A short political aside

Seeing as the world financial system - and the rest of us with it - appear to be heading towards the kind of depression last seen in the 1920s, I must say I was delighted (no, I was fucking ecstatic, actually) to see that the USA had elected the smart guy instead of the temperamental one with his demented god-loving sidekick. Most newspapers harked on about it being historic that America had voted for the first black president, which is of course an amazing, ground-breaking achievement. Even better though is that we can now look towards America without feeling dread and embarrassment at their present president's evil, criminal ways. THAT is what I most look forward to, for there is nothing like having a wise chap in charge of proceedings. Especially now.

What's that ... stuck to your ...?

Anyway, I exited the supermarket, having stopped off for food and smoothie in the munch-while-you-wait area and got on the train to cross town to my office. On the train quite a few people looked at me in the usual 'what are YOU doing here?' kind of oh-so-pleasant Japanese way. One girl couldn't look me in the eye but was transfixed by the side of my face. I turned away in disgust and got on with my book. I got off the train, passing millions of other commuters, went along the street, got a coffee at my regular cafe from the more-smiley-than-usual servers and walked the last 300 meters to my office. Once inside, I turned on my PC and went to the toilet when I discovered that, stuck to my beard, was a large piece of quiche.

Supermarket Sweep

After morning meetings on Tuesdays and Fridays, I usually head back to the station, dropping in at the upmarket Queen's Isetan supermarket in the north east of Tokyo. I go there as it's dead quiet after opening at 10 a.m. and it's also got the most delicious, healthy food going. Usually there are around 10 people shopping in the whole store, which is spread out over about 500 square meters. Only this Tuesday it was packed to the rafters with ladies of all shapes, sizes and ages - queues 6 deep at every cash till. The reason: it was 5% discount day - Japanese, like Czechs, like many others, would cross town across broken glass, pass wild beasts escaped from the zoo and major earthquakes... to save a few hundred yen. Weird but true.