Builders in the House 4 - a "new" window and signs of crookedness

If you go back to the first Builders in the House post, you'll see a photograph of some cupboard doors (one of which has my squash poster on it). From later photographs you will see that the cupboards have been completely removed.

And you can see from this one that a floor level window was revealed, which of course we knew about because we had seen it from outside. The builders have recommended however, that we leave it uncovered which will make the room brighter, and also allow a breeze through the room in spring and autumn - too hot in summer, and too cold in winter to open it then!

The "missing" materials from the previous post turned out to be wood to make the frame of the new cupboards. We are now trying to decide exactly where to place shelves and partitions.

I thought I would just return to the "crooked house" theme of earlier, too. The big wooden beam you can see is parallel to the ground (even if I haven't held the camera as level as I could have!) Look at the space between the beam and the top of the concrete door frame.

Now look at the same space at the other end of the door frame. There is a difference of between two or three centimetres from one of the door frame to the other. I'm hoping it won't be so apparent when all the work is finished!




Sunday today, so no noise from the builders to contend with, but one of Tadashi's friends has come round to practise singing a Queen song which they are going to perform for their class. I'm not sure which is worse...

Builders in the House 3 - the new floor

I've had a hectic couple of days, so things have moved on quite a bit since Monday's post, and I'm glad to say that the house, although noisy at times, isn't anywhere near as dusty.

I missed this part of the floor process when the other side of the room was done. A kind of polystyrene slot-together insulation... definitely didn't have that before, and I wonder if it will make the room warmer in winter. I certainly hope so! It is held in place by dint of being just slightly wider than the space between the beams.

The beams all covered, and a shot of our new step.

And the new floor being laid. It is quite a light colour, which we hope will make the room bright, and much as I enjoy polishing the other floors we have upstairs, I wasn't particularly upset to hear that the new floor is a "no polish" type. I confess I was a little surprised that our beautiful floor was completed first given that there is still so much else to be done, and I had fleeting images of all kinds of damage being done to it. However, of course it has now been covered with cardboard sheets.

And so to the ceiling...

Aimi was so excited when she saw that it was pink... and she is going to be so disappointed when she finds out that it isn't finished, and won't be pink when it is. Poor thing!



I went to Hiroshima this afternoon to play squash, as I often do on a Thursday, and was told on my return that the carpenter had knocked off at 2 o'clock because whatever materials he needs for the next stage won't be here until tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing what they are. More as it happens.

Builders in the House 2 - ...And they all lived together in a little crooked house..

The builders were planning to have a day off on Saturday, but what they uncovered on Friday (see above) gave them some unexpected extra work to do. They told us that the house looked as if had originally been built by someone used to laying roads rather than building houses - safe enough, but a bit strange!

This morning the carpenter arrived to put down a frame for the new floor in what was the classroom. He discovered that because of the aforementioned road laying techniques used, there would be something like a two-centimetre difference in the level of the floor from one side of the house to the other. (He had a really cool laser thing like something out of Mission Impossible, except this one showed exactly what the problem with the floor was) Perhaps the road layer had built a camber into the floor... The carpenter said that he could compensate for the difference in level, but it would always be a little odd. I had visions of our new desks (on castors) rolling down the hill!

We decided to let him do the job properly and he promptly pulled up the remaining floor that used to be the hallway and cloakroom, and set about raising the whole thing by the two centimetres which will allow him to complete the floor so that it isn't on a slope.

More rocks holding up the floor.

This is the base for the new floor after the level had been raised. This morning there wasn't a two-centimetre gap between the big wooden beam that is the step up to the room and the black ceramic tiles under it.

And this is where we are tonight. I think the "under" floor will be finished tomorrow, and then hopefully things will really start to take shape.







And the title of today's blog? When we were told about the problems we had because of the way the house was originally built, I was reminded of a very old nursery rhyme:

There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse.
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

Google it if you are interested in finding out how old it is. I should point out that despite my advancing years, it was already very old when I first heard it as a child!

Builders in the House

Once again I find myself having to apologise for the length of time it has taken me to write something since my last entry. Sorry! My wife, who somehow finds time to write something most days, puts me to shame.

For those of you who don't know, Kayo and I work mainly in a room on the ground floor of our three-storey home. It isn't that big, but we have managed for the eleven or so years that we have been self-employed. Of late, though, there has been an increasing need to have another classroom and also a bigger room to accommodate larger classes.

I wish I had a wider angle lens, but here are some photographs of our ground floor. This one was taken from the front door. The door on the left in the immediate foreground is a floor to ceiling shoe cupboard, and the white wall on the right is part of the cloakroom/boxroom. You can see into the classroom, and a little way up the hall that goes to the stairs.

