Japanese Surgeon's Daily Life

Flight Route

　　Having a meal, looking down through the window, I was surprised. Under my eyes, there was a vast expanse of ocean. The sea of Japan couldn't be that wide. We should have flown over the southern part of the Korean Peninsula averting the threat of North Korea. I made sure where I was on the backseat screen and found that I was flying over the Pacific Ocean. The plane was headed to the east. I knew the route should be diverted avoiding the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and I assumed that the plane would have passed over or around India. I recalled a Malaysian aircraft which had been shot down flying over eastern Ukraine in 2014. I understood this eastbound route would be the most secure way to avoid Russia and Ukraine.
　　Soon after, I hit upon a good idea. I decided to take snapshots of the screen which told the location. I've never flown east of Canada and wanted to record the route and the pictures of the ground for later consideration. I didn't know much about the northern part of Canada, Greenland, and Iceland. As for Greenland, I didn't even know its capital city. As for cities of Iceland, I only knew Reykjavik because it's the city in which a historic talk between the U.S. and USSR took place. It is said to have been the commencement of the end of the Cold War. Some journalists from Japan reported its possibilities as a tourism country at that time. Several hot spas in the land literally called "ice"land....Fantastic! People in Iceland apparently started the Spirit Boat Procession just like those of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6th and 9th every year since the talk. I'm eager to visit the country just on these days some day.
　　If the plane had flown a little south, I would have been able to see the sweet scenery of Canadian mountains. I tried to change the configuration of the location map on the screen, but I couldn't find anything about British Columbia in Canada on the map. Vancouver was far away from my location at that time.

　食事をしながら下を見て驚いた。北を避けて韓国上空にさしかかっているはずが、大海原だったから。日本海がこれほど広いはずがない。前席のシートの後ろに付いているディスプレイで位置を確認すると飛行機は東へ向かっていた。ロシアとウクライナの戦争地域を避けて飛ぶとは聞いていたが、インド辺りを飛ぶのだと思っていたので東へ向かっていることを知って驚き、かつ安心した。２０１４年にマレーシア航空機が撃墜されたことを思い出した。
　位置を確認したと同時にルートを記録しておこうと考えた。カナダより東を飛んだことがなく、北部カナダ、グリーンランド、アイスランド上空を飛ぶはずだ。これらの地域をほとんど知らない。グリーンランドはその首都も知らない。アイスランドはレイキャビクだけは覚えている。東西冷戦を終わらせるレーガンとゴルバチョフの歴史的な会談が行われた場所。余り知られていないが、長崎、広島のような灯籠流しがそれぞれの原爆投下の日、８月６日と９日に行われている。知っているのはこれくらい。
　もう少し南を飛んでくれたら懐かしいウィスラーの山々を眺めることができたかもしれないのが少し残念だが、遠回りは出来ないから仕方ない。ルートマップの設定を変えながらBC州の方角を眺めて見たがバンクーバー辺りは遠すぎて見えない。

British Airways

　　My wife and I started an overseas trip after an interval of three years. I chose British Airways this time for the first time. There was no specific reason for the choice, but I just wanted to pay respect to the U.K.
　　One of the amusements during the flight was every meal. After taking-off, we were served drinks and I asked for a red wine, which will be shown below. We toasted to have fun staying in the U.K. For the meal I asked for chicken.

Travel Guidebook

　　The last visit was with my second daughter just after my youngest daughter had started living in Oxford. I was anxious about her; What place did she live in? or Could she get along well?
　　I hardly had the background knowledge of Oxford, London, and the U.K. at that time. I had just thumbed through a few travel guidebooks during the outward flight. My youngest daughter who had just started her life in Oxford didn't have any room in her heart to welcome us or guide us around the city. There was no building named Oxford University and I noticed a few dozen colleges in the city. Because of that reason, I just visited some tourist spots in Oxford on the last visit.
　　While I had been seeking a useful guidebook for understanding the history of Oxford City and the education system of Oxford University, an ad in the newspaper caught my eye. The ad said that the memoir about life in the U.K. written by the present Ten-noh would be republished with a new book design 30 years after the original publication. Promptly I uttered "That's it!" and I ordered it from Amazon. I read the memoir repeatedly taking notes, writing in the margin what came up in my mind, and attaching postits. Lastly I compiled my destination list. The memoir was one of good reference materials, though the contents were basically of nearly 40 years ago.

(Vocabulary)
preliminary [background] knowledge 予備知識
outward flight 行きのフライト
because of that reason そのようなわけで
memoir [C](フォーマル) 思い出の記, 追想録 [＋memoir about]
publication [U] 出版, 刊行

Second Visit to Oxford

　　I decided to visit Oxford City in the U.K. for the first time in 5 years to attend the Degree Day Ceremony of my daughter. She finished her postgraduate course last year and works as a physician in the U.K., but the ceremony was postponed until the end of the pandemic.
　　Last time I had difficulties listening to the English of local people. I wonder how it would be this time. I didn't utilize the public transportation so much. I didn't know about the oyster card. To tell the truth, I didn't know how to get on the vehicles. However, my daughter advised me and my wife about the public transportation and the oyster card this time. We'll fly into Haneda (Tokyo) International Airport by the last flight tonight.