Horse

Well, one thing I can say is that Emma has an unwavering ability to make me smile. And vice versa it would seem. Yesterday we all travelled to Westminster as described, but we made jokes about the indecipherability of public announcements on trains, and how they often take the form of, "In the event of an emergency would mmvvvm .. mvvvmvmbr mmm mmmrrrv vrr vrrv brrrvvmmm mmmmbrrvbrr as quickly as possible.". That made us both smile and happy for a good while, so I appreciate her presence.

The pub which we visited was actually quite good. Rather than a cultural exchange, it was mainly just relaxed chats and slightly-too-loud music, but we all made good friends. The two main Japanese guys we met, I didn't quite catch their names, but they know who we're talking about when we say Katto or Shouty. It's what everyone seems to call them. But they were very cool people. We spent the night talking in various languages, and Emma and I managed to dance in the tiny space between sofas, which actually proved to be a good photo opportunity for random people staring at us.

Today we met up with Shouty and Katto again, because Shouty is going home tomorrow, and so we decided to meet and go and look at interesting architecture. When that proved far too expensive (St Paul's Cathedral), we just went to Chinatown for some food, and then to the V&A Museum, which proved more interesting than I imagined. All the time, I struggled to talk with Katto, because his English is about the same level as my Japanese, which meant conversing was possible, but on very limited subjects with a lot of physical descriptive acting. Shouty has good English, including the highly informal but oddly impressively cool, "Let's lunch.". He played me his band's CD, and I was actually impressed, they had a nice sound, and while not totally original, they are something I could easily listen to. They were impressed that I was reading Bleach, but I was surprised that they had not heard of Azumanga Daioh. It seems few Japanese people in practice know it, despite its popularity. We went to Nando's after a Starbucks, and had a meal (where Yuri popped up unexpectedly), before we saw the guys to the station. They are a good bunch, and we'll be meeting tomorrow before Shouty jets off home. We'll probably meet in Tokyo sometime.

Thinking about it, Emma must look like my girlfriend so much when we're together. Especially when dancing, as we're the only ones who dance. Ever. And the way we always sit together, and how she rests on me. I'm fine with it, but I understand anyone getting the wrong impression. Even if people know we're not together, they assume we will be. But I don't see that happening, because we're just not quite couple stuff. Just friends. But I do feel protective of her. I think because she's so small. I like small things, and I feel inclined to protect them. But she's the last thing in the world that really needs protection. She's tougher than the Sunday Times Cryptic.

The title of this post comes from the name of the pub we went to. It wasn't The Horse Inn, or The Old Horse, or even The Horse, it was just Horse. I found it slightly strange. Maybe that's their gimmick.