My ears are burning in Day to Day

I’m not writing here so often these days. I think I’m going to try and get back into it. You have to make time for these things.

Since last I wrote, what’s happened? I’ll tell you.

At the weekend I ended up at the new Turkish barber just round the corner. I was going to go to my usual barber, but was greeted with a sign on the door informing me that he had gone on holiday. So, on a whim, we (the boy and myself) decided to give the Turks a go. It’s quite an exciting experience. There is an element of mystery about it because I’m not convinced they speak English. At least, not beyond half a dozen well rehearsed phrases on the subject of grooming. I formed this opinion after explaining what I would like and got the reply, “OK, what number?”.

I don’t actually know what the numbers mean incidentally. Well, I know 1 is very short, and I guess bigger numbers are longer. We decided on 4, after I pointed at the barber’s own hair and said, “like that”. Four turned out to be quite short.

The most alarming thing was he set fire to my ears. I’d heard about this, but wasn’t sure I believed it. He came at me with a burning cotton bud and flicked it. Felt like the whole side of my head burst into flames. I quite enjoyed the experience in general. I don’t know if I’ll go back.

Also this weekend, the Lego Show came to town. Friend Dickie described it as the “nerdiest event” he’d ever attended. He had a point. They do take it very seriously. For all that, it was a fun day out, and we also got to eat pizza.

I’m currently trying to book air tickets for a trip in the spring to Taiwan. I thought booking early would male it cheap. Also, fuel is currently cheap right? I was wrong. It’s still ridiculously expensive.

The boy is currently going for his black belt at martial arts school. He’s just 9, so this is something of an achievement. However, as part of his exam he has to run 3 miles in 30 minutes, do 35 press ups in 1 minute, 35 sit ups in 1 minute, and a whole host of academic stuff. I can do the academic stuff. Helping him train for the run has been fairly painful. I can now run 1.5 miles without feeling like throwing up - yay me!

It’s late, I’m tired, and I think I may be getting a cold.

Here are some pictures of us playing pomelo heads