Sorry

 I haven't felt like writing recently.  Too many thoughts in my head, to many things happening.  But I will try to get things down now.

Queen Elizabeth's death really shocked me.  I know she was 96 and looking rather frail in the latest photos but I never thought she would pass away.  She was always around, always in the news or magazines.  Just always there!  When the news first broke about her being under medical supervision and that her family were all arriving at Balmoral Castle it was oblivious that something important was happening.  When her death was announced I sat and cried.  When the Prime Minister spoke and called Prince Charles King Charles, I actually had to think who it was.  It has always been Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles.  Now we have a king.  I was also amazed the Royal Family and the love they showed for the Queen.  The time of public mourning must have been difficult for them.  To go out and greet people when one is grieving is difficult.  

One thing from all this is the ability for news anchors to waffle.  From the time the statement was given that the Queen was under medical supervision to her death was a few hours.  Because of the time difference it was the middle of the night here.  I stayed up watching Sky News and BBC News.  I was amazed at the way the news reporters found things to fill in the no news time.  Basically, saying the same thing in different ways!  

In our little world things have been ticking along.  In my last post I said about Hannah going to driving school.  The course is 2 weeks long.  She passed the first test to get her driving permit but hasn't taken the final test.  Because of yet another typhoon.  Her test was supposed to be on September 19th.  From September 17th we were under a typhoon warning.  At first, I thought Hannah could just stay at the hotel and follow the driving schools schedule, as they would schedule things around the storm.  A couple of things happen that changed my mind.  One was Hannah sent me a link for the hotel she was in.  I thought it would be a big building that could withstand a strong typhoon, but the building was small, no shutters on the windows and the area was in a basin, meaning that flooding would be possible.  Also, as I was checking this typhoon, I realized that it wasn't a small storm and that we wouldn't get just the edge of it (which is what usually happens) no this was a super typhoon.  The Japan Times stated that it was as strong as a category 5 hurricane.  So, Saturday evening Mikey and I drove 90 minuets to get Hannah.  I'm glad that we got her back.  She would have been okay at the hotel, but the typhoon was scary and being alone makes things worse, at least for me. Again, we got lucky as there was no damage to the house, but we lost a good part of one of the trees out front.  

Because of the typhoon David bought an animal cage for our outside cat, who has been named Ten.  I know that cats can find shelter when the weather gets bad, but we worried about this cat, he had an awful open cut on his cheek and he looked rather weak.  He spent three days inside.  When our cats were out of the room, we let him out to roam about.  He is such a lovely cat!

Ten in his cage

Hannah will be going back this weekend to finish her driving course!  Hope she passes her test!

I will try to write more!

Why?

 At the end of July, beginning of August Hannah spent time researching the best driving school.  She read a lot of reviews, compared pricing and accommodation.  She finally settled on one just outside the city.  She made her reservation, paid for it, even got a discount because she paid early.  This week we went shopping for a few things that she might need.  She should leave early Tuesday morning!  I say should because that is the day a typhoon is supposed to sweep through here. If the typhoon doesn't get any weaker it is going to be very bad, maybe no trains, possible floods and landslides.  The driving school is going to call this morning, if they think it is going to be bad then they will ask that Hannah goes earlier, either Sunday or Monday.  I don't understand that, going a day later would be better!  If she goes early, she will have to stay in the hotel, by herself, through a bad storm.  Not the best thing.  If she goes early, I'll tell her to take her kindle, she can watch movies on it!  There's a TV in the room but Japanese TV isn't that good!

So, I want to know why this always seems to happen.  I've spent the past month convincing myself that Hannah will be okay going by herself.  She's 20 and rather grown up, it's just an hour's drive from here.  She has promised to message me every day, I have to send cat photos to her.  We can face time and if things go bad either Mikey or David will drive to pick her up. So, I wasn't overly worried, a little worried but I could cope with that.  But now a massive typhoon is coming on the day she leaves.  Why couldn't it come earlier or later?  I keep telling myself not to worry but that isn't working!

And of course, the cats are up to no good.  Found Fred on my kindle the other day, he had his paws on the screen.  Somehow, he downloaded the Peter Pan movie!

Fred with my kindle!