Maybe someone should do them a favour and have a quiet word....?
We were on our way around Tokyo Bay to Ikea. The train there goes across a very long bridge which affords great views of the open water and ships going in and out of port. Even though I got seasick last time we took a ferry, I had a strange hankering to get afloat and take a trip somewhere. The massive store is in a very bleak industrial area of warehouses and silos, though that doesn't deter the hordes from trekking out of the city to pick up some cheap flatpack furniture. Us too, of course, though it was a last resort because we hadn't been able to find a suitable bookcase anywhere else.
Later, I went out to dinner with the embassy girls. I felt extremely nervous, especially as Emily has been refusing her late bottle, which Nick would have to give her. However, I was certainly looking forward to an evening off cooking, and perhaps a glass or two of vino. Sharon had booked the four of us a table at a place called Roy's which offers 'Hawaiian fusion' food (Hawaii is big here). It's on the fifth floor of elite shopping mecca Roppongi Hills Tower, and our table had good views across to a lit-up Tokyo Tower. Sharon and Tracy had just arrived before me, and Phillipa turned up as we were sitting down. I was happy to go with the suggestion of a champagne cocktail, and chose a kir royal. If I could only have a couple of drinks then they may as well be damn good ones.
The first hour of the meal was taken up with baby talk, naturally. My starter was an attractive pile of cubes of raw tuna with ginger - not what I'd expected, but it melted in the mouth and while I wouldn't say I loved it, it was manageable. It was inevitable that at some point they would talk shop, but I didn't really mind. Anyway, it was all very convivial, and I enjoyed myself, so my worries that I would feel left out or inferior were unfounded. I should have known, because they've been nothing but welcoming up to now.
We were all done by 10.30, and Tracy and I decided to call it a night, though the other two were going to go on somewhere for a dance. I took the short taxi ride back again (thankfully the taxi driver found it without difficulty, mainly because I'd taken a written note of the address to show him) and arrived just as Nick was changing Emily preparatory to feeding her. Of course, as soon as she saw me there was no way she was going to go straight to a bottle. Who knows if she would have had it if I hadn't been there - I doubt it, myself. So even though I'd had two glasses of wine I had to give her a bit of a feed. I felt really guilty, but relieved that I had allowed for the eventuality and not had any more than that.
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