After our enjoyable visit to Shinjuku Gyoen at the weekend, I invited Geraldine, Bettina and Sam to join me there for a picnic. They are the only people I know who are stranded here in the heat and have not flown off home for a summer vacation (though Bettina goes next month for about four weeks - a real shame).
What a bad idea! It was really hot and humid and by the time I'd walked there from the station I was dripping. Emily and I sat on the picnic mat and waited for the others to arrive. It was close to 2 by the time they'd all turned up; we moved to the lake area and sat down under a tree with a view of the island. It seemed exactly the same temperature in the shade as it was under the sun and I had to employ a hand fan to stop us from overheating. The poor babies were very sweaty, as were we, and perhaps a bit grumpy as a result. I fed Emily with some cucumber, yogurt and watermelon to try to stave off the tears. We only lasted half an hour or so before we decided to call it a day and head for some respite and a cold drink.
It took a while to find a coffee shop with space for us (Starbucks, naturally!) and even then we had to sit outside and bask in the odd draught when the door opened and let out some cooled air. All in all not a great afternoon, but at least they all came, and bringing Geraldine and Bettina together closes another gap in my social circles. They are both French-speakers so I hope they will get on well with a few meetings.
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