enjoy yer long summer days, aaarrrgghh. (pirate voice like, not falling off a cliff like)

So. Daylight savings starts today in the New Zealand eh? Well, well done indeed. Another winter lasted out. I am writing a piece for the City Journal at the moment on Guy Fawkes. Thats a pretty funny celebration to try and put into Japanese, although as Arch pointed out when he still lived here (sob) the story of Easter is going to be a doozy...

"See there's this enormous bunny right? And he hops around the place and gives kids sweeties right? And they are allowed to take it this time and this time only right? (apart from Halloween, however I am coming from an Antipodean-centric viewpoint and frankly if you aren't from and in the US at Halloween then you have no right to dress up and beg for candy and threaten violence if none is forthcoming. My views on this are well documented. Buy me a drink sometime and we'll talk.) And anyway, this bunny? the one with the candy, and the basket, and the ears...he represents Jesus....get it?"

Yep. Then I'm going to hit them with cricket dismissals.

On the downside at the moment our 'puter at home has been laid low by a virus. If you happen to meet a virus writer do the right thing and kick them in the nuts. Hard. Any tips on removing a backdoor.usirf that don't involve me bludgeoning the computer with a rolling pin will be gratefully accepted.
On the upside we drove into the mountains on the weekend and saw lots a perty this and that. Trees starting to turn for the Autumn, more crazy mossed over temples and statues, some lov-er-ly mist, and a 10 degree temperature drop from sea level. It was nifty. Skinny old roads though.

Work is still fun times and next weekend we have the Sake festival a couple of towns over with 800 breweries from all over Japan sampling their wares for the entry price of 1000 yen for an empty glass....for gods sake if your phone rings at an ungodly hour next weekend, for both our sakes - don't answer it!!

I'll let you know what happens.

out.

Berin and Nic.