically correct times.
6. Drink more milk and eat more eggs. As the days are getting shorter we no longer absorb vitamin D from sunshine which is needed to regulate the calcium intake of the body and strengthen the skeleton.
7. Look at your exercise routine (if you have any, that is. If you don't, shame on you, you lazy buggers) Do gentle exercise like the stances in the morning and evening, and save the more strenous ones for the middle of the day.
"Women and cats will do as they please,
and men and dogs should relax
and get used to the idea." --Robert A. Heinlein
Marcus has as usual been looking after Arthur and Bronwen while I've been away,
and I will be picking them up this Sunday. Worringly there is something wrong
with Bronwen; she collapses completely out of breath after flying just a few
yards. I have had a word with Aki on the phone, but as most vets know nothing
about birds of prey she has referred my to a specialist up in Harrogate if her
condition hasn't improved by next week.
Strangely enough the penny has finally dropped for Arthur. After all these years
he has realised what birds of prey do and has started to hunt. So far he has
been chasing a duck and a hare and he has actually caught a stout; the time
of miracles is still with us it seems.
The trick-or-treaters are out in force, and we're spending a small fortune on sweets, though a few of the kids have been grumbling that they would prefer cash. So would I, kids, so would I, but Kiyoko is not letting me have any.
Speaking of cash; Erling came over from the University to welcome us back, which suprised me as he isn't usually that sentimental, but the fact that he had run out of money might have had something to do with it. He managed to sweet-talk Kiyoko's mother out of 2 Grand, before he left.to attend the Motor Show in Birmingham.
The NHS consultants have turned down a Government pay increase of 20 per cent. On the face of it this offer seems rather generous, so why was it not accepted? It seems the doctors actually took time to read the fine print and found out that they would no longer be able to treat people according to their medical judgement, but had to check with the bureaucrats on who they would be allowed to operate on..
Paul Hudson, our local TV weather man predicted yesterday that rain would reach Beverley at 3 o'clock today. At exactly the stroke of 3 it started to rain, and it has been chucking it down ever since. If only he could be as accurate when he predicts sunshine, but somehow he never seems to pull that off.
Our Goverment is cracking down on the quote: "Serious threat of airgun ownership in this country" unquote. It seems someone took a potshot on a Labour MP and hit him in the face without doing much damage; politicians generally having thicker skin than the rest of us. While one can understand the temptation, one cannot condone the action; the ballot box is the proper vessel for getting rid of the blighters. But the reaction of the People's Party seems to outdo that of the Yanks in their recent brush with the Beltway Snipers who actually managed to see off 10 people.