Island people

After retelling some info I read on the internet about Japanese consumption of whale meat having only started after the war because food supplies were poor and unreliable, I was told of a video about England which was called Island People. Apparently it said our food was a bit sub-par because of the war. I struggled to not be overly patriotic, but replied that our diet had changed considerably over the last 20 years, and it was no longer considered healthy or taste-inducing to boil the life out of everything. But it made me think. Am I an island person? I'm not from a limited gene-pool per se as both parents are foreign, but I do come from a country surrounded by water (but then again, America's surrounded by water). Regardless, we were Island people at the weekend as we headed of to the island of Shiraishi in the Seto Inland Sea to celebrate Fiona's birthday.

The trip began on Friday as LeeJay and I drove to Raewyn's. Fiona and Saddam headed to the island on the Friday night, but as the last ferry was at 5:50, the rest of us simply couldn't make it. So LeeJay and I stayed at RayVon's where we gorged ourselves to within an inch of our lives. Or more accurately for me, within an inch of the toilet bowl. RayVon found this hilarious, pointing out that only knew of children who ate so much they had to vomit, not 29 year olds. Ah, I'm young at heart you see...

Well, on Saturday we got up early, none of us having slept well due to the heat. And it was punishing. With such a wide variety of items we resembled the Clampetts without a car, and we had to pick up more shrapnel on the way. A trip to the supermarket, a trip to the video shop, a tip to the bakers and the 100yen store a train journey and then onto the "Ferry". I was expecting a big ferry upon which cars would fit. Wrong. This was a small, not very smooth boat which did it's job without frills. Without any frills at all.

The island itself wasn't what I'd thought. Apparently the islanders made a decision many years ago to cut off it's tourist industry. You can clearly see this as it looks very ramshackle, though not without charm. Or jellyfish. The beach was covered with jellyfish in an array of colours. Nice.

The villa was great though, on a hill which didn't feel that high we had a great view of the beach and then of the sunset as it happened. And with your friends around you it was even better. The usual group was there plus Busty, plus AbSlance's holidaying boyfriend, plus Saddam's friend Keiran. So with booze, and sugary food and a great Thai green curry cooked by the birthday girl herself we had a fun night free of DVDs, episodes of Sex and the City and vomiting. Which was nice for me. Saddam, Fiona, Keiran and I played a game of rude word scrabble which was quite inventive, and we had a massive game of catchphrase, where this machine gave you a word or phrase and you had to describe it without saying it and the rest of the team guess it.

We shared rooms, so LeeJay and I stayed together and kept everyone awake by laughing for about an hour before we passed out, although I woke up convinced that insects were crawling all over me. Tactile hallucinations are so passe. Even modern schizophrenics don't really bother with them anymore...

Sunday was the journey home. We had to be out by ten am, so we got on the ferry, headed back to RayVon's, ate lunch at Joyfull and watched a bizarre but interesting film called 46. And then Johanna and I headed back to Katsuyama to meet Phillip and ChoLyn and Christine to head to the exciting opening of Katsuyama's newest cafe and international plaza. The bar, called Uenodan is run by Shoko-san, the sister of Kapo-chan who teaches Christine and I Japanese and organises the English conversation classes we do. And it was great. Great food, a lovely space, and nice people. I will be a regular. Maybe more so than I am at Lawson's.