Happy New Year folks!

So, Happy New Year to all my faithful readers (and anyone else who typed in "Tiger drinking" into Google). Yes, it's the year of the tiger. I have no idea if that is auspicious or not. I've already given up smoking, I already run regularly and have no intention of giving up drinking, so this year's resolutions will be: learn more Japanese and write a novel. They are useful resolutions, I make them every year.

Remains of the day

Clearly, Father Christmas (or Santa as he is known in these parts) enjoyed the cookies and wine the girls left for him, and Rudolph ate the carrot. Here are the results of his night's labours, chez Sherriff,  in two acts:

Act I: The bicycle

Act II: The discovery

Tower Talk: Christmas trifle

Tower Talk: Christmas trifle

Even more festive fun

I've worked at a fair few newspapers in my time, and just about every one had a rule: no use of the word "festive" with "fun" until you get within firing range of Christmas. But hey, I found this video on Fatblueman. Have all the festive fun you can stand.

'Bigger than God'

What's it like to be pointed at and constantly made to feel different from others because of the way you dress or look? Is this the gaijin (foreigner) experience? I wouldn't know, I'm too busy to give it much thought, but this morning Santa very graciously allowed me to step into his shoes and red suit to entertain 75 kids across town at a "mansion" complex (in British English we would call this a block of flats). Getting on the bus was a doddle, only retirees got on with us (Yoshie was Mrs Claus) and seemed too pre-occupied with staring at the back of the seat in front of them to notice us at the back. We got a few more stares crossing over Abiko station from the south to the north exit. But once in the party, the screaming adoration of the kids and flickering of flash bulbs gave me delusions of grandeur: So this is how John Lennon felt!

For more pictures of St. Nick, click here.

Festive formula

It must be Christmas again in Japan. November is barely done and already the Colonel Sanders triplets (remember them?) have their red rags on. How is it that a Buddhist/shintoist country gets so excited about Christmas? Welcome to globalisation 1.01. One of the strangest sights I recall the first year I was in Tokyo, a good decade ago, was seeing lines stretching round the corner for KFC on Christmas Eve. Why? Allow me to explain mathematically:

x= (c-t)+ch*130,000,000@KFC=¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥!!!!!!!!!!

(where x= Festive fun, c=Christmas, t=Turkey, ch= Chicken)