I just returned from a business trip to Paris... Li came too to France, to meet some old friends (and for shopping!).
We both agree that Paris is a wonderful city... hum... when you are visiting. But absolutely not a place where we want to live...

I got a Bell's Palsy since beginning of December. I feel better now, but I did not recover completely yet...
When you wake up with half of the face not working (it really happens like that!), you completely panic, until google (first) and a doctor (second) makes you understand that it is not dangerous (but really disturbing, for eating, speaking, etc...)

Again, I was too lazy to write anything here for nearly two months... This is just a quick update:

Boudicca left her prison after 2 weeks, a couple of FAX exchanges, and the great help of a Li's friend in Paris... Domo Arigato Gozaimasu Izawa-Sama!

We are now living in Mita, iin the center of Tokyo, in a beautiful japanese wood house on a small street end. This is very nice, especially when the weather is bad (I love the rain music on the walls!).

Most disturbing was Li's mother heart attack two weeks ago: We received a phone call in middle of the night, and she (Li) went to Dalian the next day, to support her mom. The result was an heart operation, that hopefully will be enough for many years.

Oh, I forgot: My bicycle.
I received an old bicycle from an office friend in middle of July. That just triggered something in my mind: "This is very good!". The next day, Li bought me a new Peugeot bicycle, which I use every day to join the subway station. Two events about that:
A fall down two weeks ago (of course, due to Murphy's law, Li was already in China), and badly touched my left breast. It is still painfull, and difficult to move my arms. This was a good lesson: I am no more in my 18th!!
And yesterday was the best: We were called by the police at 22:00, to understand that someone was catched trying to steal the bicycle (crazy guy: 100 meters from a police station!). I had to spend 2 hours there to put my finger prints on papers that I did not understood at all!!

I will stop there for this post, the two important earthquakes being some kind of routine. We are just hoping that the big one is not going to happen soon...

We arrived in Japan last week.

Li landed a couple of days before me, as I had to come via Hong-Kong. Everything is fine, we live in a nice appart'hotel in Minami-Azabu, and started to look for our next home (likely not far from Azabu-Juban).

But one very important issue is still pending:

We miss Boudicca a lot: She could not pass Narita Airport controls. We eventually should get her back this Monday (but she was not far from getting a 180 days quarantine!). I understand authorities in this case: This dog is probably very dangerous for Japan's public health :-(

Subject: It is time to say my goodbyes...
From: bruno.raoult@sgcib.com
To: Many
Date: Fri, 20 May 2005 12:30:13 +0200

This is my last day in SGCIB.

After 12 years in SG, the time has come to head back to East, and to say goodbye to you.

I wish to thank you all for the years of fun, work and challenges we have been part of. It has been a privilege working with all of you through the ups and downs, and I hope you have enjoyed the ride as much as I have.

I wish you the best of luck in the times to come.

Sayonara.

Bruno, signing out.

Let's go for some updates:

As usual, I had some holidays: Canaria Islands with Li & Boudicca in March, and sailing (again!) in Phuket 2 weeks ago. No way for my wife to come this time (I mean in Thailand): Ghosts are probably everywhere in this place - a very important issue for many Asian people.
To say a word about December 26th tsunami, Koh Phi Phi was completely destroyed, and still not growing up (the lack of tourists does not help, I guess). Patong, on the other side, is very neat (I mean: no difference with the pre-tsunami town I know).

But the great news is that I am going back to Japan! After one year and a half in Paris, I resigned 2 months ago, and in exactly 18 days we will use our one way tickets, back to Asia...

Forty one years old today...

But I am still able to solve the very nice Petals Around the Rose puzzle in around 30 seconds... hehehe :-)

Not so old after all!

La FNAC m'a vraiment déçu le week-end dernier. En allant acheter une nouvelle lampe pour mon vidéoprojecteur (Hitachi PJ-TX10), le rayon vidéo m'a renvoyé au service après-vente.

Mais voila: Le jeune homme qui nous a reçu avait l'air surpris par ma demande, et son supérieur, un homme d'une cinquantaine d'années, m'annonce, d'un air hautain:

Pas de probleme, vous n'avez qu'à déposer un acompte de 400 Euros pour commander cette lampe.

Ooops! Je lui fais part de ma surprise (c'est plus du tiers du prix du projecteur lui-même!), mais il a une nouvelle réponse de spécialiste pour un pauvre idiot de client comme moi:

Mon Brave Monsieur, ça va vous coûter dans les 5,000 (ND br: Francs, c'est à dire 760 Euros), ce n'est pas une lampe de salon. Allez donc voir chez Hitachi si vous trouvez mieux...

Imparable!! Sachant qu'il n'avait même pas daigné chercher le moindre prix (il a simplement regardé le modèle de mon appareil), j'ai préféré abandonner... J'avais spécialement apprécié au passage le "Mon Brave Monsieur" ;-)

Ca se passait a la FNAC les Halles, Paris, il y a 4 jours.

Ah, j'oubliais: Je viens de commander la fameuse lampe (modèle DT 00611) sur le net, pour 270 Euros... J'en aurai donc à peu près trois pour le prix d'une!!

After two months, I eventually took some time to release pictures of our last trip to phuket.

The most interesting during this trip was that Li was not sick at all for her first sailing experience. On contrary, she really did like it! Next step could be to learn how to sail alone? ;-)

We are going again to Thailand, and Li will sail for the first time. We will go with Jock and his yacht, Fi-Tuen, as I already know them.

As usual, Li was going to disturb these holidays, as she managed to find a temporary job for this month (April). So I am just going first there tonight, to arrange the sailing charter conditions with Jock, and she will take the plane this friday, a couple of hours after she finishes her job...

I simply hope she will love this new experience (she never sailed, as said previously), and especially that she will not be sick on board. This could force me to change the next holidays destinations!