grey skies

It's funny what small things remind you of home. In England, people always complain if it's cloudy (or raining, or too sunny, or snowing, for that matter). But I've quite enjoyed cycling to school in the cool cloudy days this week [not that it's usually really hot, though!]. It makes a change from the sunshine - I was finding I had to slap on some SPF 25 even in winter, because the morning is so bright here. (At a JET conference in Feb, someone asked if I'd been to Hawaii recently, because I was looking a bit red in the face!! And no, I hadn't been anywhere near Hawaii, just had caught the rising sun.)

Another thing about the sunshine here, is that it starts really early. At the moment it's getting dark at 6pm but is pretty bright at 5am. Soon it'll be light at 4am, due to no daylight saving hours. (They tried it once a few years ago, in Hokkaido apparently, but soon abandoned ship because the farmers kept getting up at the same time regardless!) When I came back home in Feb, I made sure I stocked up on eyemasks from the plane, because I'll have to wear them at night soon, to prevent waking up at 4am!

better go - not long til Golden Week - half a week of consecutive bank holidays starts - whee! [I guess it's a bit like combining the Easter and May bank hols together when you compare it to Britain.] So no school for 5 days as of tomorrow...