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As I mentioned in the last entry, I am now staying at my parents’ house in Wales. I’m going to be travelling around for the next two weeks, so I’m not going to be able to update the blog in the normal way during that time. I will post comments to let you know what I’m up to, and please feel free to chat to each other about any topics that interest you. I’ll do the next regular entry on August 27th.
Bye for now.
Hi David,
I hope the weather will be fine while you are traveling. Looking forward to hearing your travel reports.
Fumie
Hi David,
How’s the weather treating you? Hope you enjoy cool summer there. Here? It’s horrible:( I am not sure I could survive this summer!!
Anyway, look forward to your stories.
Hi everyone,
Some of you may have summer vacation this week, I am on my way to work.
Have a nice day:)
amo
Hi David,
I hope you are having a great time and am looking forward to hearing your stories from time to time.
Enjoy your time!
Hi everyone,
How is the weather in your area? It’s raining and thundering now in Nagoya, but still is humid.
I’m a bit busy this time of the year”Obon” week. As a Buddhist family, there are lots of things to honor the spirits of my family ancestors. I need to serve dishes three times a day, and finished morning dish. This afternoon, my family priest is coming to chant “お経.”
Bye for now,
Anne
Hi,David.
Please let us know about many interesting things
you have found in Wales.
I’m looking forward to it
Bye for now.
Lucky mom
It’s beautiful here today. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and the temperature in our back garden is 22 degrees. I hope you are not suffering too much in the heat!
Hi David,
It sounds like you are having a lovely time there! Enjoy yourself!!
Tomo
Hi David.
I’m glad to hear you have a great time and comfortable weather in your country!
I’m looking forward to hearing from you again during your vacation.
Hi everyone.
How’s your summer Obon days?
I have normal days for now because my husband goes to work as usual even this week.
Have a nice day!
rinko
We are having a typical British summer. Yesterday, it was so hot and sunny that everyone was out sunbathing. Today, it’s only about twenty degrees, and we have had more rain this morning than you usually get in a Japanese typhoon!
Sorry, I made a mistake. It’s twenty degrees in the house, but only sixteen degrees outside!
Hi David,
>~we have had more rain this morning than you usually get in a Japanese typhoon!
Oh really! That’s depressing. Speaking of rain, there was a heavy rain on 14th, tuesday and a few people died. Strange weather phenomenon is increasing. I hope the weather will be fine during the rest of the days while you are in the UK.
Fumie
Hi David,
>we have had more rain this morning than you usually get in a Japanese typhoon!
—That’s too bad! As Fumie said, several people died because of the torrential rain. It’s always sad to hear these kind of news.
By the way, “twenty degrees in the house”!? Hmmm…I wish I could be there!
Have a nice day,everyone!
PS, I don’t know why, but I saw the mark “Submit Comment” again this morning for the first time in many days! Did you see that?
Anne
Hi Anne,
> PS, I don’t know why, but I saw the mark “Submit Comment” again this morning for the first time in many days! Did you see that!
Yes, I can see it now!
Hi everyone,
I went to Tokyo Disneyland with my family yesterday and came home some hours ago.
It was the first visit for my son.
He’ll be 4 next week, so we went there before that. (Children age 4 and over need to buy a ticket, it costs 4100 yen!)
We managed to ride 12 rides and see two main parades although the park was terribly overcrowded. We finally stayed there more than 12 hours!!
Has any of you ridden “アリスのティーカップ”!?
Actually, I underrated it, and I thought it was rather for small kids, but my head was swimming and I felt sick…
Was it because of my age…!?
Hi David,
It’s nice to hear that you’re enjoying yourself!
When I was watching the Olympics on TV, I saw that everyone wore only a T-shirt one day, but next day they wore a winter jacket…so, I was wondering if it was the same country!!
Hi David,
It’s been really hot in Japan… I wish if I were you!
Anyway, have a wonderful trip!
Hi everyone,
I’m not motivated to do anything because of the heat.
Please take care of yourself.
Yukako
I’m in the Lake District. It’s raining at the moment, but the weather forecast is good for tomorrow. If it’s nice, I’m going to go for a walk. I love the lakes!
Hi David,
Are you in the Lake District? Are you staying at B＆B?
