Notes to Myself

Japanese Tour

As I mentioned in my last couple of posts I went to Paris for the first time over the bank holiday weekend. I went with a group of Japanese friends so the trip had a decidedly Japanese feel to it. This was day one of the trip:

Sapporo Ramen

First of all, my friends got excited talking about an area of Paris where there are lots of Japanese restaurants. It was quickly decided that we'd go to eat ramen for lunch after getting off the Eurostar and dropping off our bags at the hotel. It seemed odd to me that we were hunting down Japanese food when we were in France but Japanese people seem to do this quite often when they travel.

So after a quick trip on Paris' awful Metro we soon found ourselves in a ramen restaurant called 'Sapporo Ramen 2'. My friends spoke in Japanese to the staff who replied in very non-native and relatively unpolite Japanese. I think they were Chinese, apparently not such an uncommon situation when visiting Japanese restaurants overseas (certain Japanese restaurants in London also spring to mind, though many do actually have Japanese staff). Many of the customers, however, were in fact Japanese, slurping away happily at their noodles.

The ramen was pretty good, actually. My demi (mini) katu-don which accompanied the set was good at first but quickly became very salty. The gyoza was nothing to write home about either, come to think of it.

The Palace of Versailles

Next up I had the opportunity to join one of those tour groups, you know, the ones with a tour guide holding a flag; or in our case a black umbrella. In keeping with the Japanese theme, this was a Japanese tour and so everything was in Japanese!

I felt slightly unsure of myself as I set off on a bus full of Japanese tourists but I was too tired to really care and fell asleep as we drove out of Paris.

When we arrived we all put on our Sennheiser headsets which transmitted our tour guide's voice to us. It was pretty nifty, actually. Even if you wondered off or got left behind slightly you could still hear the guide without him having to shout.

The photo ID hanging around our guide's neck suggested he had been in the business for quite some years. He was a middle-aged man with massive glasses and a cut on his nose. I pondered the cause of this injury as I walked and listened to him. 

I wondered just how many times he'd said the same things and told the same jokes whilst conducting the Versaille tour and it reminded me of my 'Introduction lesson' that I did countless times as an English teacher in Japan - it makes me cringe just thinking about it.

I got the gist of quite a bit of what he was saying but to be honest I was only half listening most of the time. Though History isn't really my thing, some of the rooms at Versaille were pretty incredible, especially the massive one with the mirrors and chandeliers.

Through a window I spotted a group of Japanese junior high school students. Soon we were also strolling around outside on the gravel. The gardens are absolutely massive - I think you'd need a day just to get to the other end and back. Huge rectangular ponds stretched out into the distance, giving just a hint of how large the grounds might be.

French Toilets

At Versaille, our guide told us not to use the toilets because he knew a shop which wouldn't be as busy and where we'd be able to use the facilities. This seemed odd, but soon made sense. Before we arrived he told us that as it was a shop to at least humour the shop assistants.

It turned out to be a Japanese owned designer shop, stocking all sorts of the usual brands sought after by Japanese people, from Burberry to Louis Vuitton.

One of the shop assistants told the group about the ability to buy duty free and there being a further 10% discount available. Oddly, there were about 5 toilets downstairs! It's almost like they were expecting coach loads of Japanese tourists. I couldn't help but think that our guide might have a little side-business on the go.

The return journey went in a flash as we all fell asleep with tiredness. Back in Paris we left all the other Japanese tourists and what was quite a bizarre experience.

Federer & Safin

New gallery - Roland Garros 2008 - Day One - Including Roger Federer practising with Marat Safin!

Check out the photo of Federer's racket. I'm glad to see he is human after all - he broke a string with a very off centre shot. I did that with two string jobs in a row with some bad smashing ;)

Roger Federer

The photo below is of tennis World no.1 Roger Federer at Roland Garros on day one of the tournament on Sunday.

 

Roger Federer at Roland Garros, 2008

 

Last night I got back from my first visit to France and to Roland Garros. The trip was worth it just to see Federer warming up and playing a practice set against who other than Marat Safin!

