Friday 21st September

Well, well, well! I went to the house yesterday and it looks like a house now! All the floorboards are down, the walls are up and all that is missing is the doors. It is a lot bigger than I had imagined - especially the dining area - and I'm getting quite excited about it all. We have also picked out the wallpaper for the whole house. Looking through the samples is usually a headache because I can never visualise what it will look like - the samples are so small - but since we had decided on plain white, it was a lot easier. Of course there were hundreds of plain whites so I picked out about 5 that I thought were okay and asked everybody else to choose between them! The WHOLE house (and classroom/offices) will be papered the same which is pretty boring but will keep the costs down so that whenever we get sick of it, or it gets dirty, we can change it with no qualms. K quite fancied a pale blue that had stars and whatnot that shone in the dark but it was Ka that put him off by asking if he would still want that when he was in High School! I can hear the cement mixer pumping out the cement for the entrance hall and Setsuo's office so I won't be able to go and pester the carpenters today! I'll try to take some more photos on Sunday though.

The other day A said she is thinking about applying for a job in Manchester. It is the same company that her present company has ties with so the work would be similar but the money and holidays much, much better. Also a few of her friends are also in Manchester so I think she is feeling the pull. Last night and this morning I have been helping her write out her letter of application which is kind of bittersweet but if she wants and gets the job, I'll be happy for her.

L also phoned yesterday. She was thinking about coming home for dinner but intended to go back again (I think she had plans to go out). I don't know whether she was a bit miffed about me not being more enthusiastic about it - I asked her if it was worth coming back for a couple of hours - but she decided against it anyway. It would have been good if she had come home since her Kimono for the 'coming of age' ceremony in January arrived yesterday. I've left it in the box for now hoping she'll be back soon to open it herself.

Today I am off to pay the deposit for the Hiroshima tickets which I notice should have been paid yesterday! Don't know why I thought I had until today but I'm sure there won't be any problem with being a day overdue. Setsuo and I will go together and then have lunch out. Last time I got to pick (my choice is always curry) so today will be Setsuo's decision.

I suppose I should go and do some shopping. As usual we are out of milk - even though I buy 2L every day, there is never any left over, maybe once we have the big roof top balcony, I should buy a cow!