> the weather forecast is good for tomorrow—That’s nice! If I remember correctly, it rained heavily there a couple of years ago, and it was flooded. I remember beautiful lakes and scenery at Lake District; I visited there four years ago and really like there! It was fall,though…
Hi YU,
You seem to have had a great time there and good for your family!
>Has any of you ridden “アリスのティーカップ”!?
—No, I haven’t. It’s been a while since I last visited there. Was it available for your son? I mean, for kids under 4 years old?
Hi everyone,
It is going to be another hot day, and I don’t feel like doing anything to say nothing of studying English! The temperature in Nagoya yesterday was over 35 degree! sigh….
I heard from a friend of mine that Aug 16 was a ”
National Tell a Joke Day” in the US. Do you have an energy to tell something funny?
Here’s an article related to this :
http://www.altiusdirectory.com/Society/national-joke-day.html
Anne
Hi Anne,
I’d never heard of “a National tell a Joke Day”.
I don’t have energy to tell a joke now, but I’m
more interesting than most Americans…I mean, I don’t understand American jokes at all!! 😉
BTW, “アリスのティーカップ” isn’t a that hard one.
There’s no boarding restriction with it.
(ティーカップにみんなで乗って真ん中のテーブルをぐるぐる回す、昔からあるほのぼの系の乗り物です。が、私たち家族は調子に乗って回し過ぎたらしい。。。)
> Was it available for your son? I mean, for kids under 4 years old?
As you say, some rides are subject to boarding restrictions. Children do not meet the height requirement(102cm) may not ride the hard attractions such as “Big Thunder Mountain” or “Space Mountain”.
I don’t think most “Japanese” children at 3 do meet the height requirement, and I guess that is why Disney still doesn’t take the entrance charge from them.
My son is lucky. He is quite tall(108cm) for his age(3), so he may ride almost(or all!?) attractions for free!
He rode “Splash Mountain” and liked it very much.
Hi David,
I’ve never been to the UK. I saw the scenerary of the Lake District on TV a few years ago. It’s a beautiful place. I hope weather will be fine tomorrow and you can enjoy a nice walk there.
Hi Anne,
I’ve never heard of National Tell a Joke Day of the US. It implies how important telling jokes in there. That’s why people of the US are so funny. Jokes ease tensions.
Hi everyone,
As you know, torrential rain caused some damages again tonight like blackouts, some people were hitted by thunder. We should be extra careful!
We are going to Kawayu Onsen in Wakayama tomorrow. I hope weather will not be so bad and we can play in the river.
Fumie
Hi, Mr. Barker.
Thank you very much for your feedback.
I’ve been to London and stayed there for about a year. I remember that the weather in London bothered me a little since it was almost always cloudy or rainey. So I was even happier when it was sunny. It was wonderful to spend time lying on the soft green grass at parks.
(My skin itches when I lie on the grass in Japan. I wonder why.)
I recently read an article about Mr.Nicklinson’s right-to-die case. It would be great if you could give me your idea on this matter when you have time.
Have a wonderful stay.
Miho
Hi everyone,
How have you been? I’m dead:( It doesn’t look like the heat will let up anytime soon. I don’t like air conditioner so I don’t want to stay in an air conditioned room for long time. But you know, it’s too hard to sleep in without it. I’m getting tired because of the summer heat.
Hi David,
How was the Lake District? Are you still there? I have never been there but I always wanted to visit there. Please have fun for me.
Bye for now,
amo
Hi everyone,
I just got back to North Wales from visiting my friend in Bath. When Japanese people ask me whether Britain has any hot springs, I always say that it doesn’t, but it turns out that I was wrong! Bath has a spring that is 46 degrees, and I went to see the old Roman baths this morning.
I had a great time in the Lakes. It rained a lot, of course, but there was some nice weather as well, and I went for a couple of nice walks. I also went to the Beatrix Potter attraction, which I had never been to before. It was really good.
Another friend who lives in Nottingham is driving up to Wales to see me tomorrow, and then I’m going to drive down to Brighton on Thursday. I’ll be staying in Brighton on Thursday night, driving to London on Friday, and then flying back to Japan from Heathrow on Saturday. I’m dreading coming back to the heat of the Japanese summer, but I’m looking forward to going home.
PS
Hi Miho, the Tony Nickelson case might be a good topic for our next discussion.
