Posted by Jamie Thom
on May 20, 2008
General,
Silliness /
3 Comments
The ninja attack was swift and unexpected, a flurry of blows exploding out of the darkness taking all of the skill and wit my master had ever bestowed upon me to fend them off. Luckily my katana was to hand and in a dancing blur of blade work I dispatched my foes then collapsed on the floor breathing heavily and nursing my wounded wrist.
That would be a much more exciting explanation of what happened but in fact I simply slipped on the wet changing room floor at the hotel’s pool and landed heavily and awkwardly on my left wrist, causing a closed fracture in my left scaphoid radius*. So i spent four hours last night in A&E and am now proudly sporting a plaster cast around my first ever broken bone.
Ouch.
* My mistake – it is the much easier to heal radius that is fractured, not the scaphoid.
Posted by Jamie Thom
on May 15, 2008
Geekdom,
General,
Politics /
No Comments
Alyn Smith, Scotland MEP for the Scottish National Party, has replied to my letter about MS OOXML.
Update 8 May 2008 22:08
Alyn’s policy adviser has now sent a letter on his behalf to Meglena Kuneva, the European Commissioner for Consumer Protection essentially cc’ing my email and asking if the commission is aware of the issue and what they are doing about it.
Update 14 May 2008 14:47
I have received a reply from Struan Stevenson of the Scottish Tory MEPs which has been added as a comment on the original thread. They are also asking the commission for more information on why this has been allowed to happen.
Update 15 May 2008 09:56
A further email from Struan Stevenson has arrived, appended to the comments; The Directorate General for Competition has this matter on their daily agenda and has written to all EU National Standards bodies, the investigation is open and on going.
Posted by Jamie Thom
on May 08, 2008
Japan,
Politics,
Travel,
Writing /
No Comments
Wednesday 7th May 2008
As I type this the Today program on Radio 4 is covering the upcoming Ping Pong match between the Chinese president and Japanese Prime Minister, covering diplomatic niceties and pro-Tibet protests. Here are my experiences of almost meeting President Hu and protests in Japan.
Continue reading…
Posted by Jamie Thom
on May 08, 2008
General,
Japan,
Travel,
Writing /
1 Comment
Monday 28th April
Our second day in Hakone is not quite as frantic a chase around the major sites. We have two places on our tourism hit-list today: The Open Air Museum and a swim-suit wearing communal bath we can splash around together in.
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Posted by Jamie Thom
on May 02, 2008
General,
Japan,
Travel,
Writing /
1 Comment
Sunday 27th – Tuesday 29th April 2008
Last time I came half way around the world, by chance my friend Richard from Glasgow was also in Tokyo, flown out on short notice by his company and we spent a most enjoyable evening together. This time around Gavin and Jessie are also out here on holiday, indeed by this stage they’ve been here for a week, largely enjoying the sights in Kyoto which I insisted they make the main part of their trip, feeling as I did that I could happily have spent much more time in the ancient capital. They have arrived by Shinkansen back to Tokyo station and made it round to Shinjuku and meet us at the planned spot. Natsuko has worked things out with military precision. Together we embark the Romance Car limited express train to Hakone.
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