Headline this week is that I moved at the weekend. Goodbye Shibaura and hello Azabu. It’s a considerably different experience: Some streets round here don't feel like Tokyo. And amongst other things, I traded a work desk for a dining table. I haven’t had a dining table since August 2021. Now my breakfasts feel somehow dignified.

This week in data:

• Papers read: 0
• Distance run: 10.82km
• Gigs attended: 0

Class is going well. We formally began the Kanji. At some point I have learned to handwrite most of the katakana and hiragana. And at Tuesday lunchtime I managed to order in a non-English-speaking restaurant without any aids, and it didn’t seem very awkward.

Second month in a row that I’m deep-cleaning a flat. This one was a bit easier at least: Three months is a lot less than four years.

MA helped me move by renting a van and helping me shift 3 bags, 2 suitcases and 1 box all in one go. This was by far the easiest inter-city move I’ve ever done — the hard part was sourcing the bags — and I hope the next one goes just as smoothly.

Micro-milestone: Figured out how to do bank transfers.

I’m running again. Sort-of. It’s an experiment. I’m doing very basic training. After The Scary Health Condition, other than hikes, I avoided exercise because frankly at first I was terrified and anxious. Instead of confronting that fear I avoided it, allowing it compound with other anxieties, until the interest payments morphed into unhealthy coping strategies.

And we said goodbye to that last year. Also, I got a clean bill of health, twice. Towards this year’s Theme, and continuing this not-so-new health century, this is me, Alex, confronting it. The slow, gentle, data-driven way.

What I have learned so far, is, that, traffic lights are out to get you. Or, at least, they are out to ruin your pace.

Pigeons can be kind-of aggressive, huh.

So anyway, there I was, strapped to a table alone in a basement with my trousers down. No, no, in the hospital- remember I mentioned that that thing with my arm? Ack it’s a long story. You really had to be there.

Watched Tampopo (1985) the “ramen western” - with subtitles, and what a delight that was. Beautiful cinematography. Solid bits. And a young Ken Watanabe. Easiest 4/5 I’ve given in quite a while.

OK TJ's in town so I gotta dash.