Terrible Accident Happened to A Japanese Restaurant in Perth

It was a tanabata day yesterday, and I was just thinking if I should be making a tanabata cake when I received a phone call from my friend.

“Matsuri Japanese restaurant in the city will be closed for awhile!”

Apparently there was a terrible accident happened yesterday at Matsuri Restaurant.  A car has crashed into a CAT bus before ploughing into the restaurant, sending diners running for cover.

There were three customers sitting near the window and they had minor injuries.  I wonder how it’d be if it happened during the busy lunch time.

You can find out the full story about it at www.watoday.com.au.

(photos from www.watoday.com.au)

By the way, this morning I was told that the restaurant will still open.  They covered up the damaged window side with timbers and all the broken glasses were tidied up already.  There must be many people around Matsuri today who are curious to see what the restaurant looks like.

Oh, different subject, but a storm is going to hit Perth from today.  I REALLY REALLY hope there is no more hailing this time…  I mean, I wasn’t here last time when a huge hail storm attacked Perth, but if it happens again… IT IS NO GOOD.

At the moment it is 7:30, and the sky looks… ok.  Cloudy, but I can see the blue sky.  BUT, I remember people were saying that when last hail storm hit Perth the weather was fine too.  …Cross fingers..

Planning and Sleeping In

Time flies…  It’s already the second half of the year.  I have something that I wanted to complete in 2010, but it’s been little difficult to find time for it lately.  It sometimes frustrates me, but I try to manage my schedule and plan the things that I need to do for the next few months.

Oh, the another thing I’m planning is a little home party.  I like having a little party, and just thinking about the food and the time with friends makes me really excited.  But, the problem is that this house gets very cold in winter and hot in summer… (><)  I really should buy a portable heater.  And, personally I don’t like just sitting in a same place, and prefer moving around.  I hope my friends also feel at home and move around to the sofa or to the garden and enjoy the time by doing whatever they want to do!

Last night I stayed quite late watching World Cup Brazil vs Netherland and Uruguay vs Ghana.  I woke up around 10, then did some of my stuff, washing clothes, cooking, etc etc.  After my husband woke up, we had a bowl of chicken porridge together.

(recipe : http://umeboss.com/posts/734/getting-cold/)

I turned on the power on a slow cooker last night and left it until just before I went to bed.  I just had to reheated it this morning.

I know it sounds really weird, but I like eating porridge with raw vegetables…  This time, I added shredded cabbage on top of the porridge with other usual condiments (fried shallots, char kwe, cut chilli…) Sometimes I add celery leaves, lettuce, edamame to the porridge - yes, it is weird, but I like it (^_-;)

Fine Winter Day

JAPAN LOST !! (>0<)

It was a long game against Paraguay yesterday, and the first penalty shootout of the 2010 World Cup was carried out.  Japan lost in the end, but I think they did their best and I’m proud of them for coming this far as a only Asian team.

Anyway…

It was my favorite climate during the day yesterday!  Not too cold, but not hot, little windy and I could feel the air moving around me.  I like looking up the sky and watch the cloud moving.  At a glance it seems to be stopped, but if you watch it carefully the cloud moves pretty fast sometimes.  It’s my thing: I used to look up the sky and think “Australia could be under that cloud!” “I wonder what people are doing right now under that cloud over there…”  Then I felt that the world is such big and my little trouble seemed to be a tiny thing.

I was feeling little down over the last few weeks, as things happened around me and I wasn’t sure what I wanted.  But now, I realized something important after talking to friends and also reading some books.  Now I’m feeling pretty good

One thing that I still feel sad about is my cat.  She passed away just few days ago in my house in Japan.  Actually there’s a little weird story behind this cat, and I loved her so much.

Puu, a cat with mixed colors of black, grey and white, came to my house when I was around 17 ~ 18, I think.  I don’t remember how we started to have Puu, but she was already an adult cat (♀) by the time she joined my family.  She was a little strange cat!  Every night when I was taking bath, she called me “meow” behind the smoky glass in the bath room, and comes inside the bathroom and sit on top of the bathtub (I used to take bath while covering half the bathtub with plastic tub-cover to keep water hot, and she sat on the cover and slept!).  And, every night she called “meow” at the door of my room, then came inside the room and slept on my bed next to me, in my futon.  I had never seen cat that likes taking bath…

She was so smart too, and I felt some connection between her  But, one of her weird hobby - she liked jumping to the tray of kei-truck every time she sees any kei-truck - caused a trouble.  One day, she suddenly disappeared.  We think that she jumped on the tray of a kei-truck which was stopping around my house, and the truck started to move and Puu couldn’t get off the car.  I was so sad, and hoped she would come back soon.  But she didn’t.