 

We couldn't believe our luck when we heard that Federer was playing on Court 14. When we got in we were literally 3 metres away from him!

 

Seeing Roger (we are now on first name terms) up close made me realise just how huge and muscular he is. Then Safin is taller again! No wonder they can hit serves like the way they do. Ok, so they might have decent technique, too ;)

 

During their knock up they effortlessly stroked the ball back and forth, barely moving their legs and yet still getting huge amounts of spin and pace. Fededer's backhand is indeed a thing of beauty. How on earth does he generate so much spin? Let's not forget Safin, though. His double handed backhand is one of my favourite strokes to watch - maybe something I'll try to emulate.

 

I was flabbergasted to see Safin try to hit a drive volley from his ankles using a 'wristy' flick of a stroke. He was standing at the baseline at the time! At the end of the session I bagged his autograph as he towered over me!

 

Come back for more photos and write-ups...

Camera Theft

Lately, I've been wondering about whether to take out insurance for my digital SLR camera. It's an expensive piece of kit and if it were to be stolen with a spare lens, it would cost an awful lot to replace.

After some reading it seems that you can be covered to some extent by your home insurance, even if your camera is stolen whilst you are out and about. However, you aren't likely to be fully covered unless you extend your policy.

In my case I am interested in taking out a specialised camera/electronics policy that will cover me worldwide where my travel insurance is insufficient.

There are several policies out there which seem great at first, for example insuring your camera equipment for the year at approximately £50 for a £1500 coverage policy. Typically, though, reading the small print is essential.

e&l is one company which has a camera insurance policy. I am deterred by the fact that you need to inform the company of any travel in advance and get written agreement that you will be covered for the trip.

Though the website could be a little more professional in appearance, Glover & Howe appears to be an established insurance company, again with a policy specifically for cameras and other electronic equipment. Some of the small print appears to say that interchangeable lenses require separate cover - if so, this isn't worth it seeing as my most expensive lens costs nearly as much as my Canon 40D's body!

Choosing a policy will require some further reading and consideration.

Not Pregnant

It's a dilemma I'm sure we've all been faced with: a fairly large lady gets onto the bus or train you are on and looks like she could be pregnant. But is she really pregnant? Should you give up your seat or might you be risking an embarrassing situation should the lady just be plain fat?

Ok, so maybe it should be obvious by the shape of the bulge but it's not always easy to tell. Then of course by the time you've debated with yourself about whether the person is indeed pregnant or not, even if you've decided she probably is, you've waited so long that you freeze up. Maybe it's just me.

eBay Feedback

I was about to leave some feedback on eBay today and was presented by the following dialogue box. So this has finally become reality.

As I buyer, I know in the past I've wanted to give negative ratings to certain sellers but didn't want to risk getting negative feedback in return. For these situations the new rules seem good but isn't this unfair towards sellers?

However, when I sell anything from now on I'll worry that buyers will leave negative feedback for even the most minor quibble, simply because they know that they cannot receive any negative feedback in return.

What do you think of the change?

Japanese Girls

How Japanese girls dress in Akihabara... ;)

Kyoto 2008

Though I stayed in Kyoto for a couple of nights I only spent three quarters of a day in Kyoto itself. Here are some photos from that day.

Close to shijyou there is a famous market which is just full of all sorts of weird and wonderful Japanese foods, particularly seafood. In order of food, the photos include: an osembei shop, squid, octopus, bamboo root, real wasabi and tako-yaki.

Walking along the back streets of Kyoto is a rewarding experience. At the end of the market there is an area of more modern shops but five minutes away there are at least a dozen small shrines/temples along small streets which appear to double as normal houses.

My favourite site was of a shrine which was built into a block of flats! (photo 13). Not far from there I was walking along a charming local road only to come across a building named 'Puyo' which charged services by the hour... what an interesting mixture of culture all within a five minute walk.

