But such a a shame you can’t choose your neighbours.

A long time ago we had BamBam, a competitor for the UKs fatest man (sorry strongest, my bad), who put a “weight studio” in the garage and subsequently dropped his weights on the floor every night without fail. We also had Mr Chimes, the man who despised wind chimes since they hampered his afternoon sleep.

So all is nice and quiet here with a “you never see her” old lady on one side and a house still to be completed on the other, the only minor wrinkle is “Jamie”, our neighbour from two doors away who, without fail, goes out on a night time and shines his magic torch everywhere, ground, trees, windows, sky you name it, he puts a spotlight on it. Funny at first but at 11.30pm not so funny seeing a large spotlight shining through your window.

Tonight it appears that Jamie wanted to set a bonfire going at 10.30pm, lit it and walked away! Well it makes a change from doing it in a howling gale as is his norm.

Oh well, fun to watch but “Wordsworth” fails me (come on catch up, for those of you that ain’t Millenials).

Night y’all, lights out.

I’ve finally completed the jigsaw I got for Christmas from Mr Fogg. Thankfully it was easier than one he got me last year. It looks super now:

Unfortunately the next one is a 300 piece challenge. Not only is it a picture of rice but the puzzle requires you to use chopsticks to assemble!

Oh boy

Visited Arishiyama Monkey Park this morning. Very atmospheric in the low cloud and lots of monkeys to feed.

And we saw the first spring blossom too.

Lovely visit. Time for food now.

So, all our meetings are now finished and it’s Saturday morning so it’s Nozomi time to go do a brief visit to Kyoto.

The day did not start well – the JR ticket office on Thursday had not sold us the correct ticket (wrong day), so we had an initial debate with a different ticket agent. Only in Japan would it be changed in pen once we had said an error was made.

Then we dashed for the 8:30 train. Forgetting to grab drinks or snacks…..a 2.5hr train ride with no sustenance. Doh!! I need caffeine!

However, all minor. The trip has been brilliant so far. A full on set of days and nights. I’ll need a long rest at some point.

Yesterday we did a cultural tour of Tokyo. Visiting Asakusa, The river cruise and then Odaiba, a shopping area.

The photo of me is with our Japanese liaison officer, Yoko. She was our tour guide for the day and my translator for the week.

It’s been brilliant so far. Even Karaoke. I’ve learnt lots and also now know however bad my singing is – there is always someone far worse who can crucify Eagles songs in an instant. Japanese Hotel California is pure pain!

Ranty McRant Face

So, I got a dirty polluting car because Mr Govt told me to reduce my CO2 footprint when petrol was nasty and now diesel is a dirty word.

I live in a carbon neutral house because the heating is supplied by a stupid inefficient air source fan that extracts heat from the air (not in bloody winter it doesn’t), so I supplement the heating with a wood burning stove, not any more, it’s the new nasty, yet again I’m the bad guy (hasn’t mankind been burning wood since he first learned how to rub sticks together). Don’t we produce the least amounts of CO2 and NOx of most countries, yet doing the most about it!

Every home is to have a “smart meter” so they can diligently turn off their heating to save the world. Amazing that the EU requirement is for 80% of homes to have them but the good old Govt decided we should make it 100% (not that that plan will work by the deadline).

And now the latest crazy to come from a bunch of squabbling idiots who should be concentrating on sorting out the current mess that is how to salvage a deal that no-one knows enough about; yup, pass a law to make all door letterboxes between 70cm and 170cm high to save posties from bending down.

REALLY!

You gotta laugh at the sheer stupidity of the people who are supposed to be in charge.

I’m off to sleep before it becomes illegal to be awake at 1.30am with a light on!!!!!!