backache... clock ticks by
slides 1 to 25 done
suits tomorrow morn
Friday 23 April 2010
Sunday 18 April 2010
A life on the ocean waves....
*cue Great Escape music*
With the lingering itchy feet from the last holiday, I decided last week to get out of Hokkaido for golden week and see some other parts of Japan. Golden week is one of the busiest travel times, also one of the most expensive with everyone on holiday, so I had a cunning plan.
When I was little we lived near Newcastle in the north east of England, a ferry port and a truely cool place to visit if you're ever in that region. My Dad is also a keen sailor so many holidays were spent, by the sea or on the sea. We took ferries to Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway and I loved every minute of being on the ship- it feels like something from another age, almost exotic. I enjoy being on the sea, I even don't mind if its a little rough.
Japan being the island nation it is has many ferries and I've been dying to try them out. Last summer I went up to Rishiri and Rebun islands (the most northen islands of Japan), taking the ferry from Wakkanai to the islands and back again.
This time I'll be taking the ferry from Otaru to Niigata and back from Akita to Tomakomai. Whats really cool is the price- 12,800Y for the ferry (that's there and back). This is less than a flight from Sapporo to Tokyo, one way! Of course you could pay more and get a private cabin or even a first class suite, but I decided on a 2nd class berth- a bed in a 4 bunk room. There was a cheaper option of a large communal area- basically a place on the floor, but I splurged and decided on a little more privacy and comfort.
The only slight problem I've got is that I misread the timetable and thought I would be leaving Otaru at 10.30pm on the Friday and then arrive 0700 in Niigata on the Saturday. Maths was never my strong point and somehow my brain was incapable of recognising that this was considerably less time than the timetabled 18-20 hour long voyage. As I booked it yesterday at the travel agents I realised its actually a 10.30am departure from Otaru, so I'll be taking the Friday off as holiday. I'm not changing it, so that will have to stay. My return trip from Akita to Tomakomai is a day trip and I'm looking forward to passing through the Tsugaru straits between Hokkaido and Aomori in particular, that and trying out the baths on the ferry, after all this is Japan.
Thursday 8 April 2010
Sunday 4 April 2010
Back from Holiday grumps
I'm trying to be positive and happy, I mean I should be all relaxed and happy. I've just come back from 2 weeks of not thinking about work once, relaxing with my whole family- being able to catch up with everyone at the same time, re-connecting with my nieces and chilling in the pool and swimming in the sea. Not to mention the spa of heaven....
I got back from Thailand on Wednesday, popped round and saw off one of my friends whose off to Europe for a month of job hunting. Came into work for April 1st- our labs estrogen count has increased even more, which is great. I have a neighbour back on one side, and should be getting my other neighbour shortly once he's completed his tour of duty as the departmental secretary (a hellish job, I'd never want to do). Eased back into lab life- I even set up a PCR to check my newly arrived primers (which I'd spent days designing before the hols). It probably started on Friday when I ran the gel of the PCR and got a blank picture instead of glowing white bands next to the markers....
Meaning my primers are crap and its back to the drawing board. The mysterious ways of finance mean that I"m unlikely to be able to quickly get any new primers until the new finicial year kicks in properly sometime in May most likely. Seriously, why does this take so long? we've been on limited ordering powers since mid January for goodness sake.... anyway.... I shall prevail.
Got to the weekend and caught up with washing, said goodbye to yet another friend, leaving 2/3 of us for the next month for company. This year has seen many of the fellowship of foreigners departing these shores, with little prospect of meaning new ones as I've no time to take anymore Japanese courses. Thus adding to the slight empty, grumpy feeling.
I got back from Thailand on Wednesday, popped round and saw off one of my friends whose off to Europe for a month of job hunting. Came into work for April 1st- our labs estrogen count has increased even more, which is great. I have a neighbour back on one side, and should be getting my other neighbour shortly once he's completed his tour of duty as the departmental secretary (a hellish job, I'd never want to do). Eased back into lab life- I even set up a PCR to check my newly arrived primers (which I'd spent days designing before the hols). It probably started on Friday when I ran the gel of the PCR and got a blank picture instead of glowing white bands next to the markers....
Meaning my primers are crap and its back to the drawing board. The mysterious ways of finance mean that I"m unlikely to be able to quickly get any new primers until the new finicial year kicks in properly sometime in May most likely. Seriously, why does this take so long? we've been on limited ordering powers since mid January for goodness sake.... anyway.... I shall prevail.
Got to the weekend and caught up with washing, said goodbye to yet another friend, leaving 2/3 of us for the next month for company. This year has seen many of the fellowship of foreigners departing these shores, with little prospect of meaning new ones as I've no time to take anymore Japanese courses. Thus adding to the slight empty, grumpy feeling.
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