Feeling a bit out of sort sat the start of the today as i actually had to be awoken by the alarm clock , have i beaten the jet lag ?? So with six hours sleep behind me , and at least a gallon of coffee inside of me it was off for a whole lot of appointments hand picking tosai ! First stop today was an offer by Suzuki to hand pick some doitsu showa , the pond was netted for inspection , although there were many many nice koi including some stunning Kujaku i decieded to pass as i thought they were a bit small for our shop , but still had a bit of fun helping to select some koi for someone else ! Great therapy for me , and if thats how women feel after retail therapy then im close to understanding the other half of the human race finally lol ! After thanking the breeder it was time to move onto somthing i have been looking forward to all week , an appointment at Shintaro to hand select some tosai . We arrived to find  Saito already to go at a differant pond than we had asked to seelct though , i pointed at the other pond and he said no , all ponds , one box , one box , one box , i was starting to be a little concerned as Shintaro is not exactley a cheap breeder and was already doing sums in my head but then the heart took over and said ok why not . ( why is the heart stronger than the brain ?????? lol ) First pond many koi selected , then i went through making final selection , well that is when i could as Mark G excietment got the better of him and joined in  ! With many koi left over of still very good quality , Saito said no problem and produced a floating basket and put what was over so we could use them for a short fall from the next pond , but we neednt have worried ! Next pond things really got a little crazy , so many good koi my head was spinning and soon found a had so many great koi i need nt worry about keeping the other in the basket ! Saito then pointed to another pond and netted some up , and although the quality was still very good , i had so many i diddnt need any more . But then came the question " better quality ?? " and the breeder pointed to another pond , i couldnt believe it , the pond that  he had said there was a few in suddenly was available for seelection , a price was agreed on , actually i say that like there was some negotiating , there wasnt , would you like it ??? Of course , now Mr Chetter Mark G and Chris were all getting in on the " selection opinion " , thankfully just as i had finished Steve Gibbons turned up , 15 mins earlier and it would have been too much for me too take ! But seriously , i was over the moon and so happy with the selection , not cheap fish by any standards , he who dares Rodney !!!! So from here we went to a shop by Yagenji where ive always said that we should go for lunch and every one else said that it wasnt good for lunch , but with the weather turning awful , virtually a white out we decieded it was silly risking life and limb to go down the mountain for a 7/11 sandwich .We should have , opinions were correct , we should risked it , mad lemon cakes , apple pies and strange drinks and biscuits , sorry about that guys lol .Also forget to add that we bowled a nisai Kohaku , stunning skin and body , but as ive way over spent im going to give it a thought  . Pics ......nisai koahku , female and 55cm , stunning ! Next lot of pics are of the very high quality tosai selected at Shintaro .