Hi David,
I’m glad to hear that you had wonderful time at where you visited. Enjoy the rest of the stay and cool weather until you came back to awfully hot Japan.
Fumie
Hi David,
Glad to hear that you are having a great time there. Enjoy the rest of the stay and have a safe trip!
Hi Miho,
I read articles concerning the Tony Nickelson case. It’s very difficult to decide(tell) good or bad. I mean, it’s not the case to say such things and this case sounds a bit different from the one in usual euthanasia. Since David seems to be interested in the topic as a next discussion, I won’t say my thought anymore now, and will wait. Anyway, thank you for letting us know about this issue.
Hi everyone,
It’s still hot during the day. According to the weather forecast, people need to be careful about heat stroke in some areas. That having said that, the sky looks like more and more the one during autumn. I’m afraid it’s time to be out from the escape from the’heat’ and to stop using the heat as an excuse for being lazy.
I mentioned joke last week and found the following ones interesting.
> Top Joke in Wales:
A turtle was walking down an alley in New York when he was mugged by a gang of snails. A police detective came to investigate and asked the turtle if could explain what happened.
The turtle looked at the detective with a confused look on his face and replied “I don’t know, it all happened so fast.”
(I hope this doesn’t hurt David’s feeling!)
>Most kids only to eat spinach so that they’ll grow up to be big and strong enough to…refuse it.
Anne
Hi David.
I’m glad to hear you still have a great time on your trip. I have been to Bath many years ago,too.It’s really nice place isn’t it? At that time, I heard “Bath” was named after “bath (hot spring)” although I’m not sure if it’s right.
Anyway have fun the rest of your stay there!
Hi Miho and Anne.
I’ve just read the article about Tony Nicklinson case of right-to-die.
It’s also very difficult problem in Japan isn’t it? We will surely have a provocative discussion if David takes up this topic as he said!
Hi everyone.
How’s going on in the heat of this summer?
Some days ago my friend from high school faint away with heat while playing golf. Fortunately,it was nothing serious to her and she could leave hospital just in some hours. But she told me that she was really horrible just when she felt faint and could see noting at all. And also said she would never forget to take someting to drink and salty candies with her when going out after this.
Please be careful with heat and have a great day everyone!
rinko
Hi Anne,
Re:Top Joke in Wales
I don’t know much about what the Welsh are like…
Does the joke mean “The Welsh are a bit のろま”!?
The only Welsh I knew was a teacher of an 英会話スクール. He was not のろま at all, but he was always spoiling for a fight. One day he hit his coworker and was fired…
BTW, I found a wise remark describing the Welsh.
You may never find anyone worse than a bad Welshman, but you will certainly never find anyone better than a good one.
“悪いウェールズ人よりひどい奴に出くわすことはないかもしれないが、善いウェールズ人よりすばらしい人間に出会うことは絶対にありえない”
I think David is the latter one! hahaha…
Hi Miho,
As other members say, “euthanasia” is a very difficult issue, but I want to discuss it someday in the near future.
When I lived in Germany, I often heard news about Holland. And I still remember a report that the Dutch government promotes “euthanasia”. Have you heard of that!?
Hi David,
I knew an another 英会話school teacher from Bath.
Other teachers always told us he(the teacher from Bath) was a preppy(ボンボン/お坊ちゃま).
In fact, once he told me that his family had maids and personal gardeners.
Do many rich people live in Bath!?
I just heard that Tony Nickinson (I got his name wrong before) has died. I think I will make this the first topic when I get back, so if you want to prepare for it, I’m sure you will be able to find lots of stories about him in the news.
Hi YU,
>Does the joke mean “The Welsh are a bit のろま”!?
–When I read this joke, I thought most of the people would think that way, and your understanding might be right, but actually I had a different thought.
People in NY live their lives hurriedly, and why do people have to live such a way? I thought people in Wales live their lives ‘ゆったり.’ Yes, not ‘ゆっくり’ or’のろま’ but ‘ゆったり.’That’s my image toward Wales even though I’m not familiar with that much… I thought it nice and that’s why I shared the joke with you guys here.
Hi Miho and YU,
And I still remember a report that the Dutch government promotes “euthanasia”. Have you heard of that!?
