The last day of winter

So it is officially the last day of winter today, and despite snow being forecast north of London it has been a beautiful morning so far, and the spring blossoms are definitely out to stay. I liked this daffodil bud emerging into the morning, still shaking off the rain from last night.

Gavin is back tomorrow from his trip to Japan. He has found it very difficult as no-one speaks English and all his meetings were conducted through a translator, which is very restricting. He said you could not do simple things like get a taxi as you can't speak to the taxi driver. When he went for his morning runs he felt very conspicuous as was the only Caucasian around. I guess we get so spoilt with everyone speaking English in most countries, and are used to being able to get by. And worst of all, his colleague is very unadventurous and wanted steak and chips every night when all Gavin wanted was original sushi, so their clients took them to Western restaurants. I suppose he has to come back to London to get some sushi!