The reason for my recent prolonged absence from my blog is that work has suddenly become amazingly busy, so by the time I get home all I am good for is crashing out and watching a DVD. Makes me a splendid social butterfly, I can tell you.

However, on Tuesday, I took the bull by the horns and met some friends in Wycombe for dinner. We went to Yo! Sushi, as Prurient Badger (oh yes, she of the library fame) and I had been given some 50% off vouchers on our last visit there.

I adore Yo! Sushi. It feels like stealing for non-criminals; you just take stuff off the belt, and feel wicked about it. There is the added tension; you can see the elusive pumpkin thingys coming towards you; will you get them? Will someone else get them first? You don't like the look of that blonde in the green t -shirt, she looks like someone who enjoys the pumpkiner things in life. No! She has veered off and gone for the tuna roll! Brilliant! Dive! Get those pumpkin things of deliciousness! Hehehehehe....Success. Victory is ours! Huzzah!

Then comes the bill; if you have been daring enough to go for the kobe beef then you are going to pay for it...grey dishes are expensive, dammit! But then you feel the reassuring shape of your half price voucher in your pocket, and realise that you just got some beef that was fed on sake and beer for £2.50. Splendid.

Also, sushi is relatively healthy, so we pigged out to the point of exploding, whilst still feeling relatively self-righteous.

My friends, Prurient, Ginge101 and Red and Bitey (we discussed what their names should be over a nice bowl of miso soup, and these are what they requested), all had a lovely time, and it was fab to catch up. Prurient and I had taken another soujourn to the library, where once again I was unable to find the Terry Goodkind books I wanted. I adore the layout of the library, and the variety of sections is just fantastic. I do wish they would invest in some series though; I am yet to find Book One of any series I want to read! They have Book Three and Book Seven, bit of an eclectic mix! I picked up some nice vampire novels (my recent delving into the Twilight series having given me a taste for new blood, as it were, and Prurient was able to advise me), and Prurient picked up some lovely trash for her holiday to Ireland. Spiffy.

Back to Yo! Sushi. Whilst we were sitting trying to decide what to have, trying to match up what was on the belt to what we wanted, frantically thumbing through the menu, we noticed something that struck us as a bit weird. There were kids there. Kids about four or five, tucking into a nice bit of raw tuna on rice.

Now, it may just be that the world has gotten much smaller since we were young, and as a result acceptable cuisines have changed, but none of us could imagine our parents taking us to a sushi bar at that age. Indeed, Prurient pointed out that her parents would be unlikely to take her and her siblings to a sushi bar even now. Which I can understand; Father Eris, as much as I adore him, is not 100% sure why I enjoy eating raw fish so much. He can't comprehend why raw tuna is actually as nice as cooked tuna. He has the same sort of trauma with tapas; it is neither a seemly nor dignified way to eat. Knife and fork, that is the way to go. He would probably do it if we forced him to, but he would be traumatised. He is the person who cuts up their spaghetti rather than twirling it. You eat with a knife and fork, on an individual plate, at a table. End of story. There was a fantastic Moroccan restaurant in Exeter that he would have gone to and enjoyed, had it not been for the fact that you lounged on cushions at a low table to eat.

None of us could comprehend taking a child that small to a sushi bar. Nothing wrong with it, just...I don't know, it strikes me as a bit odd. Seeing a 4 year old blonde little girl chowing down on a bit of squid, or some raw salmon....How the times have changed since I was a lass!