Sad Things

Special K told me today about the mill factories in Yamagata. Year-round soba is the pride and joy of Yamagata Shi, they boil it in kazuo broth and eat in cold or hot with tempura and a dozen other ways. Heat affects soba wheat adversely, so the mill factories in Yamagata run with slow grinders- that way the grinders don't get hot, the flour comes out good. That's the secret, Special K told me.

But the bigger secret is locked up in summertime. When the heat gets saggy enough to clot the flour, the grinders run so slow you can't see them moving. In fact, the grinders run as slow as the planes fly fast from Australia, belly full of soba wheat flour, all the way to Yamagata, Japan- but only in the summertime mind...

Special K said this was the locals' secret, kept to the locals, just like Edward and Tubbs' shop is only for locals. Special K has taken to The League of Gentlemen like, well, an Aussie plane to the air, to Japan. It's brilliant. I recommended Alan Partridge as essential viewing on her tour of British Comedy Gold.

She first told me about her penchant for the Gentlemen last Friday, in Mr Donuts, after the graduation enkai hosted by the PTA. I always wonder how I arrived in Mr Donuts whenever I find myself in Mr Donuts. She said thank you to me for all that she'd learnt from me, which I thought a little odd.

But then today it all crash-landed into perspective (if you'll allow me such a tenuous flight of the imagination). Just before Kasuya Sensei told me about the soba wheat flour and the Australian planes, the Kocho Sensei told us all about which teachers would be leaving. It happens every year. About 20% of the teaching staff from each school get shuffled to another school. Kasuya Sensei is among them; and she knew all along. Her contract with Nanachu was only for two years, this being her second.

The Great, The Good, The Unwaveringly Kind Special K is off!! She's going! Woeful news. What more is, my man the boy Shoji Sensei is being sent packing too!! All the way to Kaminoyama. Shoji who makes those wooden things around school, who makes everyone laugh. He grinned with surprise when he walked out of the Kocho-sensei's office. What a sad day. Why is it that the sad things are the most compelling to write about?