This photo was taken last Saturday at a Vietnamese place in Yokohama : D met me after work having done posters at Kinko’s for our upcoming mega party Featureless Void in Yokosuka next week – it’s going to be mayhem I tell you, though our actual 30th anniversary is tomorrow, and fittingly, we haven’t even decided what we are going to do yet ( spur of the moment spontaneity is one of the many things that I most love about him ).
This photo is my parents at my aunt and uncle’s 63rd anniversary celebration last week. I put this in because it is entirely relevant : there is no difference whatsoever : at the top of this post you see a couple; below you see two more. They have all had their ups and downs, their highs and their lows, but something – love, presumably – has kept them together.
With the horrible, threatening-feeling rise of prejudice and homophobia that is tangible in the world right now – existential in scope – I feel that this is a point very definitely worth making.
But tomorrow it won’t really make any difference. We will be off somewhere – no idea where yet, but the weather is supposed to be lovely – just having a good time.

We know what we know.
Congratulations to you both!
Thanks very much
What a truly wonderful pair you are! Congratulations both. Have a beautiful day and here’s to a hopefully very hedonistic, shindig in the near future.
Next week’s will be colossal
So wish I could just beam you in
That is truly my dream right now, a whirl of crazed, music-filled partying with you in Japan I honestly can’t imagine anything better.
an ache
Awww! Congratulations and Happy Anniversary to you both! We are indeed in dark times when it comes to the spike in homophobia at this time, but even though it’s difficult to imagine an end in sight right now, I know that the genie can’t be placed back in the bottle. There are so many more people out there now that understand that love is love and that who their neighbor loves is of no threat whatsoever to their choice of whom to love. Have fun kids!
Thanks for this xx
Happy Anniversary you two!
Thank you very much and for continuing to read this mulch and still reply on here x
Happy anniversary! 30 years is a big deal – enjoy whatever you decide to do to celebrate!
Thanks, Nose ! Looks like we are dropping in at a barbecue then going down the coast to an art gallery.
Divine weather
Shame I will be limping
Happy Anniversary!!! You clearly started dating when you were 5 years old 🙂
!!
yes it was a kindergarten romance that stuck
Congratulations, and best wishes for many more years together
Arigato !
Happy Anniversary xx
Congratulations and hooray 😃 for 30 years!
Is a there a rise in homophobia? Seems like Pride month was celebrated more in 2023 than in the past.
Maybe I’m clueless because here in Nepal, homophobia isn’t a thing. We even had a little Pride parade in my tiny town. I was just thinking about how Nepalis aren’t as weird and uptight about sex as its fellow Hindu neighbors to the south. Women and LGBTQIA aren’t harassed on the street like they are in India too. I had a Transgender maid for a year or so until she ran off and got married. Hmm 🤔
Yes I see what you mean : each place has its own trajectory but there does seem to be a great deal of backlash in ‘Christian’ America and elsewhere – both d and I feel a bit under siege psychologically, even from far away
Again, I’m too late: congrats! 30 years is quite something, and you can be proud of it!
Love Duncan‘s Ndebele Design shirt!
Congratulations fellow 30 yearers!
Typically we had a slight grouchy weekend as is always the case but there were some good moments
How was yours ?
The day itself, we were in Naples and got gently smashed on cocktails in a bar. Then we fell asleep. The weekend was a final Saturday of making the most of the city and then Sunday flying back and settling in again at home. It was good!
Belated congratulations, Neil and Duncan. Here’s to a minimum of thirty more!
I see, in that photo, two very handsome individuals enjoying a relaxing moment… Happy Anniversary! I so appreciate your touching words regarding relationships and love. Love IS Love & it’s our birthright – – each & every one of us! – – to do love any way we want. It does feel like the world is dipping into the Upside-Down more lately, especially here in the States, where a crew of pathetically low-information “fascist-lite” control freaks are trying to force their backward ideology into the civil rights of the rest of us (including their religUlous beliefs). Add to that the fear of being shot by some nutbag while in a movie theatre or out shopping and the dystopian timbre darkens… All that said! “It’s always darkest before the dawn” isn’t an adage for nothing. Setbacks often are precursors to giant leaps forward!
Thank you, Dear Sir, for your impeccable prose & wonderful fragrance reviews and sharing. Sending you and your husband light & love…
So delighted to read this.
Thank you so much.
Have we met before ?
I don’t believe we’ve previously met. The other day was my first comment on your site (“the morbid honeysuckles of OG Cristalle EdT splash”). Although I’ve always loved fragrance, I’ve only been collecting & reading fragrance blogs since ~2018 (so, a relative newcomer). Your site is fast beoming my fav…you write so beautifully…