Feeling hot, hot, hot

I`ve just read the most absurd story of the summer on BBC Online. If it were April, I`d dismiss it as a joke. Tokyo Metro, which advertises soft porn and hostess bars with wanton disregard for its female passengers, has finally overturned its decision to show nude pictures of a pregnant and allegedly `over-stimulating` Britney Spears. This in a country that has men flicking through titty shots between stations and posters dangling from train carriages touting scantily clad women and their costings. Japan either has a wicked eye for irony or is utterly blind.

Maybe I will finally be chickaned after all.

Nothing much has happened since Kingsley`s departure. I imagine he is basking in the relative cool of Thailand`s tropical heat, while Japan sweats into the concrete. If you have a choice, DO NOT come to Japan in the summer, it is a hideous place right now (though better than winter, when I felt like I was living in a squat). The water I boiled for breakfast is still hot. It`s 2am. I don`t understand how people don`t die. Given the topical over-awareness of the type of people teaching attracts (if he didn`t get Jon Bennet, I definitely wanted her), it is wrong to say I am sweating like a a paedophile in a playground, but it`s not far off. I lose my own body weight in fluids every night and wake up feeling hung over, my dehydration is so severe.

And teaching does attract some weirdoes. I`ve been told that on my birthday I dubbed a colleague `Peter the Paedophile` (disappointingly unoriginal, but oh so tempting) and started a spate of name-calling amongst my invited guests, but `Peter the Paedophile` couldn`t have a better job, was that his preferred target. I think his is actually closer to childlike, blind-drunk Japanese wives, who are downtrodden and grateful. I do often worry when my little Ayano demands that I pick her up so she can draw on the board, or insists that she sit in my lap, or just lunges into a hug because she hasn`t seen me for a while just what rich pickings there could be for the wrong-minded (am I one to even consider this?!).

Thought I`d stick in a picture of me and Jery celebrating England`s long forgotten victory over a team I can no longer remember. If it wasn`t Portugal, does it even matter?