Holidays and all that carry on

Howdy folks! Am back from my blogging hiatus after an amazing two weeks in Japan. Now I won't bore you with a  load of holiday snaps (phew, I hear you say) but I will show you two, if I may. Not only did we go from 30-something degrees celsius to around minus 8 in the snow, but hubby decided to show off a Christmas present I gave him and in light of the current trend in homewares for all things with the British wartime slogan (or something similar) 'Keep Calm and Carry On', I feel the need to show you the result. I'm sure he won't mind ...

Image by the girl in the brick house taken at Hakuba in beer-freezing temperatures.

I found this little gem (the T-shirt not the husband) at http://www.drinkbeerandcarryon.co.uk/ - a typically British male website if ever there was one. When I saw it, I knew just who would love it!

Says the site: In these rather trying times we simply can't allow the backbone of Britain, its pubs, to wither away and die. It's time to get a grip, gird our loins, dig for victory and stiffen those upper lips (around a pint of fine British ale, of course). So, show your support for mine host on the frontline and don one of these rather dashing undershirts.

Apart from taking silly photos, skiing and trying to speak Japanese, we also made a visit to the snow mt the Jigokudani Wild Monkey Park near Nagano who love to wallow in hot springs in the wild and don't mind human company. I just have to show you one I photographed only centimetres away from us. So cute I could have taken him home!

Image by the girl in the brick house taken on her little old digital camera.  

P.S. A quick update re the house: there was a delay with the roofing steel because of the application of zinc spraying which protects the steel from corrosion so it didn't go in pre-Christmas. But tomorrow it does, as well as the timber rafters and then the roof sheeting. Yay! Still waiting to hear official confirmation that the privacy screening is all a-go but it's looking good. And we have a site meeting on Friday so will hopefully be able to show you the new roof then!