This was one of the worst, and then best days in Kyoto.

Today, we had a mission… to visit the Golden Temple, Imperial Palace and Nijo Castle. We also decided to scrap our plans to go all the way to Fukuoka in a few days’ time. The original plan from Kyoto was spending eight hours on a train, for twenty-four hours in Fukuoka, followed by twelve hours on a train back to Tokyo. All for the sake of visiting another island.

Well, we decided that it’d be better to scrap the night in Fukuoka, book an extra night back in the lovely Sakura hotel in Tokyo, and share the time between a morning in Kyoto and an extra day-and-a-half in Tokyo. Phone calls were made and internets internetted and the plans were all made.

So… out to the Golden Temple. We used the aforementioned tube system to get us to the right latitude, then walked a couple of miles to the correct longitude. I still think it’s a strange tube system.

The Golden Temple is a temple. Unlike the Silver Temple which never received its leaf coating, the Golden Temple most certainly did…

The Golden Temple, Kyoto

On walking round the beautiful gardens, we found a money bowl. The theory is that if you manage to make the bowl ring by throwing a coin into it, you will receive good fortune. It seems to me that the temple receives quite a lot of good fortune from all the attempts to hit the bowl…

Money Bowl

It also strikes me, looking at the periphery of the area, that some people really can’t throw very well.

After the Golden Temple we walked miles and miles and miles to the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Before Tokyo was the capital of Japan, the role was fulfilled by Kyoto - part of the reason there are so many historic buildings there. The imperial palace is probably an amazing place, and probably has lovely gardens. We didn’t find out because there are only a couple of days a year you can go within the perimeter wall, which is all we saw of it…

Imperial Palace, Kyoto

Our next destination was the other side of the palace, so we walked approximately seven hundred miles around the not-very-picturesque wall, being eyed supsiciously each time the police patrol came past and finally made it out of the park towards Nijo Castle.

Which was closed on Tuesdays.

By now, we’d walked down to the left branch of the tube network, and there was a McDonald’s next door to the tube station. We decided this was definitely a McDonald’s and tube moment. After our stuff that was laughingly called food (McDonald’s is exactly the same in Japan as the UK) we had the strength to formulate a plan.

I’d heard of this funny place down in the south east of the city called “Fushimi Shrine”. In fact, I hadn’t really heard of it, I’d just seen a picture in the guide book and thought it looked quite interesting. The picture had an avenue of red torii gates. So we took the tube eastwards, then changed line and took it southwards to reach the correct latitude, then once again walked for miles and miles and miles to the shrine. In fact, I’m sure we nearly died from exhaustion.

Well, what a fascinating place!

Fushimi is a shrine to fortune in business, and anyone who feels they have benefitted from its power donates a red torii gate. After entering the main gate, you are greeted immediately with an avenue of these - free-standing, individual gates creating an enclosed corridor.

Avenue of Torii Gates, Fushimi Inari Shrine

After passing the main shrine, the site then winds its way up the Inari mountain. Still enclosed in a torii corridor. I know I maybe exaggerated a little about distances earlier, but the Inari shrine literally has miles of these corridors. I think our route around took about two hours, up and down steep slopes, past little waterfalls, all through these gates. There are thousands of them. Thousands.

Any part of the hill flat enough to be built on is built on. Occasionally a tea house, but mostly small shrines. The shrines which crop up everywhere have fox statues (messengers of the Inari spirit) and piles of model gates with prayers written on.

Fushimi Inari Shrine

Fushimi Inari Shrine

The Fushimi shrine was one of the highlights of our holiday for me, and had Nijo castle been open, we may have never visited. I’ve heard since that the shrine appears in the film adaptation of Memoirs of a Geisha. If you’re in Kyoto at any time, pull on your walking legs and go for a visit.

On our way to the shrine, we discovered “Inari” station, a Japan Rail commuter station which meant we could then ride back into the main Kyoto station for free on our rail passes. We still had to walk miles to the hotel from there, though.

This advert has started popping up around the new shopping centre in town…

Quite good. Eye catching, gets the message across. You are in no doubt as to whether you can get a full meal including side dish, dessert and wine for £10.

However, every time I see it, I hear Alan Sugar…

“I don’ know where to buy dhis staff from. You forgo’ to put dhe bladdy campany name on it, you dolts. You’re FIRED!”

“How long does jelly take to set?”, I asked H.
“Quite a long time”, came the reply… “why? Did you fancy jelly?”
“Yes.”
“Well, we can always put it in the freezer to quick-set it.”

So we made a blackcurrant jelly (still making our way through the supply donated by Lorry and Kronky - thanks guys!) and put it in the freezer (without spilling any of it on the peas) and went out to buy lots of things to make pizza and then made pizza, but the bases were a bit soggy - I must work on my bases - and then we were stuffed so we went out for a walk round the block and then went to bed.

This morning, H asked… “Did you take the jelly out of the freezer?”
“Er… no”, I replied.
“Er… oops”, she exclaimed.

Did you know that frozen jelly has at least two interesting properties?

1) On freezing, I have to assume the edges freeze first, then the middle has nowhere to expand to as it freezes, and so you end up with a dome of frozen jelly.

2) If you attempt to defrost your jelly by leaving it out for a morning with a tea-towel over the bowl, the jelly will hardly defrost at all, but the moisture in the air will freeze on the bowl, thereby coating it in a moderately thick layer of ice.

Celebrating life through the spectacular
and tasteful dispersal of cremation ashes
by firework.

