14 October 2010

In the morning we had a playdate with Mia, going to their apartment for the first time. The girls played quite well alongside each other and did some crafts too. We moved on for our lunch date with Nick, which we were able to take outside. The hour always flies so quickly but it's better than nothing, just about. As she had woken at 6am, Emily was tired and actually asked to go home for a sleep, though I had intended to take her straight round to Julia's. It was the first time for a nap at home since April and it felt really odd to be able to relax with a coffee and use the PC, though of course I knew the downside would be a late evening instead.

As we were still going to see Charlize I had to go in and wake Emily after she'd had an hour and a quarter. We walked up to Arisugawa park and were supposed to meet Julia but we were there an hour before they made it, as they had first been to the doctors, and by then it was getting dark. Not that that stopped the girls from having fun, but after half an hour we had to call it quits and head home for tea. In any case, I found the mozzies there really terrible as it was a moist day and they always hang around under the trees there.


The idea of making a house purchase fills my every waking moment. I am so worried that the two properties we are particularly interested in will go off the market before I have a chance to get back and see them. Also I can't believe how nice they are for the price, which makes me concerned that there is something amiss with them. They have both been on the market over a year, which is slightly suspicious. It would be great to be back home though, even if only for a fortnight. We need to act now while prices are low and Nick has a job so can he get a mortgage! Personally I doubt his boss will give him the push even if he fails the exams, as he still gets positive feedback from various quarters, but maybe he will not get much of a bonus. With exchange rates as favourable as they are it would be wonderful to have one more good bonus to send back in sterling.

13 October 2010

Jo and the kids were going to Australia later in the day, for 3 weeks. As she had asked us to look after their fish they came over to bring them (though it ended up just being one as the other two died that morning) and have a last playdate, and Bettina and Tim also joined us. I was pleased with Emily as she shared her toys well. There were a few little battles going on but generally they all played fine together and ate reasonable amounts of their lunch.


Jo departed with tears in her eyes (not least, I guess, due to the prospect of the upcoming stressful 15 hour overnight journey with the two children on her own). It made me realise how tough it will be when one of us three has to say sayonara though. Bettina and I took Tim and Emily to Hon Shiba and we stayed there a further hour.

The poor old fish didn't see the day out; though it ate its tea it was lying motionless on the bottom by the time Nick came home. I had to get him to take it out and wrap it up for the bin, being too squeamish, though we actually had salmon for dinner - hard to explain rationally, I know!

11 October 2010

It was a gorgeous day: almost a return to summer. Too hot, actually. I misjudged my clothing as I thought would be cooler and breezier by the bay. We took a one hour boat trip from Hamarikyu via Odaiba to Kasai Rinkai Koen. As ever, there was much to see and point out to Emily. She had lots of fun trying to catch shadows on the deck.

On arrival we found the park quite busy as it was a holiday (National Sports Day) so it took a while to find a free picnic spot in the shade. Emily announced that she needed a wee so I took her off to some bushes. She was about to get on with it when she said there was a spider, and indeed there was: a whopping great big thing in a huge web. Japanese spiders are not completely black and hairy like ours but it was still alarming to see one so close. Inspection of the surrounding bushes and trees revealed many more so we had to trek to the toilet block after all.

Once we had eaten we walked through the park to the Ferris wheel, the biggest in Japan at 117 metres. Nick and Emily had been on it a few months back but this time I decided I ought to join them and it was a lovely clear day so I wanted to see the view all the way across the city to the mountains. We had to queue for nearly half an hour, during which Emily got very upset and was inconsolable for ages, much to my embarrassment with so many onlookers. I think she was just a bit tired as she sometimes gets like that around 2pm before getting a second wind. Each gondola was just big enough to seat four people, and the glass came right down to the benches. We hadn't got far at all before vertigo set in and I had to sit down on the floor between the seats and cling onto the bars either side. I stayed that way until we were nearly down again, though I did eventually venture to gaze into the distance (looking straight down brought instant giddiness). I can't understand how I can be such a wimp now, having abseiled, paraglided and sky-dived.

We finished our visit with icecreams from the handy vending machine, Emily predictably getting very messy with her chocolate cone.

