Kaoru was up early. I was woken by the bins from 8 to 820 so started the day with anothercooked breakfast. A small inflatable world issue to deal with, and then we finalized our packing and passed the time. The 3 of us caught an 11.50 bus to Oxford.

We went to the John Lewis cafe between the bus stop and our next bus departure point, and had some lunch. We said thank you and goodbye, and Kaoru and I caught the 1.15 bus to Shepherd’s Bush, where we bought anoyster card and caught the overground to Hackney Central, although enroute found thenext stop to be better. Once off the train we got our bearings and made our way to Yukariand Hamish’s, but stopped at Tesco on the way for some food.

Hamish wasn’t home from work when we arrived. I had spoken to Yukari a couple of times on Skype before but it was the first time of meeting her and the kids (Jana and Sean). Jana was a bit shy at first but eventually opened up. Sean was a chatterbox from the second the door opened.Watching this 4 year old talk confidently in Japanese and English was amazing.

Kaoru and Yukuri went to the shops to get some beer and I stayed and watched the kids. Sean and i played on his slot car set and Jana did a drawing. Aunty Diane had sent me back with her old badge making set so i got that out of the suitcase thinking she might like to immortalize a drawing. She loved it! So we made a couple of badges and a fridge magnet.

Hamish got home so we met, and after a bottle of red was drunk (with the babysitter assisting too) we caught an uber to dinner. We went to a nice tapas place that charged like a wounded bull and had small servings; but they were all delicious. During our first glass of bubbles Hamish announced that tonight was their 10 year wedding anniversary! So it was something to celebrate, and celebrate we did.

We split the bill and then went to another barwhere we had a couple more glasses of wine, i got to know Hamish better, and the girls got to have a good catch up. Eventually we caught an uber home, where Hamish and i had some scotch whisky and a stout as a night cap.