with samfa gone, i’m having a lot of time to myself to laze about and go on solo missions for cool things like watching animated films on the silver screen. and let me just say i don’t understand the disdain that some people have for animated movies. truly, i don’t. they are ART! the best of them at least.

but today, i’m here for art of a different sort, at the japanese restaurant ‘mikawa’ in west london. it is a colourful space with sumo wrestlers painted on the walls and pink plastic sakura crowding the ceiling.

the server speaks mandarin to a chinese family who’re getting ready to leave and then takes me to my seat.

i order tuna and salmon sashimi, and salmon and yellowtail nigiri. the place is not cheap but is highly rated, which seems a little strange because this part of town feels a bit scruffy.

the film i saw at the cinema earlier was ‘the millenium actress’ directed by satoshi kon. his art is very realistic and polished, and he favours a surrealist approach in storytelling. you could call him the david lynch of anime.

‘could you?’ asks samfa when i tell her over the phone. ‘and by surrealist, do you mean a film that makes no sense?’

‘the best things in life often don’t make sense,’ i tell samfa. like you, i think.

‘great.’

‘anyway, it hit harder than i thought it would. cos of the themes you know? of chasing after a dream and never getting there. and finding meaning in the journey.’

‘ah,’ says samfa. ‘what dream have you been chasing?’

funny.

‘how’re albus and hal?’ she asks.

‘they’re good. i had a long, deep talk with hal last night.’

‘oh nice, what did you two talk about?’

‘transformers, mostly.’

sampaafulhu snorts.

‘ok,’ i say. ‘i’m gonna go on a walk after this.’

‘ok good.’

‘it’s a parky kinda day.’

‘WHAT?’

‘i mean i’ll go to regent’s park after lunch. it’s supposed to clear up soon.’

‘ah ok, i thought you said something else,’ says samfa.

‘what did you think i said?’

‘never mind. enjoy your lunch. i’m going to hang up the laundry.’

i put the phone away just as everything arrives on a nice long plate. i really dig the rice, it’s a little sour from the rice vinegar and the grains aren’t mushed together. and the fish taste very fresh, the salmon especially: creamy, some might say buttery, releasing a bit of sweetness with each chew. a great meal.

then, i pay up and sit there, feeling a little stuffed and thinking. am i too old for the chase? probably. but will i stop? unlikely.