minus 1 day..

Yes, it's actually minus one degree C in Himeji today, but here it's heading for 42° C!! Julie's alpacas next door (no, it's not a pushmipullyu) are starting to look perturbed by all our rushing around to get organised. I swear they are have a much higher IQ than our Wiltshire sheep. Julie and Bill organised a local farewell dinner for us at the Blackwood golfclub last night, and it was great to catch up with our Cherry Gardens neighbours and say goodbye. Thanks, Julie!

minus 3 days...

38° C. Crazy. More housework, more packing. Tonight we had a great farewell dinner with our parents & kids at The Grand, Glenelg. It's all starting to feel very real. Tonight's excellent news is that Matt & Em are coming to see us in Himeji in April.

A haiku by Lyn:

rob's still tidying.

Will he make it? Or won't he?

Well. I don't think so.

minus 4 days & counting...

37.7°C (100°F). 

Today consisted of a wonderful trip to Marion Westfield Shoppingtown to take Lyn to the dentist (yet again), get my International Drivers' Licence, buy souvenirs for my Japanese superiors, sort out Medicare & Mutual, say goodbye to Gail & David, then home to tidy about 300 poetry books in my study (sore point, that one) and repair the roof of the chooks' shed.

The chooks are very grateful.

minus 5 days & counting...

See, I had this idea to keep a blog of life in Japan. Since I'm usually a writer, I thought it might be different to do a "pic a day" type of thing & keep the words to a minimum. Today I decided to start it right now, so you can see a bit of life in the Adelaide Hills before we pack up to head for Himeji. At the moment it's the storm before the calm - slashing grass in the orchard for bushfire protection, catching up with friends and trying to put our lives onto a laptop and reduce our worldly possessions to 20kg. I'm pretty jealous of the guy in the picture..