Ippoippo

Well, I’m back here. Left Mexico at 07:00 on Thursday, and got back to my house at 18:00 on Friday. Long journey.

Great to be back though.
One thing I noticed, when the train emerged from the tunnel after departing from Nartita (Tokyo) airport was how red and yellow everything has become in the two weeks I’ve been away. Looks like, the autumn colours have just peaked, so hopefully they’ll still be pretty good when friends and family are here in the coming weeks.
Its got a bit more chilly too, though not as bad as the UK it seems.
Daytime is still around 15 or so degrees C, but the temperature really drops at night to around 1 or 2 degrees. So, folks coming over to Japan soon… you’ll need your cold weather coats.

In rugby, seems like there is some good news… Wales beat Australia for the first time since 1987!!

However, in the world of sport, there is some sad news too, which I’ve been catching up on today. First up, just read that George Best has died. Not suprising really, but sad anyway.
I was more suprised though, to read that Richard Burns has also died! I knew he had been ill, but thought he would pull though because of his young age. A real loss to the world of rallying.

Bush thwarted by door…

… but not suprised.

Link here and here.

Hmmm. Two weeks ago, it seemed like I was going to be stuck out in Malaysia for a significant length of time, before being allowed to come back for my wedding and holiday.

Well, last Thursday, all that got cancelled, and there was much rejoycing!
Friday night, Yuko and I went out, and met up with our friend Akiko. Saturday, we were again in a fine mood, and we ventured into Kita-Senju (down the ‘railway track’ from Matsudo) to order our Xmas turkeys etc etc. We were in a good mood.

THEN, we got back to the house and saw the answer phone message. FUCK! We’d like you to go out to Mexico ASAP (read, Monday), and you probably won’t be back in Japan until 25th of November.
So, I’m here.

I’ve decided that the International Date Line is the work of the devil too. I couldn’t get a direct flight (which is 15 hours from Tokyo to Mexico City), so had to fly from Tokyo to Newark (New York), and then onto Mexico City. 18 hours total I think. But, this is probably the first time ever I’ve suffered from jet lag, and for the last two nights not been able to sleep despite being knackered.
What threw me first was leaving Tokyo at 17:00 on Monday, and arriving in Newark at 16:00 on Monday despite sitting on the plane for 14 hours or so.
Next on the list of complaints is that Continential isn’t that great an airline. Actually, the staff are more friendly that the gits at BA, but there were no good looking airstewardesses
Actually, the one that would of really annoyed me was you had to pay for beer (or alcoholic beverages)!!! Mind you, I didn’t, as I obviously seemed friendly enough to the lady at check-in in Tokyo, and she gave me a stack of complimentary ‘premium drink’ coupons. I know how to charm them ehh!!
So, once again, another airline has failed to equal or beat Virgin Atlantic (London-Tokyo) and Singapore Airlines (Tokyo-Singapore) as my favourite airline routes.

Comments on Mexico. Well, nothing much really. All the men here seem to have greased back hair, lots of ‘taches, short, no necks and chubby. Racial stereotypes, me… maybe I’ve been in Japan too long!

Can’t wait to get back though.