Breakfast was a bad affair due to the usual lack of interest on Emily's part and a lack of patience on mine. She was then moody because I was cross with her and stayed that way long after I had relented and chilled out again. She was very sullen as the three of us made our way up to Kamezuka park, with many tearful episodes (and, oddly, was very unresponsive with Nick even though he had not told her off at all). Just as I had finally begun to win her round, a natsu mikan (type of large citrus fruit about the size of a big grapefruit) hit me on the head and she cried again. There is a large tree full of them just at the entrance to the park and Nick was trying to reach some of the lower fruit. A man came over and had with him a pair of long-handled shears - presumably not a coincidence -which he lent us. I was trying to catch the orange that Nick clipped but instead took a direct hit on the bonce. I was not hurt but it took another quarter of an hour to bring Emily out of her glumness. Even a game of hide and seek didn't work but what did it in the end was the discovery of a tree laden with kakis (persimmon). Nick collected half a dozen but unfortunately when we got them home and tried one it was horrible - really astringent, though it looked just like the ones sold in the shops.
We were in a bit of a rush as we were due at the TMG Christmas party. This year Steph had managed to secure a good venue: a smart restaurant in a contemporary style in Roppongi. The fee per adult would have been acceptable if there had been a reasonable variety of dishes and plenty of food, but there was only vegetables, turkey with stuffing and some sort of pilaff, and the supply was pitiful. In fact, as we were nearly an hour late getting there it had virtually all gone long before we got to it, so all I had was a small plate of vegetables and Nick didn't even have a sniff of the turkey. We set up camp in an area set aside for the many kids to play in, which had a good selection of toys out for them to use, but it was as hot as Hades in there and our bellies were indicating that we ought to leave in search of better repast. A final small replenishment of the meagre fare did little to change that but as Santa had made an appearance we thought we ought at least take Emily to see him. In the end he spent his whole two hour slot in a 'grotto' room set aside for family photos. However, private photos were not allowed and it turned out to be a very costly picture: more than 10 pounds for one lousy snap in which Emily was not even smiling. I wish we were better at asserting ourselves as we should have said that we didn't want it.
After our difficult morning I was feeling rather unsociable and there was only one person there that I knew well enough to chat with so was happy to leave before the end. The venue was just around the corner from Midtown, so we went there and picked up a picnic, which we ate huddled outside. The mall was packed as they were holding a Christmas fair and also as there was to be a special light show in the park. I didn't really want to be around crowds anymore but after playing Pooh sticks together for a while we ended up hanging around until 5pm to see the lights come on. It was pretty spectacular, I have to admit.
By the time we had stayed to take the lights in we were too late getting home for me to go for my run as planned. That was because I had invited James round for dinner, Tracy and the kids having left for a 6 week sojourn in the UK a fortnight before.
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