September 2002
Tuesday 10th September 2002
I went with my niece Claire and nephew Ben to Heathrow on 31st August to meet Yuki. I made a welcome sign for her which I thought was pretty clever, but she didn't even notice! It made use of the very convenient fact that "UK" was in the middle of her name.
The day after her arrival we went to take a look at our (fingers crossed) new house. She loves it. We are just waiting now for all the legal stuff to go through, it's so drawn out it's unbelievable. In the meantime we're living sparsely in my flat, although we have bought a microwave and a big TV now to make things easier.
Yuki's found her way in and out of London on her own among other things and is settling in well. She goes to college this morning to do a "taster lesson" for an English course which starts next week. I hope she likes it, there were two courses on offer, one costing over three thousand pounds per year and this one costing precisely nothing!
I think I've had more of a culture shock than Yuki, I can see very clearly now, how terribly inefficient things are in this country. Train ticket machines are extremely slow - if they're working at all, telephone call centres, once you pass the ubiquitous "dial 2 for enquires about extending your warranty" messages, are manned by the lowest form of intelligence on the planet, and radio stations are still broadcasting traffic warnings about delays that simply don't exist!
When you do eventually get on a train, it's filthy dirty and the seat is likely to be falling off its frame. I've had a couple of problems with train doors and ticket gates too, to press a button or not, and where to pull out your ticket, is completely different to Japan.
Thankfully the weather has been good most of the time since I returned. This has made our new beginning much more pleasant than it would otherwise have been.
Monday 30th September 2002
Still waiting to move to our new house, it seems to be taking forever. Everything's going in the right direction though, so hopefully it's just a matter of time. The weather is still holding out. I'm sure it's giving Yuki a totally false impression of our climate, but it's very welcome during this "settling in" stage.
We visited the Peak District National Park a few weeks back, it's a very nice part of England and completely different to London. Lots of sheep and country stuff! I've also had my first business trip overseas, but it was just a day trip to Denmark, not too difficult for Yuki to cope with. There's already the promise of a return trip to the Far East on the horizon, so I'm looking forward to that (in fact, I have to plan it).
Yuki's college is going well, she's learning rapidly. Still there are some interesting moments - like the way she left her shoes outside the cubical when trying on a pair of jeans - not advisable in the UK if you don't want to lose them! I hope she doesn't mind me mentioning it, but she also still finds it quite strange the way friends and family are always kissing hello and goodbye! My family are getting on very well with Yuki, they think she's great. I've also spoken to Yuki's parents and sent them some pictures by email. Our first trip to Japan together is planned for January, when Yuki's friend is getting married. Personally I really want to catch up with all my friends, especially those in The Black Lion and Mad Mulligan's.
