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26th July 2022 - Birthday Weekend ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last weekend was my Dad's birthday weekend. Seeing as I started to feel less dizzy on Thursday and felt fine during some test drives, I was able to go down to Plymouth and visit. It was a lovely weekend and ended up being very funny. On the Saturday we went for a bottomless brunch. It was really tasty food and certainly we had plenty of drink. The restaurant was in the old Customs House in the old part of Plymouth. It is a rather lovely building from the 1700s I think. Certainly the inside had a Georgian look in terms of stonework. This was empty for a while so it is nice that someone is making great use of it and seemingly being successful. The time limit worked well as it felt like we stayed longer than if we had gone for a meal. After that, we went and played some mini golf. It was something daft and a good laugh. We were pretty terrible. I am sure that had something to do with rather a lot of mimosas. Balls were flying off the course left, right and centre. I was amazed that no one got hit! Then we had to cool down with some beers in Brewdog bar. While the brewery is not exactly the most ideal, the bars are pretty good for trying new beers. There are not many places selling triple dry hopped beers alongside sours and what not in Plymouth. We started to get hungry again and ended up in a dodgy mexican restaurant called Las Iguanas. Of course, we had to make use of the 2 for 1 cocktails... Turns out that was not the most sensible choice for my Dad. He ended up falling asleep! His face was only a couple of inches from falling into his dinner. We eventually got him awake enough to get to a taxi rank for home. He fell asleep against the wall as we waited. Once we got home, he fell asleep again on the sofa. It was funny and we all had a fun time. My Dad said it was the best sleep he had managed in a fair while. Not surprising as he seems to be ping ponging between my Grandparents and Plymouth on a regular basis. The Sunday was spent together chatting, relaxing and eating cake. It was lovely to see everyone and I had the pleasure of feeling my neice causing my sister in law lots of discomfort as she wiggles in the womb. The next time I see my sister in law, she will have given birth. That is a weird thought. During the weekend, the Nagoya basho finished. It was a strange basho with a third of rikishi going kyujo due to covid or their stable being exposed to covid. However, we ended up with Shodai escaping kadoban status once again. After a terrible start, he managed to get a fantastic series of wins with some great techniques. Mitakeumi ended up kyujo and so never had a chance to clear kadoban. Will he stay and have another chance to clear it or will he make drop a rank? Of course, the big news is that Ichinojo won. Yes, ol'Snorlax won his first yusho. He was certainly genki and tore through the Ozeki and Yokozuna early in the basho. There was a brief wobble which previously would have lead to lots of losses. However, he powered through. It was a race between Terunofuji and Ichinojo until the last match. This was Takakeisho vs Terunofuji. Takakeisho fought hard and did a fantastic job in forcing Terunofuji to step over the bales. Congratulations to Ichinojo! I am so glad he has met his potential and won. Tobizaru deserves special mention for being in the running for the yusho for most of the basho although he was made kyujo as part of the covid precautions. It was a shame as he certainly was in the running for a special prize and performing really well. I do not envy those who have to produce the next banzuke. There are some very difficult choices to make!