At last, a decent day and a chance to get out. After lunch I took Emily to Hibiya park. Entering near the small lake, I stopped to admire a lone heron and many turtles sunning themselves, some piled on top of each other three-high like a reptilian orgy. I took advantage of Emily dropping off to eat an ice lolly and enjoy the warm sunshine. I think it's a great omission in the UK to overlook aloe vera as a foodstuff. I really liked the aloe lolly, made by much-sniggered-at Calpis. Very refreshing. It is also my favourite yogurt flavour.
As I sat, the area before me began to fill with young ladies variously equipped with dustpans, litter-pickers and brooms. There must have been about a hundred of them, organised in groups of five or six, and they dispersed to all corners of the park to collect what little detritus there was (generally, I think most people here are pretty good at using bins anyway). Litter patrols are a feature of Japanese society that I greatly approve of.
Emily seems suddenly closer to rolling over. On her back she bucks about so wildly sometimes that I'm sure she'll flip right over one of these days. She does appear to be making a definite attempt to turn her legs to one side, as I've been repeatedly demonstrating. She's also a lot more vocal lately. I'm trying to teach her vowel sounds, both English and Japanese. No luck yet, but she does watch my mouth intently as I shape my lips for each sound.
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