Otto's blog

Do you like my new car? Haha – I`m pulling your leg (= joking). It`s not mine. I had just finished shopping when this old (1970s?) Porsche 911 pulled into (= drove into) the car park and pulled up (= stopped) right beside me. When the driver had gone, I pulled out (引き出す) my camera & took a photo.

Sorry I haven`t blogged recently. I need to pull up my socks (= stop being lazy)!

I found a stock cube with a heart mark on it. Maybe it`s a sign (気配) that my stocks will do well this year. Or maybe there will be a stock market crash and I will have a heart attack (心臓発作).
I hope it`s the former (前者), not the latter (後者).

stock cube = 固形スープの素
stocks = 株式
stock market = 株式市場

I used fine wire to repair the broken strings on my kids` badminton rackets. It was easier & cheaper than replacing the string. I came up with* this idea myself. I couldn`t see it on Youtube.

come up with = 考えつく, 捻り出す
come down with (a cold, Covid-19) = 倒れる, (風邪を)ひく

A couple of years ago I saw something by the rail line. What was it? I was curious (興味津々, 床しい) , so I picked it up. It was a ceramic insulator (ガイシ), about 13cm tall. It was pretty old & I thought it was cool, so I kept it. Since then, I have found several more. Finally, I made a display case. It weighs about 10kg, so I don`t want to hang it on a wall. Hmmm. What should I do?

Grammar
どうしょう/どうすればいい？ = What should I do? (NOT 'How should I do?')

I tried this new type of Asahi beer can. It makes a nice, fluffy (ふわふわ), foamy head (泡) when you open it. Nice.

Thank you for your support in 2021. Please continue to visit my blog in 2022. Happy New Year!

After dinner, my son noticed that the oil patch on the paper under his tempura was shaped like Winnie the Pooh`s head. lol. Do you like Winnie the Pooh?

Language Culture:
Be careful: In English, 'poo' means うんち/ふん, so you should say "I like Winnie the Pooh," not "I like Pooh"!

My second son needs a new bicycle. Instead of (代わりに) buying a new one, I repaired & repainted an old bike which we already had. Of course I chose his favourite colour, bright green for the frame. I removed the basket, which was faded, and replaced the brake cable, which was stuck (つかえていた). Finally, it was finished. He said he really liked it, & wanted to ride it straight away (= right away = immediately = 直ちに) so I`m happy.

Grammar:
When talking about the parts or features of an item (e.g. bicycle, car, computer, etc) use 'the' for each part.
物の部分について、「the」を使って
e.g. The lens on my camera is dirty. While parking my car, I damaged the rear bumper.

A while ago I bought an old Pentax film camera on ヤフオク. https://en.bloguru.com/otto/415668/pentax-spotmatic-sp
Finally, I finished a roll of film & got it developed* (現像). Yay, my camera works (動く)!

I`m pretty happy with the results, but I think I have to clean inside the main lens. That`s difficult, but one of my students knows how to do it. I will get him to* help me.

Grammar:
* 'get + 目的語 + 過去分詞 (+誰かに)'
* 'get* + 誰か + to 動詞’ [*ask/tellもOKです]

I spent the final* morning of my autumn adventure beachcombing. I had only found 2 old floats the previous day, so I was disappointed. However, finally**, I could find a lot of nice ones on Wakasa-Wada Beach. I will use them to update my display case collection: https://en.bloguru.com/otto/395057/new-fishing-float-display-case

After returning to my tent, I packed up, rode to the station, packed up my bike, and finally***, caught a train back home.

I enjoyed my 2021 autumn adventure.


Vocabulary:
* final = 最後の
** finally = やっと
*** finally = 最後に

When I saw my single-carriage (ワンマン) train at Tango-Yuri Station, I thought, " Oh, it looks nice." Then I got on & I was even more impressed - inside it looked like a 5-star hotel lobby! I was surprised.

By the way, the cabinets contained samples of locally-produced goods & handicrafts.

Grammar
- 'looks + 形容詞'
- 'looks like + 名詞'