While the Cat's away...

So... Homestaymum set off this morning for a two-day trip to Tokyo, leaving me in the capable hands of Homestaydad. The only problem is, he Can't Do Food, so tonight I went to Homestaydad's cousin's house (around the corner - this is a SMALL island) for dinner. This swiftly became drinking and discussing his opinion on how the end of the arms trade would generally improve the world. Just as I thought I might be about to head home, we went next door to visit a friend of his, precipitating more drinking and a looooong conversation about the imminent privatisation of the Japanese postal service. At the next point that I thought the night might be drawing to a close we adjourned to the local hostess bar - Hachijo must have more bars per head than practically anywhere else in the world. Songs were sung (in English and Japanese, by Japanese and English people - bearing in mind there are a maximum of 4 Westerners on Hachijo, and I've been informed this is a comprehensive total), more drinks were drunk; and finally we headed home when it became apparent that Homestaydad's cousin could no longer be effectively woken up. All in all an interesting night! The idea of paying such a premium for drinks in order to receive flirting as a bonus seems decidedly strange as an industry, but after all I'm here to observe and not to judge...