After few months, mum told me an unbelievable story.  When my mum went to Lawson, a convenience store, one cat jumped inside her car and sat on the seat as if she was waiting my mum to drive home quickly.  My mum came home with the cat.  The thing we felt so weird was that the cat looked exact same as Puu!  Same color, similar pattern, and same gender.  We really thought it was Puu, but something was little different. (to me) And, the tip bone of this cat’s tale was little broken.  Besides, this cat didn’t like taking bath and sleeping on my bed.  It was a different cat.

I couldn’t believe what just happened.  This cat already started to feel at home and sleeping in front of tv.  The personality of the cat was obviously different from missing Puu, but we started to love this cat too.  We named her “Puu”, the same name as the previous one.

“Puu Ⅱ” was pregnant when she jumped in my mum’s car, and gave birth to 6 beautiful kittens.  She was really like a normal cat (very my-pace) but very adorable.

Since then she stayed with my family.  I really thought she had some kind of power, as she seemed to know everything!  For example, when I was walking towards my house from my friend’s house and started to see my house from the distance, ”Puu Ⅱ” was already sitting in front of the house and looking at me.  And she looked at me with the look: like “hey you”.

“Puu Ⅱ” passed away because of the age.  I never knew how old she was, but she lived her long life like Mimi, my dog.  I hope she was very happy.

aaa

Apple Store in Perth

The first Apple store in Perth was opened today, 26 June 2010 on Hay Street!

“The shop will open its door at 9 am, UME!”

It was what my husband said to me last week.  ”Ok, then we can go there and get a free T-shirt, then head to McDonalds for brekkie”

It was our plan…..   but, as I thought, he couldn’t wake up early today >0<

He works at home and normally goes to bed in the early morning (he is a nocturnal person), and last night was not an exception…

His sleeping face was so peaceful that I couldn’t woke him up.  So, I headed there by myself to see what the shop looks like and then later I can tell him the story

It was again another freezing morning…  The radio said it was actually below 0° this morning!  WOW.

As I walked to the new Apple shop, I started to see people walking with small white boxes.  I knew straightaway that they were from Apple store, and the box contained the free T-shirt!  I had to hurry!  It took me 30 mins to park as I was stuck in the traffic (construction in the city… T_T), so it was already 9am past.

I was walking from East Perth direction, and when I reached to the traffic light on William street x Hay street, I started to doubt my eyes….  ”am I seeing polices and security guards there?”

I was little overwhelmed, as there’re many people taking photos, and few security guards were standing at the door.  The shop was filled with people…

I didn’t stop walking, and headed to the store.  Then, two door men greeted to me and said,

“Good morning ma’am, thank you for visiting our new store.  I’m sorry but you will have to queue the line and wait.”

Then I finally realized there was a loooooooong queue of people waiting to get into the store!  Crazy!

After a short consideration in my head, I decided to queue.  I don’t normally do such thing (and I could come to this shop anytime in future) but I did.

I waited, waited…. and 10~20 minutes later, I was finally inside the store!  Cute girls in uniform were cheering and handed me a free T-shirt.

The shop looked great.  Many variety of goods, and many staff in blue T-shirts  I played with those displays for few minutes, and had a quick chat with one of the staff, then left.   The atmosphere almost made me want to buy something!  phewwwww.

I didn’t think so many people would be here today.  I’m sure there’re some people waited before opening the door :p

This shop opens 7 days.  You can find info here →

http://www.apple.com/au/retail/perthcity/

Where to Go This Winter

As winter comes, things make me miss down south.  I don’t know what the “things” are: maybe the cold air that makes me cuddle in a warm blanket,  the sound of the rain that erases all the noise outside…  All of them recall my memory of staying down south.

Winter makes me feel warm inside, in spite of the cold weather.  That’s the reason why I like winter.

I think many people prefer summer to winter, especially the people who live near the beautiful beaches, like Perth.  I’m sure some people are longing for the arrival of next spring/summer already.  I get to see many cheap deals at hotels and some travel packages around this time, eg Rottnest Island.  I understand why, as Rottnest Island is surrounded by beautiful ocean and there is pretty much nothing to do except for swimming and cycling.  But, I don’t mind going there in a cold day and watch the quiet beaches.

I actually went there couples of years ago with my husband and stayed for a night.  It was beautiful.  Although we had not much things to do, we enjoyed the slow time there.

I also like South.  I haven’t travelled much since I came to Perth and I’ve only been to Bunbury, Busselton, Pemberton and Margaret River, all of them were really beautiful towns.  As there’s nothing much to do and plenty of time, I could totally relax and day-dreamed about things - I couldn’t do such things while leading a busy days in Perth.  It’s really amazing that you could experience the different pace of time in just few hours drive!

It was about two years ago that we went to Pemberton.  We stayed in a farm lodge, and there’re horses, kangaroos, sheep, dogs etc wondering around right in front of our lodge.

It started raining when we arrived the lodge, and it was very cold.  But, I couldn’t help going walking around the area.  Walking through the mountains, stepping on the leaves on the ground, avoiding huge tree roots…  there was no “road” or “path” that was created by human.  It was such a beautiful walk.

aaaaa, it makes me want to go there again (><)