Home

Back in England and everything is cut in more vivid colours shapes and noises than ever before it was, or at least it seemed to me to be back then. The buttercups more yellow than yellow itself, in plain or in translation, from whatever pallette you take it. The fields stretch further, the wind blows familiar and strange all at once. Honeysuckle froths like babies do, at the knuckles of the stem. All kinds of things I'd never noticed before, or paid attention to.

A week or two ago I sat in a room next to the computer room, with broken desks and old pcs pushed up against the wall. I called in '!Next' and when that failed, I slid the door open and motioned in the next first year student. As part of the speaking test, Kikuchi Sensei had them memorise and sing to me the chorus

Country roads, take me home
To the place, I belong,
West Virginia, Mountain Mama,
Country roads, take me home.

Mangled would not do justice their performance. Another few days along and the school anniversary, 'じゃがいも' (JagaImo- Potato) and their full compliment of young old older from all around the community centre who'd gather there and prepare songs of their own and songs of others and deliver them a whole lot better than any first year kid could a chorus in another tongue. One of which (another and not their own) was Swing Low, Sweet Chariot...... Coming for to carry me home.

I had another strange moment entertaining the first year kids, tykes, in Meiji Elementary school around about the same time. They'd never seen me before. I introduced myself, my family, my country of birth. I pinned up pictures of them all. I drew a blue chalk line between a two blobs of the U.K. and four blobs of Japan and a little fat round plane in between. I did it all like I did two years ago, when I had to introduce myself to every class in three elementary schools and one junior high school. Everything the same, except when it came to guessing my brother and my sister's age and realised they'd moved on two years along with everything else.

And now I find myself back for my grandfather's funeral on Friday and a reading from Philippians not Filipinos.