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Tonight on the way home from work, it snowed again. It was raining, and next minute there is snow mixed in. The umbrella made a valiant effort to shelter me from the worst, but it is on the small side. For some reason, the temperature has dropped again. After a couple of warmer days, summer has retreated and given ground to winter.

We've been working our way through the process of buying a car, and after getting frustrated with the dealer on the weekend, I "suggested" that he needed to update the papers and bring them to the office. He is a young guy (well about 10 years younger than I am), so he obeyed. With the help of my boss's secretary we completed the papers and should (I hope) get the car in about 7-10 days. The delay is due to the legal side of parking spaces. Because space is (apparently) at a premium, you cannot buy a car until you have a space in which to park it. And because space is (apparently) at a premium (did I mention that?) the spaces are of varying sizes. So it is necessary for the police to divert precious manpower to inspecting parking spaces and certifying that your car will fit into the space. This process can take (apparently) 3-4 days. Clearly there are many car parking spaces to inspect. And then once they have the stamped parking certificate (I had to get this from the apartment company and give to the dealer, who then goes to the police), the dealer can continue with the transfer of ownership. Another day or two. Sigh... these guys have pointless bureaucracy down to a fine art. Strangely, you can go out and buy a motorbike without having a motorbike park. So space cannot be that much of an issue (and certainly there is lots of space where we live). I guess we justify the existence of numerous police and civil servants.

Oh, and we cooked a cheesecake last night. The oven is working, the mixer and blender also - when plugged in to the new transformer that was obtained on Sunday. So mostly getting sorted now. And Sonia has a nice new pink mobile phone - she is fitting in with the trendy young things around Tokyo (well sort of).