Snapshot catch-up

1.

So it's summer, and the school holidays, and that means swimming lessons! Only, the hot weather stopped when the holidays started, and even with a wetsuit it's only been warm enough for three lessons. Is my child ever going to get past learning to kick on his back?

2.

I was at the Japanese embassy the other night, supping on sushi and tempura on the Lake Geneva waterfront in a beautiful mansion (in the original, not Japanese, sense of the word). There's no picture because that would just be gauche, dahlings, and in any case it was pissing down rain so we were all kind of huddled and shivery and not looking as splendid as we otherwise might. 

But the cold meant that when nature called, I was warmly and very welcomely reminded of a quite lovely Japanese custom: the heated toilet seat. And looking for the toilet paper, I was reminded of another: the built-in bidet. It was somehow even more amusing in English. 

3.

I have a bike! My mum's not here any more so there's no picture of me on it, but still, I have a bike!

I have to admit, I was a little nervous hopping on, it being 11 years since the last time I rode a bike, back in the day in Japan. But it turns out it's true what they say about bikes and never forgetting. I felt like I was flying.

4.

And where did we go, on our first - and, thanks to the near-incessant pissing down rain, only - family ride? The village shooting festival! You can read about it here.