Inside the classroom, which, for sure, looks a bit cluttered! Of course, I have to have a map of the UK and a picture of Glencoe; and all the postcards are from friends, family, and students from wherever they have been on holiday.

The reverse angle showing about half of our textbooks, and some cupboards that conceal all manner of things including a television which we sometimes use in class. Yes, yes... that is a squash poster on the cupboard door!

This is looking across the hall into the cloakroom, or perhaps I should say storeroom. You can see a stack of winter tyres, and I keep all my squash kit in here, too.





So... that was how it all looked until Wednesday of this week. We had decided it was about time to take some drastic action, and had spoken with a local company to see if it was possible to "rearrange" things to give us both a second room and a bigger room. "Oh, yes" they said, and on Thursday they arrived...

This was taken just a few hours after they arrived, and from pretty much the same place as the first photograph above. Most of the doors have been taken away, the cloakroom gone(!), and the hall temporarily blocked off to stop too much dust getting into the rest of the house.

A somewhat bemused Tadashi arriving home from school. But that was Thursday...

This was yesterday, and oh, my goodness, what have they done?! What have they done with the floor? It's starting to look like an archeological dig. The whole floor was supported on the six rocks you can see, which the builder says is perfectly OK, but perhaps a little unusual in a concrete house like ours. He told us that is how traditional Japanese houses were built.

That is where we are at the moment. It is all very exciting, and we are really looking forward to seeing how things develop. The work is scheduled to take about three weeks, and I hope to be able to keep you updated on an almost daily basis. Come back and see how we are doing!

The 56th Kurashi-no-bunshu

First a very Happy New Year to you, and my apologies for taking so long to write this. I promised a few people quite some time ago that I would "do it in the next few days", and I think I've been using the festive period as an excuse not to find time to do it. Anyway, here we are, and here we go...

Every summer the Kure Education Department along with the Chugoku Shinbun (newspaper) and Momiji Bank sponsor a composition competition - Kurashi-no-bunshu - for the pupils of the forty-four primary schools in the Kure area. In the first instance the teachers of each class choose the best compositions to submit for judging.

It is probable that every child in Kure has to write a diary entry every weekend, and for most of the children the writing tends to be along the lines of "We went here, we did this, and we had a good time". Our son Tadashi seemed to be developing his own style - his diary entries almost always start with a sound he has heard, and then he explains what is behind the sound.

Thousands of children write compositions for the Kurashi-no-bunshu, and there is an award for the top composition, four runners-up awards and around fifteen third prizes for each grade, and over a hundred "honourable mention" awards. Every story that receives an award is published in a 280-page book.

In 2010 Tadashi received an honourable mention in his first year at primary school, and obviously we were delighted.

And then in the autumn he pretty much knocked our socks off by winning the top prize for primary two pupils. My wife called to tell me while I was driving home from Hiroshima, and I immediately had to phone my parents. Thrilled to bits might just described how we felt.

I'm lucky enough to have a group of very high level English speakers in a weekly class, and of late they have been translating articles from the Chugoku Shinbun. Tadashi's composition was printed in the newspaper, so my class said they would translate it for me. Here it is, complete with the judge's comments...



Sharpening Pencils with a Knife

“Oh, no, it’s broken again!” And we don’t have a pencil sharpener.

Last year, when I was in primary one, my mum used to sharpen my pencils every day. When I started primary two I decided to sharpen my own pencils with the sharpener in my pencil case. But the points often broke when I was sharpening the pencils, and the sharpener was difficult to use.

And “snap!” - the pencils often broke while I was writing. I thought it was really annoying.
One day I wondered if using a knife would be better. I told my mum that I wanted to use a knife to sharpen pencils myself. My mum said, “Watch and I’ll show you how to do it.”
Snick, snick. In a flash she had sharpened a pencil. She was so good at it, and I

wasn’t sure if I would be able to do it. I tried, but either the point was too long, or I nearly cut my index finger. However, I didn’t think I should give up, but do my best like I do when I eat mini tomatoes, which I really don’t like.
I sharpened pencils every day, and slowly I learned to do it as my mum showed me: don’t hold the pencil or knife pointing upwards because it’s dangerous;

move the knife slowly and gently, and keep your cutting hand steady. I learned that knives are dangerous, but also useful if I follow the rules.
Today, just like every day, I’ll sharpen my pencils with a knife.





