Pestilence (but not much famine)

I've been laid out flat with my face buried in vitamin C drink for the better part of a week now, which explains the lack of updates. Even the word "blog" was enough to set my hands into an involuntary twitch, clawing for unseen blankets and cups of coffee. I realised that going into work was probably a dumb idea last Wednesday, then just about killed myself walking down towards the train station on Thursday morning. Sore throats and very cold air make a yucky cocktail that you wish you hadn't wasted your money on.

It was obviously pretty clear how wretched and useless I was at work, given how happy they were to let me take the afternoon off. I picked up my packed baggy of citrus tea, tissues and lozenges (thanks love) and a swirling cloud of germs followed me out the door like an alien out the airlock. I felt a little guilty at first until I splattered into bed and didn't resurface until quite late. The next morning was no better so I got a sympathetic call telling me to take another sick day, which was very nice of them (or very well advised by quarantine). I'm still not fully back to rights but at least now I can breathe without sounding like the last squirt out of a shampoo bottle.

White Day was on Sunday (March 14th), which I imagine is either a very old or very new tradition that we never picked up on. Valentine's Day is for the girls to give chocolate to the guys here, then the guys reciprocate a month later. Lisa loadedly talked about the different "levels" of gifts - what you give back can mean anything from "thanks but no thanks" to "what shall we call our kids". For that reason, we made a trip out to a rather posh shopping centre nearby and I unsubtly told her to go away while I bought her present ("dark chocolate", she called, as I hustled her on). The lady in the Godiva shop patiently talked me through what was nice and what wasn't and I ended up with an awfully nice gold box with lots of artwork-like chocolates inside. I think anything with 85% cocoa is the right "level" for Lisa. She might even give me a bite if I'm lucky.

After a drenching few days, the sun also seems to have come out which definitely helps things. It's officially spring now (and has been for some time) so hopefully the cherry blossoms will be out soon, because we're going up to Himeji for flower viewing on the 3rd of April. This usually consists of 5 minutes of viewing the flowers and 6 hours of sitting on a rug getting blind drunk. Apparently it's one of the last chances to see Himeji Castle before it gets covered over for restoration, so we'll make sure to put down our sake bottles, pick up our cameras and try to work out which Himeji Castle is the real one. Apart from that, we don't really have any big plans which is worrying because spring holidays are coming up soon. We'll need to work ourselves up to wanting to do something other than eating and shopping, like travelling somewhere... to go eating and shopping.