Great Manchester Run

On 16th May, I waited my bus with my friend however there was no bus coming. A boy told us "there's no bus today due to the event." and I remember Great Manchester Run was held on the day. We had no choice and walked to the museum. On our way back, I saw 150m competition and Ms. Jessica Ennis joined it. She is the current world pentathlon and heptathlon champion. I just watched her documentary program on BBC so I was very excited to see her running!

England vs Japan

I enjoyed watching a football match England vs Japan on TV. I've been in Manchester for three years and now I can recognize more English footballer than Japanese ones. However I support Japanese team. I also enjoyed brand new flavor "Japanese Teriyaki Chicken" crisps.

I Lost My Wallet.

It was very unlucky day today. I lost my wallet and I don’t know how and when. It wasn’t a small lady’s purse so if I drop it, I would notice it.
The last time I used my wallet was at cafe. I paid my cuppa and put it back to my backpack. When I seated at cafe, I put my backpack behind my seat and covered it with my coat. My friend seated in front of me and she didn’t recognize any one came close to my behind. After we left the cafe, we went to a drug store and I noticed my wallet was lost. My friend and I went back to the cafe and asked the staff and customer service however there was no information.
Even in Japan, once you lost your wallet there is few possibility of returning. Things that I lost are difficult to get back but I can minimize my damage. So I went back home quickly and started calling to stop my credit card functions. Fortunately my husband insured all our credit cards to “Card Guard” so I called the office. For identifying me, I needed to tell my address, date of birth and even my mother’s maiden name. They also required full credit card number. However how can I tell full credit card number if I lost it? Even the document sheet which the insurance company sent to me, four digit number is blanked for the security reason. I didn’t copy credit card numbers however I could tell them sort code and account number of my bank. The service woman said “we can block your card and re-issue it for you.”
I lost my Japanese credit card as well so I called to Japan. Their service is 24hours and fantastic customer service. It was easy to stop the function however it would be difficult to re-start it. I need to ask my family to go to bank for me to complete the procedure for me.
An hour later I got a phone call from “Card Guard” and he said he couldn’t find my credit card information. After another two hours another staff called me and said he still can’t find my credit card information and he just let me know the telephone number of my bank and asked me to make a phone call by myself. I could have done it earlier but they said “we can guard your cards” so I didn’t call my bank. Anyway I did it and they could immediately stop the credit and debit functions and started re-issue procedures. I simply wasted three hours with the insurance company.
The last thing I need to re-issue is UK driver’s license. I don’t drive car in UK but I use this as my ID in Europe. My address and residence can’t be proved with my Japanese passport but UK driver’s license. Fortunately there is online re-issue form. Although I need to pay 20 pounds, my driver’s licence will be re-issued.

MUSASHI

I went to London to watch MUSASHI.

I thought 90% of audience would be Japanese but actually 30 or 40% of audience were non-Japanese. There was projectors on both sides of the stage and showed English subtitles however it was hard to read and watch the show at once.

This is typical polite Japanese vowing.



I'm happy to watch Japanese play in London. To tell you the truth, I'd already watched this show by DVD however watching it as live at the theater was wonderful experience!

Airplane Track

I see some airplane tracks in the sky. Now the Manchester airport seems to be getting back to normal.

Japanese-Style Glass Top Coffee Table

bizarre

Ash from Volcano-2

My boss came back to Manchester on Saturday from Amsterdam. He was supposed to come back on Thursday however because of ash from volcano his flight was canceled. When he got on an airplane in Japan, nothing had happened. After taking off, he heard the announcement about volcanic explosion in the airplane. It said, “we’re landing Amsterdam without problem however all connected flight will be canceled due to volcanic explosion in Iceland.” At first he thought he would be able to fly next day so he stayed in Amsterdam. However on the next day the situation didn’t change any better. Luckily he has many friends in Europe because of his work. One of his business partners was planning to move from Czech to London by car so he got on a taxi and moved to Brussels to get on his friend’s car there however his taxi was not fast enough to catch up his friend. His friend had already booked train ticket for his car so he couldn’t wait my boss. My boss gave up coming back to UK with him and stayed another night in Brussels. From Brussels, there were still available Euro star tickets for business class so he bought it and somehow came back to Manchester. He spend 600-700 euro for taxi, hotel and train fee. These are not refundable. His luggage from Japan is still trapped in Amsterdam. Even so he is very happy coming back to Manchester anyway.
Manchester airport is still closed. I really wish my friends will come back to Manchester ASAP without spending extra fee.