[Comments]
Tadashi’s mother responded very well when he asked about sharpening his own pencils. This topic is interesting because these days very few children know how to sharpen pencils with a knife. After reading this story it is easy to imagine Tadashi doing his best even when something is difficult, like eating the mini tomatoes which he doesn’t like. The story ended with his determination to continue sharpening pencils every day and I wanted to shout out, “Yes! You can do it!” It’s a lovely story.



And so to the award ceremony (I wanted to say "prize-giving", but it conjures up completely the wrong image) held at a splendid venue in early December, and for me, what a monumental let-down. Given the excitement that news of Tadashi's achievement was met with, I hoped that the award ceremony would be a joyous celebration, but it was so far from that I could hardly believe it.

Of course the sponsors' dignitaries were there to make speeches and present awards, but what, to my mind, a strange way of doing things. The main prize winners had to sit across the stage from the dignitaries and listen to the speeches and be given their awards while some ghastly funereal music was playing in the background.

When Tadashi's name was called, he marched out to the middle of the stage, bowed to his dignitary and was given two boxes, both of which he was immediately obliged to hand to a lady standing next to him for that purpose. She left the stage with his "prizes" and he returned to his seat empty-handed. I can honestly say I have never seen anything like it.

Look at the happy, smiling faces in this picture! The lady standing in the background is the one who is about to whisk away Tadashi's "prizes". And that isn't a medal around his neck... it's an ID badge.

When the event finished Tadashi was given a bag with his "goodies" in to take home. They were: an engraved plaque, a certificate, a medal in a box with no ribbon, and a copy of the newspaper with his composition in it.

Couldn't the whole event have been conducted with just a little razzmatazz? Couldn't they have played music that might appeal to primary school pupils? Couldn't they have put ribbons on the medals and presented them Olympic-style rather than popping them in those bags like an afterthought? Couldn't they have given the winners some kind of "literary" prize like dictionaries or book tokens?

Ah, well...I had a sneaking suspicion that the day wouldn't be what I hoped, so we had a "prize-giving" at home,

and I think Tadashi was delighted with the new Lego set I bought for him.









Later on it also only took me less than five seconds to attach a ribbon to his medal so he could wear it.

Of course, the competition isn't really about prizes, but I can't imagine anyone who was at the award ceremony will look back on it as a great day.

The plaque and certificate, by the way, had to be taken to school so the headmaster could display them in his room, and weren't returned to Tadashi until the winter holidays.

In fairness, Tadashi didn't seem bothered by what I thought was at best a very disappointing event. As we were leaving the award ceremony he was already wondering out loud what he would write about so that he could win the award again next year!

Grabbing a Bite?

The ladies in one of my classes have, for some time, been inviting me to grab a coffee with them after class. Unfortunately I usually have another class starting shortly after we finish, so I have been unable to join them. The class is now having a short break, and the ladies decided that instead of coffee we would meet for lunch at the time the class is usually scheduled at. As I said to them, I'm not sure that this level of organisation could really be termed as "grabbing a bite"!

We met in the French restaurant on the 14th floor of the Kure Hankyu Hotel. Here we are from left to right: Yoshiko, Yumi, Takako, me, Toshie, Akiko, and Kuniko.

Lunch for me is almost always a sandwich at home, so this really was a rare treat. Apart from eating a proper meal at lunchtime, I also found myself a bit disorientated by my surroundings. Everything felt so western, that when the staff spoke to me I wasn't sure whether I should reply in Japanese, or try out my very rusty French! And, of course, the ladies were keeping up some really interesting conversation in English.

And lunch? Very artistic and very good.

Whenever we go abroad, my wife takes out the camera and photographs whatever we are eating... My turn, and although the camera can't as yet give you a taste of the food, you can at least see what I mean by "artistic". This was the starter, and you'll forgive me if I can't remember the French name. It was, if I am correct, a kind of nut pate. This was followed by a very tasty corn soup - no photo... it was corn soup!

I started getting confused again when the main course arrived. Roast beef... surely that is a quintessential English dish? Anyway, it was very good, although being from the other side of the Channel, I would have preferred to have seen a potato or two and some Yorkshire puddings!

I do enjoy sweets, but I don't often get as far as dessert, as I much prefer savoury food. Having said that, I really enjoyed this small cranberry tart. I'm afraid I had to ask what the fig was, and was surprised to hear that Hiroshima is quite well-known for them. The ladies were then quite surprised when I opted for coffee to finish and not tea! As much as I like tea - a must in the mornings - it has to be coffee after lunch, doesn't it?

I think we all had a good time, and when the class starts again next week, I shall be the first to suggest that we do it again.

