Well that's the first big day done and dusted, at Bell Acres pretty much all I did was cook, eat and sleep - well I did end up going through some old photos, well four years old, and reliving one of my German trips. Not the best Christmas ever but certainly better than the depressing episodes I've had in recent years and the darn right miserable one last year when I was cold and couldn't cook properly due to a broken cooker blowing the electrics! No, better than that, I've been warm, comfortable-ish, well fed and even if it was person singular I did have contact with number 1 daughter (spending the day with her in-laws) and my parents lording it in Switzerland) so I wasn't as isolated as I have sometimes been.

Now, to keep you going, you can read the next part of Gaby's Japanese adventures - Osaka Bound, reading these now I realise why they took so long to write, finding routes, translating into and out of Japanese, checking facts, searching pictures - which was all interesting and enjoyable but longwinded. I hope you are all enjoying them and please forgive me if those more knowledgeable spot any glaring errors (please remember its set @ 10 years ago!)

So, that's it for today, the next exciting instalment will be later in the week.

take care y'all

Mads