Japan 4.

I’m sitting here listening to Last Christmas- pan pipes edition. It’s coming from the gift shop. I can also hear the upper lounge, where the air hockey is, next to the karaoke lounge. I want to go up and look, but I am terrified, the Japanese sing with such energy.

I didn’t go English with breakfast today. Can I point out I only did for a laugh yesterday, and I’m not one of those people who has to have English food wherever they go!

First up today was a container planting demonstration using autumn colour. Well, I have to say I absolutely smashed this one. My pots were kick ass, using autumn colour and lasagne planting of bulbs beneath, super flash. We even used the exclusive black hyacinth, so I got a chance to do that sales pitch too! My blend of Callicarpa, Erica, gomphrena and gaultheria was eclectic, yet gorgeous!

We also planted up a big pottery Venus, so she basically had cranberry stem hair trailing over her boobies. Everyone laughed when I sneakily turned it round to show it’s bottom too.

After lunch, I was asked to wing a bit of a garden tour, to fulfil the brief “planning in the garden”. The Japanese are super organized in some things, yet utterly lax in some others! I am starting to adore these contradictions!

So, I shot from the hip and waffled confidently on about formal vegetable planting, the cutting garden and other such cutting edge activities… I then laid out a “burning hot border” of perennials (this didn’t translate well!) and a summer herb garden, which mixed annuals and perennials, so you could treat it “much like a patchwork”!

I’ve been asked back next summer. Woo-ho! Eugene, one of the owners, said I was very talented. Although, he didn’t agree with my choice of winning container, so also awarded ‘his winner’!

Later, we had afternoon tea, obviously. As usual, I was off my tits on the cake and Tetleys (or similar)… I just can’t take so much sugar!

The first course then departed, and tomorrow is a (sort of) day off, although it think I’ve got to show the chef how to prepare my favourite fish dish…?!

As a treat, we all bundled into the company Toyota and browsed a local supermarket, I love this sort of thing. We also went sake tasting, and bought some big black sweet beans.