Thank you ladies!

Chu/Shikoku Open Squash Tournament

It doesn't seem like too long ago since I wrote about cottage pie, but here we are and the summer is drawing to a close. This also means that another eagerly awaited annual trip has come and gone. Yes, another squash tournament, but this time a little closer to home - the Chu/Shikoku Open in Kurashiki - and this time with Kayo and the children.

This tournament is a favourite because of the venue - great courts, great showers, and a wonderful place for the children to play - and a hotel I have stayed at so often that I'm definitely a regular. This picture was taken in the adventure playground - Tadashi and I on the "ferry", and Muscat Stadium, the venue, in the background. We've always done this tournament as "a family", and until this year I think Kayo has had a harder job looking after the children than I have had playing squash!

This year, though, because they are older, they pretty much just got on with things themselves. There seemed to be no end of other children to play with, and they had a great time. Here is Aimi "risking" a ducking on whatever this kind of slide is called.

The format of the tournament is actually a little different to the other regional events I go to, inasmuch as I play in both the Open event and the Masters event. The Masters is a handicap tournament for players over 30 - I just qualify! My targets for this tournament were to reach the main draw of the Open event, then hopefully beat Taro Sakamaki (remember him from the Kyushu Open?) which would put me in the Best 16 round, AND to win the Masters.

Greg and Richard also entered the Open. Greg with an eye on playing and improving his result of last year against the three times and current All Japan champion, Yuta Fukui, in one semi-final, and Richard, I think, hoping to have a good time and make it to the other semi-final.

Neither Greg or Richard had to qualify for the main draw as their rankings are high enough to ensure they were seeded. For me, there was a nice warm-up early on Friday afternoon, and then later on the qualifying final against one of the rapidly improving Hiroshima Shudo University students, Horino. He is very fast around the court, and I had to be very patient to finally win through 2:1 (the qualifying rounds and the Masters are both best of three games matches). I'm usually nervous early in tournaments, but I'm glad to say that I felt I played OK, and kept the nerves under control.

On to Saturday, then, and a much better, if rather tempestuous (on my part) match with Taro. I'm afraid that I had a couple of quite loud outbursts directed at the referee. In point of fact I think the frustration I show is actually because of how I am playing, but I think I would look even more ridiculous shouting at myself! Having seen the match again on video, I rather reluctantly have to agree with Greg and Richard when they pointed out that when I was ranting, I looked less like John McEnroe and more like Basil Fawlty! Ah, well, best just put a stop to that silliness... The match ended in a 3:1 loss, but I really felt as if I lost it rather than Taro winning it. Next time!

Greg and Richard both progressed smoothly to the quarter-finals which, along with the Masters, took place on Sunday. Richard played very well against Japan's number 6, Kimihiko Sano, and was actually 2 games to love ahead. Sano then increased the pace of the game a little, and put Richard under a lot more pressure. I think the match could have gone either way, but sadly Richard had to bow out with a 3:2 loss. Greg meantime was getting ready for his big encounter with Fukui. Although I haven't seen all of the match yet - I was getting ready for my own match - from what I saw of it Greg certainly gave Fukui more to think about this year. He wasn't able to win a game, but if he can spend more time practicing with players nearer his own level (than me!), I'm sure he will do even better next time.

As for me, after a very close semi-final I made it to the final of the Masters where I played against Masahiko Hasunaka, a practice partner from Hiroshima. The handicap system meant that he had to give me 2 points in each game, but as he played one less match than me that day, I didn't feel too bad about that. This is an "action" shot from the final, and that's me in green almost looking like I know what I am doing! Again, it was a very close match, but I'm delighted to say that I clinched it 2:1 in the end.

Greg, Richard and I just after the Masters final. If you think I look tired, you should have seen the other guy!

Receiving my prize from the other finalist, Masahiko Hasunaka, who also happens to be the chairman of the Japan Squash Association Chugoku-Shikoku Branch.

The "real" winners. Yuta Fukui in red with the trophy, and Greg doubtless thinking about their next encounter...

After the prize-giving.

Final photo before heading for home. This time with Sachi, a good friend, and former Japan number one.



I'm still pretty much elated after the success of the weekend, but as Greg pointed out, there is a lot of training and practising to do before we head off to Wakayama for the Kansai Open which begins on September 17th. I can't in all honesty say I'm looking forward to the training, but I can't wait for the tournament!



If you are interested in seeing the full results of the Chu/Shikoku tournament you will find them here

http://www.squash-japan.org/area-event-report/files/2011/08/f39dbb4324d006d551ff00f2c18a43ea.pdf