Just six weeks ago, there was snow on the ground but the hot and humid weather of rainy season has well and truly arrived, torrential rain and a high of 30 yesterday and the old hands tell us this will continue until the end of July, after which it is just hot.
Which is quite a change from two weeks ago when Tom was here. He took a trip to Kyoto and we spent the weekend in Nikko which is a huge temple complex designed for the first Shogun. The temples are highly decorated, quite different from Kyoto and Kamakura. We spent a fabulous day walking through the Senjo-ga-hara wetlands. Could have kicked myself, I left my binoculars at home to save weight; we saw about a dozen new species of bird in two and half hours, but of course couldn’t get a good look. We also heard cuckoo ... the first time in thirty years. It was actually bitter cold and wet (1000 metres asl) but the flowers were fantastic.
Elsewhere, I have had more TV roles, a couple of commercials and this week I’m King of the Belgians for the Royal Ballet in Mayerling. Great fun. Linda finishes work this week until September and Joe arrives next week on his week back from Canada and Europe. More photographs here.