thank you, i'm here all week, don't forget to tip your waitresses...

Gidday folks.
Well. 29 eh? Golly. Knees are seizing a little. Think it might rain next Thursday (got a crick in my neck see, never lets me down).
'Twas a lov-er-ly time. Kind messages from around the globe, including this most humbling example, really set a spring in my shuffling gate and made for a grand day. In addition it was a four day weekend (Hurrah!!) and we finally got the interweb at home - goodtimes! It's a little slow but this weekend we get the BIG 100Mbps Interweb Hoover installed and then all will be well.
So Thursday night saw us sampling the delights of the Izakaya (read: booze barn with deep fried cheese) down the way and true to a prior agreement closing our eyes and pointing at the menu to sample some of the things written in the more obscure Kanji wot I can't read yet. The two aforementioned dishes turned up and we then enquired what they were. The waitress stood there for a minute mulling it over and then started rubbing her stomach and naming every organ known to man. The most common were "heart" and "stomach".....of a fish. Mmmmmmm.
Good eatin'. Especially the second one. 'Cos that wasn`t just the internal organs of a fish, it was the internal organs of a fish FERMENTED in sake and served at room temperature. Mmmmmmmmmmm. Room-temperature-fermented-fish-guts-steeped-in-rice-wine...Mmmmmmm.

Not that good actually.

Still, the rest of the menu is choc-full of old time favorites including beer and more beer so the night came along swimmingly. Birthday day came along with an early morning phone call from Ma and Pa. Hey Guys! Real Early! Still, nice to natter. Then Nic and I put on our glad rags and wandered into Hiroshima for an explore. We got off the train at a random station, pointed ourselves towards downtown and followed our noses. It was bloody good fun. We stumbled across a Sewing Machine shop and foolishly decided that such an establishment couldn't possibly be run by rabid axe murderers and went in.

The axe murderers were just finishing off their lunch.

And we disturbed them. And they REALLY wanted to show us their wares. And their hound sat in the middle of the room coralled 5ft high by sewing machines and growled and barked at us. Loudly. And axe murderer-y. ((shudder)). We made it out by pointing at someone outside who looked slower than us and bolting for the door. 'Twas a close run thing. So there was more strolling and discovering and such and before long it came time for South American Birthday Food. Thats right ladies and gents, we found a restaurant that sells Piscola and Pisco Sours. So we parked up at the bar and toasted this and that and before you knew it it was time to come home and fall over. So we did.

Now I'm at work. We had a belter of an earthquake earlier on today, about 10:30 so I think it woke Nic up. Nothing to report since then however. Right. Work.

Thnaks again for all of your wishes folks.

Love, B+N.