I go back to the UK once a year. When I go back, I never fly directly from Japan to the UK. I always fly via another city. This is because I like to spend a few days in a different city.

Over the years, I have had stopovers in various cities. The main ones are Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Paris, Amsterdam, and Helsinki.

All the cities are great to visit, but my favourite is Paris. I have visited Paris six times. When I’m on a stopover, I only stay for around two nights, so I don’t have much time. I used to go sightseeing, but now, I like to relax in a cafe and read a book.

I have visited Helsinki three times. Every time, I stayed there on December 31st. There is a big celebration in the main square in the city every year. It is cold, but always good fun.

This year I am going to stay in Amsterdam. It is my third time to visit the city. The first time I went, I just stayed for one night, so I spent that in a bar. The second time I went, I stayed on December 31st, but I had influenza, so I didn’t have a great time. This year, I hope to do some sightseeing and enjoy my time there.

Heather @ I Talk You Talk Press

Our garden is very big. We have to work hard to look after our garden. A large garden can be very expensive. You might buy many plants and trees to create your garden. Our garden is not like that.

Our garden is a “friends and family” garden. We think hard about where to put plants and how to create a beautiful garden but we don’t buy many plants from garden centres. Our garden is full of memories. My mother died more than 15 years ago, but I have some plants from her garden.  I have some plants from my sister-in-law’s garden. She died about two years ago. They are not sad plants. They are happy memories.

I also have plants from my friend’s garden. She was my best friend in high school. I have plants I grew from seed. The seed was collected on international holidays.

Then some plants are shared with neighbours. My neighbour says, “That looks nice.” I say, “Would you like some?”

Then weeks, months, years later, my neighbour says, “I have something special. Would you like some?”

Maybe memory gardens are not the most beautiful gardens, but they have special meaning. Sometimes when flowers come out in my garden, I see the flowers, but I also see the people.

Patricia @ I Talk You Talk Press

Yesterday we went to the recycling centre.

In some cities, you can put out paper, glass and plastic in separate containers and the city will come and collect it. Our city is not like that. If we want to recycle, we have to go to the recycling centre.

One thing I have noticed is that there are always many people coming to the recycling centre. They have boxes of paper, beer bottles, wine bottles or plastic. They are always cheerful. Maybe recycling makes people feel good.

Patricia @ I Talk You Talk Press

I have been thinking about “food miles”.

When I was a child, it was not always possible to buy bananas and oranges. We don’t grow them in my country, so we had to wait until some more arrived from another country.  These days we can always buy them. We can buy anything we want in the supermarket. But some people worry about food miles.

The idea is that a lot of energy is used to move food from one part of the world to another. When we buy and eat this food, we should think about the energy that has been used in transport.

Today I bought some asparagus. I love asparagus, and I didn’t have to worry about food miles, because it is asparagus season here. This means the asparagus has come from local farms, and it is very cheap in the supermarket.

I’m going to steam it and eat it with lemon juice and butter.

Patricia @ I Talk You Talk Press

I am not a great cook, but we all have to eat! Today I made some corn muffins. I was very pleased with them. I cut up some cheese and tomatoes. I served the muffins while they were still warm. They tasted good with the cheese and tomatoes. I used a recipe from a cookbook I bought more than 20 years ago. It’s called Marvellous Muffins. The recipe is very easy. I did not have everything I needed so I made some changes.

I like making muffins because they are so quick.  I guess that means I am a very lazy cook.

Patricia @ I Talk You Talk Press

Electric cars have been around for a few years, but today I sat behind the wheel of one for the first time. It was a Hyundai Ioniq. I was very interested.  It seemed quite different to a normal car. There are also many safety features.

The owner asked me if I would like to drive it. But the road outside our house is very busy.  I said I would wait until I could drive it on a quiet street. When our visitors drove away there was no sound. I remember when the Prius hybrid cars first became available in Japan, some people were worried. When the Prius was in electric mode, it was completely silent. So no one could hear it. So people wondered if it was safe. If you can’t hear a car, maybe you will not notice it and there could be an accident.

Even though silent cars can maybe be dangerous, I think they are very good for the environment. What do you think?

Patricia @ I Talk You Talk Press

Do you buy magazines? Which ones?

I haven’t bought a magazine for years. This is because I get all the information I want and need from the Internet. Also, many magazines have Internet versions, so if I want to read a story, I can usually find it online.

When I was younger, I loved magazines. There was a pop music magazine in the UK called Smash Hits. It came out twice a month. I used to look forward to it coming out and I would go to the newsagents (newspaper and magazine shop) to buy it. I was also interested in Formula 1 racing, so I bought many car magazines.

When I was studying Japanese, I bought Japanese magazines for reading practice. I used to buy Nikkei magazines like Nikkei Woman and Nikkei Business. They were useful for building vocabulary. I also bought a monthly magazine called Nihongo Journal. This was a magazine for learners of Japanese. It had a CD, which I often listened to while I was on the train, or when I was going to sleep. Sometimes I listened to it overnight as I slept. I think I still have the CDs somewhere in my house!

I wonder what will happen to magazines in the future. More and more people are getting their information from the Internet and digital publications. Maybe the day will come when physical magazines don’t exist. What do you think?

 

Recently I have noticed that there are many new apartment blocks being built in my city. There are already many apartment blocks, so I wonder, do we really need more? Do people prefer to live in an apartment rather than a house? I do, because there are fewer insects high up in apartment buildings! I used to live in an old traditional Japanese house. I often saw spiders and other insects. It was very frightening!

The face of the city is changing. When I first moved here, there were not so many high apartment blocks. Now we can see them everywhere. I wonder what the city will look like when the new apartment blocks have been built. Also, will even more be built? What will the city look like in 20 years’ time? Will there be even more apartments?

The city I live in is a castle town. It has a castle and a beautiful area of old samurai houses. The streets around that area are very traditional. There is also a large lake and mountains around the city. I hope the city can keep its traditional and beautiful scenery, even if many apartment blocks are built.

I think I’m getting a cold. I have a blocked nose and my throat hurts. It started very suddenly. I was fine in the morning, then in the afternoon I started sneezing. I hate being sick. When I have a cold, I want to sleep until I get better. Unfortunately, I can’t do that, because I have to work. So, I will take some medicine and carry on.

I think I’m lucky, though, because this is my first cold of the year. I haven’t had a cold since last December, which was 11 months ago. I thought I would get a cold though, because everyone around me has had one recently.

Do you know any home remedies for colds?  A home remedy is a treatment for an illness, but the treatment is not medicine. It is like a traditional treatment. A long time ago, someone told me her family’s home remedy for colds. She said that if she caught a cold, she drank cocoa with hot milk and brandy. I have tried this home remedy. It doesn’t get rid of my cold, but it makes me feel warm and comfortable. Maybe I will drink some tonight, and then go to bed early. I hope I feel better soon.