Goodbye Family, Hello London

Before I shook the dust of the south west off my trainers we had a visit from Dad and my other brother and sister, Piers and Freddie. Strictly speaking F and P are half-siblings and Dad gets all sentimental when we all get together as it doesn't happen that often. Add Jasmine into the mix and he was like a wise owl puffing out its feathers in pride.

After an excellent lunch we found a bench on the village green and watched the cricket.

Piers was outraged they weren't wearing white and Sian was annoyed when they played snippets of pop music whenever someone got a 4, 6 or out. It's all part of the 20/20 scene apparently. Jasmine seemed unmoved but enjoyed all the attention from her family.

With just one more day left together we took Jasmine to Yo Sushi to see if she'd be tempted by a taste of Japan.

While she was interested in the conveyor of food, she pulled the most expressive of faces when I tried her with some salmon sashimi. I think she'd been fooled by the colour and was expecting it to be fruity so I can understand her disgust! Raw fish is clearly some way off. On my final morning with her she got hold of my hairbrush - a nifty device Sian got me for my birthday which cuts through long hair like the fabled hot knife through butter.

One side of her silky soft hair was very well combed in a vaguely sixties look. She seemed very chuffed with it.

Final goodbyes were tortuous as I felt the strongest protective feelings towards her and really did not want to say goodbye to her or my sister. Sian sent me some photos afterwards and I have to admit a tear or two was shed.

My sister has done such an amazing job bringing Jasmine up single handed after her utter shit of a husband went off before she was even 1 year old.

Back in London I am using AirBnB again and am in an admittedly tiny but very comfortable room in East Dulwich (south london).

Yesterday saw me watching 'Guardians of the Galaxy' in Peckham while today I'm going into town to be a bit of a tourist before meeting some drinking buddies tonight. I doubt I'll have a chance to blog again before I go so it only remains for me to say...see you in Japan!