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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?

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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.

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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.