Archive: 2021-05
Week 21: Exchange
I think the past week has been more eventful than the whole of 2021 up to now.
Week 20: Progress at last
Our house purchase is moving rapidly ahead. After weeks when it seemed like it was stuck on some inscrutable detail of negotiation, everything has finally been unblocked. The last sticking point was, it seems, something about indemnity in case the land is found to be contaminated. As it turns out, this can be sorted by the simple expedient of paying £265 for an indemnity policy. Would we like to do that? Yes we would, especially as getting this sorted will save us five figures of stamp duty if we complete the purchase by the end of June.
Week 19: Package to America
Week 18: Pop goes the shamisen
I took out my shamisen from its case to find that the skin had torn. It’s the inevitable fate of any shamisen: the body is a wooden box with a skin stretched very taut and glued on. Eventually, the stresses, exacerbated by climatic variation, get too much and one day you open up the case to see this:
Week 17: Corona speedrun
On Monday, I had my hair cut by a professional for the first time in months. It’s definitely an improvement. I’ve been getting my hair cut by the same person for a decade or so, so we know each other pretty well by now. It’s one of those little things that feels like putting down roots, and something that I’ve missed.