This isn’t real, is it?

http://www.heavenlystarsfireworks.com/

Interestingly, I read the above quote as “…spectacular and distasteful dispersal of cremation ashes…”

Four years ago today, I posted about a little trip round the Cotswolds. I was surprised to see Belas Knap mentioned because on the 3rd of August this year, we passed by just that location.

We visited on the way to the highest point of Gloucestershire - Cleeve Hill. It’s possible to park a few tens of metres from the summit for a relatively flat, short walk. However, we chose a much more picturesque route.

Parking in Winchcombe, past Sudely Castle, and up the long climb to Corndean Lane and on to Belas Knap. Then a more gentle climb to Cleeve Hill for a panorama over Cheltenham including an excellent view of the Racecourse. Across the golf course, down a very steep slope into a deep valley where local stone was traditionally quarried, along a babbling brook, and then bushwhacking our way through thistles and nettles due to a) only having a 1:50,000 map and b) a couple of waymarkers being missing from their posts.

What I find most interesting, though, is looking at how my fitness has improved over time. What was an unattractive three-quarter-mile climb has in just four years become a pretty trivial three-quarter-mile section of a ten mile walk.

You know, in just four years, your life can go down paths that you can’t even begin to imagine right now. Hopefully by chance, hard word and preparedness, those paths will be the right ones.

…is a long way when you’re under water.

Last night at the gym, I managed - twice - to swim a length under water. I knew before I went down for the first one that this would be it. I knew it, I did.

It’s been a goal of mine pretty much from when I joined H’s gym and started to go swimming twice a week. I’ve worked on a bunch of stuff, from breath-holding capacity to efficiency, and it seems that last night it all came together.

It probably helps that I’ve been exceedingly strict on my gluten-free diet for the whole of September, so my health is pretty tip-top.

The most important points, I think are buoyancy and technique.

Buoyancy

It is absolutely key, once down, to breathe out just the right amount of air such that you float about a foot from the bottom*.

On my first attempts, I would hold my lungs full of air, and have to expend extra energy just to keep myself under the water. Once I learnt about breathing out, I would breathe out too much air and skim the bottom of the pool. This leads to two problems - firstly, the friction wastes energy, and secondly there is an amount of concern which can lead to panic about whether you’ll be able to resurface. If you’re worried, you’ll use more air, and not make it as far.

*This is for a flat, 1.6m pool… if your pool slopes, it may be different.

Technique

I believe technique and form are everything. It’s not about being able to hold your breath for a long time, it’s about being able to cover more distance on the same amount of breath.

I worked on a bunch of styles - firstly gliding. How far can I push from the side. Then breast-stroke. The Olympics helped a lot with this, I watched how they’d take long strokes, using legs and arms alternately, gliding between strokes. Then kicking. I’d do lengths on my back using only my legs in a ‘crawl’ kicking style. Working on form, I found it possible to keep up with H’s breast-stroke with only my legs.

Putting it all together

The pool I swim in has three lights along its length marking quarters of the pool. On my good run, I went under and pushed from the side. I used a glide for the first quarter, and breathed out to adjust my buoyancy. Note that while you’re gliding, you can pretty much stay under water as long as you like - you’re using very little oxygen.

Then before losing momentum, I began kicking. A nice smooth, efficient, but quite rapid kick until the next quarter mark. That’s half the pool covered before I even started using my arms.

By changing muscle groups, you can buy yourself more time - so a switch into an efficient breast-stroke covered almost the rest of the pool. It’s about now, the third light - the three-quarter point - that I would come up gasping with my lungs feeling like they’re going to explode.

One thing I’d read was that rather than panicking at the end, you should surface gradually. You’ll always have a little bit more air, so you can surface over a stroke or two.

I thought about beginning my gentle ascent when I spotted the end of the line. The pool floor has three lines of tiles along its length which finish about a metre from the end in a T shape. I saw the T and knew it could be done… so a couple of breast strokes with the arms, back to ‘crawl’ kicking with the legs and an outstretched finger touched the wall.

I even felt I could have done a few more metres. So after a return length on the surface and a rest, I went for it again and succeeded.

Good feeling, that, you know!

Who wants to make an iPhone app for me? I’d do it myself, but I believe you can only develop software for the iPhone if you own a mac.

Main screen has:

1. Location (with accuracy).
2. Text entry area.
3. Send button.

You type a travelogue in the text area, and when you’re happy with the current accuracy, hit send. The request is sent to a configurable URL as a POST request. With location=[location] and text=[text].

There is therefore a config screen to set the URL posted to.

Quite simple, I think. Stick it on the App Store and I’ll gladly pay a quid or three.

The purpose? So that simple location-aware blogs can be made, and it is possible to write one’s own website with mapping, routes marked, pop-up logs and so on.

Of course, if you know something which already does this let me know. I’m not counting GPSTracker because a) it doesn’t allow adding text to location logs, and b) the website isn’t particularly good - I want to write my own.

Probably the only time I’ll get to truthfully say that.

The country, not the shop.

And yes, I’m quite jealous.

Ok… not jealous… but it does look like a fantastic trip - I hope they have a great time.

You see, that’s the joy of retirement. Mum and Stepdad went to Canada earlier in the summer, and as they were looking out of the plane window, they saw a funny little island.

“That’s nice”, they said. “We’ll have that”.

And so they are now there, bathing in geothermal lagoons and visiting places with funny names including ðs and þs.

They’re a funny lot in Ambleside

Ok… there is an explanation, but I’m going to leave it there

It’s nice to feel special…