Ryanair

I travelled to Ireland from Thursday to Saturday. It was really an enjoyable trip. I joined some guided tours and had no problem understanding Irish English. The best food I had in Dublin was oysters. I like raw oysters, however I’ve never tried it in Manchester because I didn’t think it was fresh enough to eat raw. I really enjoyed tasting it with Guinness beer which is a good match. I’m not a big beer fan however I visited Guinness Store House which is the most popular sightseeing spot in Dublin. After having a good time in Dublin, I headed to the airport. I had no problems until the last moment. After passing the security check at the airport, I still had time until departure so I tried to spend all of my euro cash. When I bought an item at the shop, I was asked to show my boarding pass. The shop keeper scanned the boarding pass and said nothing about my boarding time. Anyway it was close to my departure so I rushed to the gate. Unexpectedly, the shop was quite far away from the gate and I started to feel nervous. When I arrived at the gate, there were nobody and I saw the sign ‘CLOSED’ at the gate. I was devastated but I could still see my airplane door opened with stairs over the window. So I rushed to the other gate where another Ryanair flight flies. I told the staff, “I fly to Manchester but the gate is closed.” Her answer was, “The gate is closed and I can do nothing for you. You need to go back to the Ryanair service counter and book another flight. There’s no Manchester flight today but there is a Liverpool flight at 11pm.”
I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. I was just walking around the gate and noticed a man approaching the gate and showed the same shock as me. He also went to talk to the same Ryanair staff but she repeated the same thing to him as well. The man shouted, “Ryanair is the worst airline in the world!” To be honest, I felt the same way but couldn’t say it out loud so I was glad that the man showed his anger to the staff. Anyway the staff was helpless and if I stayed there any longer, I would have missed the Liverpool flight as well, because the planes tend to fly earlier than departing time.
So I headed to the service counter which was located outside of security check. This meant that I needed to pass from the opposite direction. The security staff guided me to get back to the service counter. It was embarrassing. The officer told me, “Don’t worry this kind of thing happens a lot, especially with Ryanair.” I went to the service counter and the staff asked me to pay €110.00 per person from Dublin to Liverpool. My original return tickets only cost ￡135.96 for two people. An extra €220.00 for one way sounds really expensive. I suspect Ryanair may do this on purpose. They are a low cost budget airline however, if people couldn’t follow their priorities, eventually it becomes the most expensive airline.

Continuing Leaving Procedures

After 30 people came to check my place, finally someone took it. My estate agency won’t bother me by viewing my place anymore.
I started to make phone calls to the water company, electricity company, internet provider, TV license and council tax to inform them about my leaving. I also tried to find someone who can use my items such as bookshelves, a music keyboard, a microwave, a desk, a printer and so on. Some of them were taken by my friends, and my English teacher gave me information on how to donate useful items for a certain organization. I will arrange this.
I try to meet up with my friends in Manchester however I found out that two of my friends are on holiday and won’t be back until the end of September. So I can’t see them before I leave. I also try to meet up with my friend who is living in Italy. However she has made plans to visit Japan so we couldn’t make plans to meet up. Now I have booked a trip to Ireland instead where I always wanted to visit.
The day I am leaving Manchester is confirmed to be on 21st September, which is in less than three weeks. I have some good friends in Manchester and the fact that I have to leave breaks my heart.

Japanese Food

I have a friend from my choir. She is British and my parent’s age. She took me and my husband to many National Trust places as she is a volunteer gardener at one of the National Trust places. Therefore she can visit for free with two companions. My husband and I really had a good time visiting National Trust places like Tatton Park, Dunham Massy and so on. She also took us to Buxton for the concert that our former conductor of the chorus performs as a solo baritone singer. She knows a lot about music, British history and gardens and is fantastic company to have on a day out together.
I wanted to do something for her to show how much I appreciated her kindness so I invited her to my place for a Japanese lunch. My friend loved my idea and she said, “My taste-buds are already tingling!” This sounds fancy but what shall I cook for her? Japanese restaurants in Manchester serve Sushi and Teriyaki Salmon as typical Japanese meals, however Japanese people don’t eat Sushi much. In addition, I never heard of Teriyaki Salmon before coming to Manchester.
Authentic Japanese food is a bit different from the image British people have, I assume. Anyway my friend doesn’t like seafood so it’s a bit difficult to find something good for her. I remember an article written about popular Japanese food among British people. It said, “Oyako-don is chicken and onions with egg cooked with special sauce served on top of a bowl of rice. This is popular for British people trying something other than sushi.” So I chose to cook this and I also made miso-soup, Hiyayakko which is a chilled tofu and a salad with wasabi seasoning. My friend really enjoyed all of them except the Tofu. She said, “I was very impressed by all the different delicious dishes you made, and it feels very good to have had a real 'taste of Japan'.” I’m very happy to hear this. I’m also happy to know that I could do something for her.

My stay in Manchester

Time flies and I’ve been staying in Manchester for four years and two months. Finally, my husband got a job in US and we are leaving in September. I started my leaving procedures, at first; I went to my estate agency and notified them about my leaving as the cancellation should be mentioned one month prior to leaving. Just after I mentioned about my leaving, the estate agency put my apartment on their web site and people started to come to view my place.
On the first day, I wasn’t sure what kind of people would come so I was a bit scared. However, people were nice and they greeted me and said “thank you” when leaving. I started to enjoy letting people view my place for a while. However, on the second day, 12 groups came to check my place. Each of them came in five minutes and I became totally fed up of answering the interphone and opening my door. The thing which annoys me the most is that some people don’t request the type of room I live in, but they also came. It means the agency staff waste their customer’s time and also my time. I understand it is a busy season where many people look for places to live, and the agency is busy, however they kept calling me and asking me to stay home for this hopeless viewing. On Friday, the agency asked me to stay at home on Monday. I told them I’m available after 5pm. Then he rang me again and told me about some re-arrangements. “No Monday viewing but 10am and some other viewing on Tuesday.” On Monday, the agency rang me again and told me, “10am and 2pm on Tuesday” and he said, “See you tomorrow”. However he came to my place at 5pm on Monday and said, “You told me you’re available after 5pm on Monday.”
It is said, Japanese can’t say “No” in general but now I can say “No” if it’s necessary. So I told him, “You said there’s no viewing on Monday so I can’t let you show my place now.” Then he said “OK, bye.” and left.
On Tuesday, a different staff member came. This time, he came with five people at once and finished the viewing within ten minutes. They came on 2 occasions at 10am and 2pm. So I didn’t have to answer the interphone and open the door repeatedly. It’s much less stressful for me. However this endless viewing will continue. Now I notice that my place isn’t as popular although I’ve been living here for four years!

BBC Proms

The Royal Albert Hall is very beautiful and the music was fantastic!

A Riot

A riot occurred in Manchester last Tuesday. It is said, it was the worst day in Manchester in 30 years. On the evening, my Japanese class was canceled and many shops were closed earlier than usual. Many police officers were patrolling to prevent the riot however, it still happened. It was shocking.
In Japan the riots were broadcasted as riots in the UK, so my friends and families were unaware of the situation in Manchester. So I received some emails from them to make sure I am okay. Now things seem sorted out although many window glasses from shops are still broken.

Oh No!

For the security reason, the language institution will be closed this evening and my Japanese class will also be canceled. Hope nothing serious will be happening in Manchester.