Its almost over...
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Hello you lot, Monday, woke up at 8:30 and my legs are really stiff. I slept straight through from 23:00 last night. What with Dancing and cycling, I think I have just plan warn myself out! Lunch time went out with Matthew to a Chinese restaurant in Mita because he wanted to pay me back the 10,000Y I lent him on Saturday night. The place had a nice rooftop patio and because it was a lovely day (temp was 27C) we sat outside in the shade to eat lunch. What I had only came to 700Y or GBP3.50 for a main course, soup and pudding. How can you eat so cheaply in the restaurants while raw ingredients are so expensive in the markets? Tuesday; Woke up early and went for a cycle before work. Its light at five now and the sun wakes me up. Because it had been so hot yesterday I only wore a T-shirt and felt cold. The wind was coming from the north and it had brought cold winter air with it. How can one day be like Summer and the next Winter? The cherry blossom is almost over but the rhododendrons that line most of the Dori-s (roads) here are coming into full bloom. I have even seen some daffodils but only in widow boxes that people here have to use as their garden. Wednesday; Toshiko-san said that is was going to be a very wet day today and said that I shouldn't cycle in to work because I will get soaking wet. It was overcast when I woke up but wasn't raining so did cycle in. It only started to rain after lunch. Going home was fun though. It was raining but not heavily, thought everyone else had an umbrella. Even other cyclists! Dodging the open umbrellas was like being in a computer game. You will be glad to know that I scored the maximum score by NOT hitting any one! That night I checked my bank accounts online. At one point I made a slight mistake in converting Yen to Pounds and found that I was a multi millionaire! If only! Thursday; It might have peed it down yesterday but this morning all the water had gone. Ako emailed me about Margaret's sayonara Party and said at the end of it that the weather was like an English Summer. I answered, "Because it peed it down with rain yesterday?" Found a shop selling belts for 1,200Y (GBP6) at lunch time so bought one. Now my trousers don't fall down! I knew I could find belts for less then the 6,500Y (GBP32) or so that Wing were selling them for. It was just a matter of looking. Pity it took me 8 weeks to do it though! Was a bit feed up so I went for a cycle after work. I went down to Tokyo Harbour and looked out onto the Ferris Wheel in Odaiba. It changes colour just like the Flowers & Diamonds one in Edogawa. A Police Car went by with its light flashing. I didn't take much notice of it until it turned around in the road and stopped me! They wanted to check my bikes registration! That is three times in 8 weeks. If this was England I would lodge a complaint of police intimidation! Do they think that all foreigners are bike thieves? Friday; was very boring indeed, except for Reza and Kevin messing around with a programme that allows you to talk over the internet to anyone, anywhere in the world, For Free! Now, if I can get Mom and Dad to use it I could talk to them via their computer for nothing! I don't know what the big telephone companies like BT will make of it. Saturday; Went to Ito Yokado to do what might be my last weeks shopping. In the afternoon I went cycling up north, its was a nice, if a little hot (27C), day. I enjoyed the cycle and ended up cycling along the Edogawa. Coming back I tried to cycle along a cannel that goes from the Edogawa to Tokyo harbour but it doesn't have a cycle path on its banks except for a couple of short sections. I gave up in the end and headed back along the 15. I had gone quite a long way, about 41 miles, and felt too tired to go out so stayed in and had some sake instead. Reza phoned me at around 23:30 to say go on the internet and use the new Phone program that we had been messing about with yesterday in the office. There was Kevin in Canada, Sin in Singapore and Reza and I in Tokyo!
As I was cycling back home, I had about 20Km to go, Reza phoned me to ask what time I would be back by, because he was buying a bed for the office that Simon could borrow. I said Six and we arraigned to meet at the office. When I got almost home, I rang Reza to ask if it would be better for me to go directly to the office. He said no, as they found a bid but that branch had run out of them and he would have to go across town to another branch to get it. I went home and had a sleep because I was so knackered. Reza phoned at around 7 and I cycled to the office to meet him and Yoko. I guided them to my place and we dropped off the bed then went back to the office so that I could get Bikey-san. By the time I had got back and had had a bath and made dinner it was gone nine. What a long tiring day! Well, Simon will be here tomorrow so we shall see what my last full week in Japan is going to be like. Cheers me dears. Paul Fincher.
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Sunday; I ended up going for the longest cycle I have done to date!