Oxford and Bath

Had a great weekend trip with my friend.

Here's what I ate/drank:
-three brilliant curries on a train
-three superb homemade cookies
-fish and chips
-Flake icecream
-full English breakfast
-scones with jam and clotted cream, and a cappuccino, in an English teashop
-a sausage roll
-piece of pizza
-apple shortcake
-'fake' Japanese food (Western-style Japanese food)

Anyway, the reason I'm so chuffed is because I can't get any of those things - or at least, not the same/as good - in Japan. I've never seen a proper scone, or fish and chips...

I realised actually how much I miss good food. In Japan, you see, you can find good food, but you have to really seek it out after walking past thirty restaurants that look quite unappealing. You have to know where to go. Here in London, there is good food absolutely EVERYWHERE; pretty well every shop and cafe looks wonderful. I've been stuffing my face all week and enjoying it immensely. :)

In particular I missed fish and chips, and I'm glad I got to finally try scones with clotted cream; we went to the Jane Austen tea room and had it there. :)

Bath was lovely. We went to a new spa in Bath, using the thermal water from the Bath hot spring, including a rooftop heated pool. The weather perked up toward the end of this week, so it was just nice. We also did a couple of bus tours around Bath and enjoyed the scenery and interesting commentary.

Today I went to the British Museum and Harrod's. Harrod's was good fun, we picked out some marvellous cakes... I just finished eating a chocolate walnut brownie and banana cake with clotted cream, ohhh good. And my friend cooked me a roast dinner. Sorry I'm going on about food, but I do enjoy a good bite. :)

Oh, you know what? My sister and my friend both said they thought I'd lost weight. I finally checked my weight for the first time in six months; I've lost three kilos since I moved to Japan. I realised I haven't eaten excessively very often in Japan, mostly because I can't find as good, hearty meals. That's probably a good thing.

We saw a movie last night at the O2, this big, bizarre, UFO-like entertainment complex. Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It was funny, quite entertaining, but too rude to recommend. I saw three recent-release movies in the last week and a half; the first time I've seen new movies at all since coming to Japan. The others were Enchanted and The Kite Runner, both of which I saw on the plane, and really enjoyed them both, though they are totally different.

Oxford was also good, actually, though we went on a walking tour that was probably a slight mistake. But both Oxford and Bath were full of these great little coffee shops and tea shops and bakeries and whatnot. The tour guide mentioned how Oxford is a dream; the name, the atmosphere of it has a certain charm and prestige.

I agreed with him, actually. Walking around that university town I thought how nice it would be to study there myself. I quite envied the students walking around holding piles of books. I remembered how much I enjoyed studying.

The season feels about 3-4 weeks earlier than Japan. For example, in Yokohama, the cherry blossoms finished about 3-4 weeks ago, but in London, blossoms are out everywhere. And tulips everywhere.

Also, I feel like it's been ages since I saw so much grass. That also sounds strange but in Japan there's not much grass; even the parks are mostly gravel; and in Australia it's all yellow and dried-up from the drought. But I walked through Kensington Gardens and the air was full of the scent of wet, freshly-mown grass.

This has been a really enjoyable holiday and I'm very glad to have come.