—-I’ve heard of that and it reminds re of a book called “美しいままで” by ネーダーコールン靖子. This book made me think how to end one’s life.
Hi David,
We have enough time to read articles and think about it.
Anne
it’s me again.
>” it reminds re of” should be “it reminds me of.”
Hi everyone,
Is it Tony Nicklinson? If so, here is one of the site. I will search and prepare for this topic.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2161494/Tony-Nicklinson-euthanasia-My-life-miserable-undignified-says-locked-syndrome-sufferer.html
Fumie
Hi Anne,
I see. And I also know, not all Welsh are like that.
It just reminded me a bit of jokes by German people against Swiss or Austrian.
As you know, Austrian and some of Swiss speak German language, but the ways they speak are quite different. Generally, they speak much slower and with strong accents.
So, when you(German person) speak German language extremely slowly, then you’ll be sometimes asked,
“Are you from Switzerland(/Austria)!?”. It’s a black joke.
Hi Fumie,
Thank you for the site.
“Nicklinson” is a complicated name, isn’t it? 😉
I have a friend who suffers from a similar disease, called “筋ジストロフィー”. She was my classmate. To be honest, I’m not sure if she’s still alive.
転入してきた小６の時点で首から上と電動車椅子を操作する指先しか動かなかった。やがては心臓の筋肉も動かなくなり死に至ると担任の先生から説明を受けました。
二十歳くらいが寿命と聞いていたけど少なくとも３０歳くらいまでは生きていました。
As far as I know, she lived in a very different way from Mr. Nicklinson. I mean, she was so positive that I learned a lot from her. Of course, I don’t mean his(Mr.Nicklinson) ways of thinking “were” wrong.
I think the biggest difference between them is that my friend’s one was a congenital disease, but Mr. Nicklinson got it suddenly, just several years ago.
Anyway, I’ll stop writing about this topic here.
Hi everyone,
Today is my son’s 4th birthday!! 🙂
Bye for now !
Hi YU,
Happy Birthday to your son!
He must have been excited about his birthday and cakes. I hope he is having a sweet dream now.
>“Are you from Switzerland(/Austria)!?”. It’s a black joke.
–It’s interesting. There are a lot of jokes concerning the characteristic of each country including the ones we mentioned above.
Actually, we discussed jokes before on this blog, and I think we enjoyed talking about them a lot.
Hi Fumie,
Thank you for letting us know about the site. This site gives us detailed information and helps us to know about the case.
Anne
Hi YU,
~Kun, Belated happy birthday. I bet you had a wonderful birthday with your mommy and daddy.
(Sorry, I sent a message last night but it disappered.)
I’m going to Radio Taisou.
Fumie
Hi Anne and Fumie,
Thank you for your messages!
We bought a プラレール train in the “Thomas and friends” series for his birthday present.
Its name is “Hiro”, a Japan’s legendary train.
The number of the train is “51”.
Can you guess what it is?
Answer : D-51 (デゴイチ)!! 🙂
“Thomas and friends” is a British cartoon, but there’s a Japanese train. Isn’t that great!?
Hi Fumie,
Do you go to the Radio Taisou meeting every morning!?
That’s nice!
I heard that people come to have a better opinion of Radio Taisou recently.
最近ラジオ体操が見直されてきて関連本がバカ売れしているそうですね！
Hi YU,
My sons used to watch “Thomas and Friends” videos. There were not Hiro at that time.
I just took my youngest son to Radio Taisou meeting. It held during the last week of summer vacation: this week in my area. Yes, Radio Taisou became popular. If we do it properly, it will be a very good exercise. I feel great after I do it.
Fumie
Hi David,
Have a safe trip home!
Hi, everyone.
Mr.Barker
I didn’t know that Mr.Nicklinson died. If this is what he wanted, then I am so happy for him. But is it?
I wonder how he was feelig when he finally felt his termination of life. I look forward to reading the next article.
Everyone
Thank you for your response and information. Yes, it is really difficult topic. I am looking forward to read your opinions.
Hi, YU
>And I still remember a report that the Dutch government promotes “euthanasia”. Have you heard of that!?
Are you sure? I didn’t know about that. That’s quite shocking to me. I’m going to research on that one, too. Thank you for the information.
I’ll look forward to discussing with you soon.