We set off late morning for our lunch date at Sharon's apartment in Azabu Juban. I was really pleased that she had asked us to join them, as there would be a couple of other new mums and babies there that we hadn't met before, as well as Tracy and Lottie. As I'd guessed, it was very spacious and luxurious, set in a quiet dead-end road and surrounded by mature trees; still, they have two incomes and I expect that she gets a decent housing allowance from the embassy as well.
Tracy arrived at the same time as us, and after a while Phillipa turned up with her 6-month old, Indigo. Phillipa was the reason for the party, as she was about to go back to work at the embassy (they are only allowed six months maternity leave - I wonder why, since back home they'd be entitled to a year?). Later, Bettina came along with her 2-week old, Tim, who seemed so tiny that I couldn't imagine that Emily had ever been that size. Although they all knew each other they made us feel very welcome, and I didn't feel awkward at all. Most of the talk was naturally about the various habits of our offspring: feeding, sleeping and nappies!
As I was cooking dinner, there was an earth tremor: the first I'd felt since the night we arrived. At its epicentre inland it was magnitude 5, but here in Tokyo it was only registered as a 2. I didn't panic when it started, but quickly turned off the gas and wedged open the front door in case we needed an escape route. I'll admit that my heart was in my mouth though.
1 comment:
Sounds like a good day's socialising. I'm glad there are some other mums/babies that you and Emily can mix with.
Do they give out warnings of the earth tremors; does it depend where you live ? Great to see you had the forsight to take some precautionary measures - very impressive.
Post a Comment