29 August 2009

With just a little last minute flapping on my part, we managed to get away on time for our return to Haramura in Nagano prefecture.Emily was not very happy with being confined in the baby carrier all the way to Shunjuku, frequently saying 'I get out'. The two hour journey from Shinjuku on a limited express wasn't much fun. She didn't show much interest in walking along the carriages, which was just as well as they were rocking considerably and even I had trouble staying on my feet. Frequent sightings of diggers, and the odd plunge into a tunnel, stayed the upset for a while; even an early lunch failed to calm her down. I think she may have been slightly motion sick, because she looked a bit pale and became drowsy, eventually dropping off half an hour from Chino. As we got off the train she woke and said 'bye bye densha (train)', so that was the end of her nap.

We had an hour to kill before we could pick up our hire car, so we dropped in at a gelateria, where Emily enjoyed my chocmint icecream and I had to settle for the raspberry frozen yogurt I'd chosen for her. The car collection from Toyota Rentals was smooth and quick (we both recalled the horror of Heathrow Budget-Rent-A Car) and it was a 20 minute drive on very quiet roads to Pension Zigzag in Haramura, up at the base of the Yatsugatake mountain range, which was visible but purple with cloud shadow. The bright yellow pension had changed somewhat since March, as it was now a riot of plants and flowers.

It is totally rampant but very charming. I liked the flowering thyme growing all over the wooden steps at the front, and I noticed a bee hive in one corner, which must do well given the plentiful supply of nectar in theirs and surrounding gardens.

It was only 2pm, so we set out on foot straight away, to the nearby mountain centre and farm. Emily was very excited by the big slide and had lots of goes on it before we carried on down to the large open grassed area, where we kicked a beach ball around for a while.

Cloud was gathering, so we thought we had better carry on to the farm, which is half a mile away through birch woods. There was a veritable thicket of wild rudbeckia near a stream; a favourite autumn flower of mine. Emily really liked the handful of goats and sheep and wanted to feed them handfuls of grass, like the bigger kids, but chickened out and dropped it short of the fence most times.

Nick took her to feed the two ponies too, but one sneezed violently and scared her (and sprayed her with muddy phlegm).

After a quick visit to the produce shop to get Emily some fresh milk direct from the farm, we beat a retreat to the pension as raindrops were falling.

It didn't come to anything, but Nick appreciated an hour chilling out in our room (aka snoozing) before dinner. Emily and I watched a little kids TV then walked around the garden. There was a party going on down the road, and there were frequent cheers and claps, which she copied gleefully. Dinner was at six, and though Emily was dog-tired due to such a short, early nap and busy afternoon, I really hoped she would eat well as we were paying a lot for food for her. She did pick at the Italian-style spaghetti with mushroom, bacon and courgette, and managed a little crab salad, but soon she was showing signs of restlessness. The food kept coming and I was stuffed, so I volunteered to take her back to the room and initiate the bedtime routine. Unfortunately the bath was Japanese, in that it is kept perpetually full (literally to the brim) of hot water. It was too hot for her to go in, so I just hosed her down with the shower head. Once she had her milk I settled her in the cot tent, expecting her to flake out. But as usual, she rolled around and recited her vocabulary for half an hour before giving in to the sandman.

Nick and I spent a couple of hours in the comfy lounge, to the therapeutic accompaniment of heavy rain drumming on the conservatory roof overhead. I made a huge mistake in knocking back a mug of coffee, with the predictable consequence that I lay awake for hours. We crept back into the pitch black room at 10, but I was still awake at midnight. Despite the coffee, Nick seemed flat out, so his deeper weariness was unaffected by the stimulant. He must have been very tired because the other guests, who were students, came in and thundered around in the hall and slammed doors until past 11.30.