30 January 2011

We took a trip to Tamagawa as Nick is keen to get some shots of Fuji with the new camera. It was really chilly, though almost balmy in sunshine, but that soon disappeared as cloud began to roll in. We'd left the buggy at home, and Emily managed well, walking to the station, and then up onto and along the wooded ridge above the river. There were great views across to the closest mountains, and Fuji (for a while, anyway). It was nice to have a cloudscape for once, instead of unremitting blue sky, but it did thwart Nick's main aim.

We spent a short while at the hilltop playground, on the slide, climbing frame and rocking dog.

We had a little race across the grass and at the end Emily pushed Nick quite aggressively several times; we were not at all sure why and she wouldn't say. One thing was for sure, she was very hungry and also complained of being chilly, so we decided to make haste and get some lunch. There are only two restaurants round there that we know of and they were both busy by the time we got there. We took a seat outside the second, as they had thoughtfully laid out fleecy cushions and blankets for waiting customers (or perhaps it was for the benefit of smokers). We were soon invited inside anyway, and managed to find a couple of dishes to fill up on.

Before we made a move homeward we popped up to the nearby shrine

which we have passed many times but never visited before, and discovered a well-placed viewing balcony that provided a wonderful panorama of the mountains. Fuji was hidden but gradually shed its cloud cover to revel itself briefly.

I wonder if Nick and I will get to climb again in July after all? I feel less sure of the transfer happening with every passing day.

The sky looked heavy, and lo and behold, when we emerged from the train in Shirokane it was snowing lightly. Emily was delighted, and by the time we had walked to the apartment it was a proper snow shower, though short-lived - just half an hour. She loved the flakes settling on our hair and eyelashes, and immediately took Goki out onto the balcony to show him.

In the evening, I upgraded my run to 75 minutes and decided to add a further 5 minutes each week until I am running for two hours. Nick said he couldn't understand why I would use up so much of our valuable weekend time together but if I can manage it I feel I should, for the sake of my health, my weight and my ability to keep up with Emily. Also, I still harbour a hope of doing a marathon one day and maintaining a mid-distance run regularly will stand me in good stead if I find the right opportunity comes along. On the scales I came in at 63.2kg, but have been lacking self-restraint all week so it was no surprise to go up a pound and a half. As I am eating early with Emily more often now, I find that by 9pm I am very peckish again. That is the main danger time as I begin nibbling on whatever is available, and usually carbohydrate. I need to make a new rule for myself to adhere to, to avoid that; recognising the risk and distracting myself at the time of weakness is also part of it.