A short ride from Kyoto station is Fushimi Inari-taisha, a shrine with thousands of red torii lined up along the paths around the shrine complex. I'd wanted to visit this shrine for years and the rain did little to spoil the trip. To walk around the entire shrine you have to walk up into the mountain and according to a map the full round trip takes over two hours - next time!

I've been to Kyoto quite a few times now but there is always something new to see.

> Kyoto, Spring 2008 Photo Gallery
> Photo Gallery Index

Match Debut

A friend had been trying to persuade me to join his tennis club for some time but I often went as his guest and wasn't sure if it was worth joining as it's in East London. When he told me last week that he'd like me to join him for a team match and that I was eligible for the 'long-distance' discounted membership rate that settled it!

So today I turned up with my membership form and cheque in hand and went straight to an away game. It was quite exciting and I was interested to see what 'competitive' league tennis is actually like. I played in a few tournaments in Japan, but not in any club tournaments. This was the first time I've played competitively in England since I was about 10 years old!

The heat was a real killer today. I covered myself in Sun cream so I didn't get burnt but the Sun still beat me into submission with its heat and brightness. Even though I drank about 3-4 litres of water I had a really bad headache.

As I'd suspected (and you may remember me talking about this a while back), people with great shots don't necessarily win. I couldn't believe we drew one set all with a couple of guys who couldn't even hit a flat/topspin backhand between them. It was all funny slices which floated back - but with very few misses.

I ended up drawing a couple of matches and losing the last one. Strangely though, the last match was the most exciting as our opponents played a similar attacking style to us.

I learnt a lot from the experience and look forward to doing better next time around.

Ferrero Rocher

A while back I was given a box of my favourite chocolates, Ferrero Rocher. In order to savour the experience I brought one a day to work which I carefully ate after lunch. I say carefully as obviously you have to eat the chocolate and nut coating first!

This behaviour struck my colleagues as odd but it would cause the usual fun of quoting the old TV adverts:

"The Ambassador's receptions are noted in society for their host's exquisite taste that captivates his guests"... "Monsieur, with these Rocher, you're really spoiling us."

After coming back from Japan I heard that one of my colleagues had searched for my stash of Ferrero Rocher but obviously hadn't found any.

I spoke to my colleague about the search and then thought nothing of it until he later returned from a trip to the shop across the road with a broad grin on his face. He pulled out a massive box of Ferrero Rocher and enjoyed getting his own back by handing them out to everyone but me. Even I had to admit it was pretty funny.

Privacy Filter

The last time I was in Japan I was looking for a 'privacy filter' for my PSP. They're basically the same as the plastic sheets you can buy for keitai in Japan - they stop you being able to see the screen unless you are looking at it more or less straight-on. But the only one I could find was 1200 yen - what a rip-off!

But after a further six months of annoying people sitting next to me peering at my PSP screen on the train, enough was enough. So this time I shelled out the £6 for this wonderous piece of privacy kit!

I have to say it works pretty well, though it does obscure the screen output very slightly. I'm sure I'll get used to it and take satisfaction in blocking out those unwanted viewers.

Yoshino Sakura

Following my visit to Kobe, next on the list was Yoshino in Nara. Yoshino is mountainous area famous for sakura blossoms which gradually move up the mountains during the spring.

The train journey from Kyoto to Yoshino was spectacular. As you move away from the city and into the mountains you are suddenly surrounded by fields, beautiful bamboo forests and rivers.

Yoshino itself wasn't bad either! Take a look at the amount of sakura that was blooming on the lower parts of the mountain. Again, it was a shame about the cloudy weather but even so it was well worth the trip.

> Yoshino Photo Gallery
> Photo Gallery Index

Dirty Keyboards

In the Metro this morning there was an article about how grimy computer keyboards can be. Here's a similar BBC article.

One of the keyboards tested in the survey was had more germs than one of the toilets tested! It certainly makes you think if you eat in front of your computer each day.

Although the keyboard I'm using at work is relatively new looking - not much falls out when I tip it upside down like the last one I had to use - I gave it a scrubbing with some washing up liquid. Don't get me started on the office phones...