5 Knee jobs give useful boost to Consultant's Christmas shopping!

Consultant Sean O'Leary gave 5 anxious customers an early Christmas present by adding a Saturday morning to his busy operating schedule. Getting a knee-jobs done just before Christmas week meant his lucky patients were excused Christmas shopping.

At £640 each for the 20 minute procedure O'Leary boosted his Christmas funds and, despite oversleeping, he himself was free to join the happy shoppers in downtown Reading after lunch.

The consummate skill of this surgeon will mean than at least some of the rogue knees will be back in action for the New Year sales.

Find out more about knees in Reading at this web site!


arthroscopy arthroscopy arthroscopy

Tokyo Jazz: Shibusashirazu Orchestra at ShinJuku Pit Inn

My guidebook describes the typical Tokyo jazz club program as 'geriatric'. Not a comment on the music which can be as exciting and high quality as in any in the US or Europe, but rather on the hours they keep. This suits me just fine.

With a sleep deficit and a slight fear of the unexpected a program which says 'door opens 7:30, music starts 8:00pm, music stops 10:30pm' sounds just great to me.

To be sure, its not too easy. Finding an address in Tokyo for a non-native is not straight forward. The instructions on the website might get you to the neighborhood. Then allow upto an hour to search the streets, make sense of the map you downloaded, and find the right building.

The Shibusashirazu Orchestra played a great set with some impressive soloists tightly managed by their chain smoking conductor and with strange silent figures moving around infront of the stage.
See what you think:-

And - as promised - the program ended in time for the last trains at 11:00pm!

Fish for ever! Tsukiji market.

Imagine a market - not with one or two fish stalls but dedicated to fish.

Walk through it to reach another the same. And then another. And then another. And yet more. At Tsukiji the fish seems to go on forever!

Business starts early with auctions mostly of tuna - the record price this year was more than 56 million yen (c $500,000) - but on this Saturday in December the place was still busy mid-morning.

Special motorised carts race up and down the ailes. Since my last visit the smokey diesel engines are completely gone and replaced with clean electric power.

Super-sized mussels for sales!

At the edge of the market are tiny restaurants most with lines of customers eager to try the freshest raw fish.

In the surrounding streets there are many kinds of food shops and stalls - as well as fish restaurant, specialists in knives and cookware, pickles, teas, seaweed, fruit and veg.