Cardboard Samurai
(Christmas Card from Japan: Carlisle, UK)
Each year, my friend Taka surpasses himself with a choice of Christmas card from his native Japan. Every time, I am completely delighted by the novel appearance and inventiveness of the folded greetings. This time I received pop up samurai armour with its own screen. He wrote an amusing message on the reverse of the screen which I must retort to in a similarly silly manner. This card arrived flat in an envelope and I simply folded a tab, unfolded the screen behind and voila! As you can see here, it is highly detailed and quite authentic – as far as Japanese cardboard armour goes. I think it has to be one of the best cards I have ever seen. It isn’t as festive as his usual offerings; this year my sister received a three dimensional skating Santa and my mum’s was a diorama of two doves holding a ribbon – of course, it was also 3D. I reply to his well chosen cards with a calendar that I make myself.
If you’ve been waiting on posts here, I can only excuse my lack of communication by blaming it on the constraints of the festive season. Last night, Ying and I returned from Carlisle with enough time to unpack, then meet a friend for dinner, see a Finnish film at the local cinema and then top it off with a drink – by the time we arrived home, it was after 1am – not a time conducive to writing. I’ll try to make this a daily ritual again, but not through a post pub haze.
– Today Rosie is meeting friends back in Glasgow, UK –
