20 September 2010

Though a Monday, it was a public holiday (Respect for the Aged Day) so Nick was off work. We had set the day aside for a family trip out and wanted to go to the seaside. Emily's behaviour was very tiresome at home, which I put down to the need for a poo, but she produced one just before we left and she was still being very uncooperative even then. As a result, by the time we got on the bus from Zushi station to get to Hayama, Nick was fuming and unable to speak to her for a long time.

It was my idea to try Hayama for a new beach as we have been to Zushi many times this year. Unfortunately I forgot to write down the name of the beach as there are several there. The one we ended up at was OK, but though much quieter than Zushi it was not such a nice place.

The sea was very churned up due to rocks under the surface and I don't like swimming in murky water, so I decided to wait until after our picnic to go in. Nick and Emily went in though, and seemed to be enjoying themselves. However, when they emerged it turned out that Nick had several nasty stings from jellyfish about his torso and legs. Even Emily had one on her calf, though we told her it was caused by prickly seaweed and she didn't seem bothered by it at all.



We ate our lunch under a brolly due to the predatory black kites hovering overhead, then went for a walk along the beach, though early cloud had burned off leaving it feeling very hot. We found a small area of grass and trees just behind the beach and played there briefly, before moving off to make our way to a small beach we know back near Zushi, which happens to have a great coffee shop with delectable cakes. But then Emily got upset because she was so hungry, so we had to ditch our plan and instead ducked into a great little cafe come boutique come yoga studio we'd just passed, with decking outside and a very hippy feel. We had coffee and muffins then Emily got upset when I told her we would not have time for the beach now. After deliberation I decided to go with the flow and we ended up getting the bus to the little beach after all. I was really glad we did as we had it virtually to ourselves and the sea there was crystal clear. We even saw a shoal of pretty black and white striped fish in the shallows. Emily pottered happily as did we, with the sun slipping ever further down the sky.

Then we extended our day out even further and went over the road to Cafe Cha-ya where we shared cakes and had more coffee.

Emily was done in by the time we got the bus back to Zushi station and picked up the train back to Tokyo. Somehow or other she stayed awake until we got home though and we managed to feed and shower her without tears.