The final blast... part 1

Yes, I’m now in Katsuyama, but to start there would mean to miss out a lot of what happened in London…

After the night out with Lyn, Christina and Melissa, I was feeling rather dazed, so had a quiet day at home and a nice family meal with John and Sarah (brother and his missus) in Caffe Uno, Hornchurch. Ma was not impressed with the service though the food was great and the place was fairly quiet (free from screaming children- hallelujah. Hang on, am I about to embark on a new career teaching the youth of today?). Went back to J & S’s for a cup of tea and a chat, and I became largely uncommunicative due to burgeoning exhaustion…

Monday was another civilised day, though the spectre of Eugene’s Stag Do was looming. I met Juliette in Hanover Square, off Regent Street, for lunch at Sakura- the Japanese restaurant where the food is great and the staff are alleged to be very rude to Japanese customers… A trip to JAL Plaza to look for gifts for me to take to Japan became a tour of Japanese interest shops in the West End. Popped into a funny clothes-by-order only shop, then Mitsukoshi, then Fortnum and Mason’s, where we said hello to Kasumi. We ended the afternoon by seeing Ju-On: the grudge, which was probably the scariest Japanese horror I’ve seen. It was scarier than the Ring, despite the fact that the horror factor was a child with his face painted white. Again, am I really about to embark on a new career teaching the youth of today? Parting ways after a coffee I decided not to attend the Stag Do because a) I didn’t know where it was, b) I was very tired and c) and d).

On Tuesday night I met my lovely, beautiful and glamorous ex-boss Silvana in Covent Garden for drinks and dinner. We went back to La Perla (my knowledge of restaurants in painfully thin, unless you’re talking Japanese) and onto Jewel. A rye ole’ time was had, steadily punctuated by cocktails and more cocktails.

Saw Kofi and Karen for the last time on Wednesday night when they joined Lizzy and me to see Spiderman 2 at Finchley Road. For the first half of the film Spiderman was a whiney loser. I’m glad he got over it. Though he is still a bit of a loser. Dinner at the local Wetherspoon led to mass collection of condiments which we later put back due to concerns about the environment and wastage, and also secretly because I wanted the other punters to worry that their ketchup had been infiltrated with crack cocaine. Oh we’re so naughty.

A day of shopping in London on Thursday was followed by my meeting Clare and going for a few drinks in London. It was a really nice night, and made me wish we’d done it a few times before. I was wearing flip flops and what seemed to be weather appropriate clothing, except it wasn’t, for as we sat in a pub drinking the heavens opened. And as we walked home, I slipped on my flop and had to walk home bare foot for safety. We were both mildly drenched which made goodbyes mildly short…

Friday was the day we went to Bangor. Or rather, Cardigan. Well, Wales is Wales when you’re not from there… More about this in the next chapter…