Blogging from Tokyo

I have a five hour stopover here in Tokyo before my flight to Brisbane so I'm sitting in the Yahoo Cafe sending a few e-mails and trying to convinve my body that it is 4.30 at night, not 8.30 am !

Not much to do but read my book and people-watch. My current subject is the guy next to me who grunts in a very odd manner to himself every time he opens a new e-mail. I bet I end up sitting next to him on the flight !

As you don't like it

I went to the theatre the other night to see a Shakespeare play.

shhh, don't tell anyone, but I didn't enjoy it. It got a four star gushing review in the Scotsman and, during the interval, people were excitedly chatting about how wonderful it all was. Personally, I was more in tune with the fat old bloke at the front who fell asleep.... but you're just not allowed to say that.

I'm convinced there is a conspiracy surrounding Shakespeare. It has been decided long ago that he was the greatest writer who ever lived and no deviation from that is allowed. I remember long debates in English classes at school where I would argue he was no more relevant than a thousand other writers. I think I lost those arguments too ...

Two important questions

Two important questions occurred to me as I did my shopping today.

Firstly, who on earth buys things from the display marked "Plan ahead for Christmas"... ?? It's September, I haven't had my summer holiday yet.... Not only that - some of the fancy sweets they were selling had use by dates before Christmas !! It's just wrong.

My second important question is why does it cost more to buy the unsalted, unsweetened sweetcorn than the stuff with additives ? Surely it should be cheaper just to lob the stuff in a tin without adding anything ?

As you can see, I do most of my thinking in Somerfield....

Thank you sheep

I got held up in three separate traffic jams today - all caused by queues of cars waiting to fill up with petrol - their drivers believing the country is about to run out of the stuff because of tomorrows fuel protests. This despite the protest organisers saying that they are not going to blockade any refineries - just demonstrate at them. The media has given the whole thing so much attention that now every old granny is out filling up their tank - even though they only ever drive to the Post Office to get their pension.

I wouldn't mind but now that I actually need petrol, the local garage has run out. I'll need to drive at 20 mph tomorrow to make it to Edinburgh and hopefully fill up there.