After a quick chuck around of the frisbee we had to make tracks, though Emily had another mini-meltdown when I couldn't find her any acorns to replace one she'd had earlier and lost.

Passing through the restaurant alley on the way back from Tamachi station, we stopped to look at some newly-trimmed daikon (giant white radish). We also noticed a small tank with a very sorry-looking eel and some flat fish lurking in it ready for evening service.

In the evening I reluctantly went out for a run, but it was awful, and I realised that I hadn't eaten anything other than a small icecream for seven hours before setting out. Eating first then running later in the evening is definitely the way forward.

10 October 2010

With Nick having a lie-in and then studying the rest of the day, I had arranged to take Emily to Toy Kingdom with Charlize and Tim. Emily mainly hung out in the dolls and Sylvanian Families sections with Charlize.

Being a national holiday, and with a bit of a wet start, the place was teeming and intolerably loud. Never mind the children, I felt over-stimulated, and I was only too glad to escape after three hours of sensory overload.

Emily and I went to look at the theme park rides as she always wants to watch the rollercoaster. There was some sort of geeks anime gathering taking place round Tokyo Dome with hundreds of weirdly dressed youths milling about.

We had a family dinner but Emily was so difficult that we all got very stressed. I was so strung out that I abandoned my usual run in favour of a bottle of wine and a film. Of course the exercise would have served as a more healthy way to work off my frustration but at least we had an evening in together and an earlyish night.

9 October 2010

While I attended class, Nick and Emily went to a damp Hibiya park, where there was a railway festival on. She got to ride on a miniature Thomas.

Later, I took Emily to Sharon's apartment for a playdate with Taylor and Lottie. We hadn't seen them since February, but they were very welcoming and Taylor is a sweet little boy. Sharon had just landed a transfer to Mauritius, though they will not leave Tokyo until the spring. What a posting! It was dreary all afternoon, and at 5pm it absolutely pelted down so Ryan kindly gave us a ride home.

Nick and I went out after getting Emily to bed. We had a reservation in Nishi Azabu. First we had a swift couple of rather nice bottles of beer at a small wood-lined bar beneath the expressway, then went across the road to Gonpachi restaurant. We ate some truly delicious Japanese food though the predominance of other gaijin somehow felt wrong, and, oddly, I disliked being addressed by the staff in English. This establishment supposedly provided the inspiration for the venue of the massacre of the Crazy 88s in the film Kill Bill (my favourite flick ever), and though less cavernous and swish than the film version there was a certain likeness. We ducked across the road for one last cheeky beer before jumping into a taxi to get home and relieve Erna from duty.

7 October 2010

Emily and I took a bus to Roppongi. With traffic lights every 200 yards it took as long as it would have taken to walk it and I rued the loss of opportunity to burn calories, though I wanted to find out where the bus went for the future when we are buggy-free.

At Midtown Starbucks we joined up with Jo and the children and let the girls run riot there for a while before moving on to the park, where we met Bettina and Tim. Soon Emily and I had to dash off to meet Nick for a quick picnic lunch, then we went straight back to Midtown, where we found that the others were just finishing their lunch. The three children drove the many other people on the decked area crazy running around and yelling and I had to give Emily a smack when she defied me and picked a flower despite me telling her what the consequence would be ('if you take one more flower I will have no choice but to smack you - do you really want me to do that?' .'Yes'). It is only the third time I have given her a smack and the other times were with a nappy to cushion her buttocks, but I suppose I didn't do it that hard anyway with so many people around. She didn't cry at all, and therefore I have probably weakened the threat of it for next time. I need to find a more effective way to discipline on the relatively few occasions it is necessary with our normally angelic little girl.



Jo took off with a sulky Isy and a sleeping Cooper and Bettina and I took Emily and Tim back down into the park area. They spent ages at the fountains (Emily soon stripping off after Tim took his kit off).

I felt uncomfortable about people seeing her naked but I'm sure I spent a lot of time undressed at her age and no-one would have thought anything of it then. After that we took them to the landscaped area where they played Poohsticks and pretended to fish with long willow sticks.



Tim went into meltdown at snack time so Bettina took him home, and we left soon after. Emily seemed close to nodding off so, desperate to stave off a nap, I suggested a bus ride home, which did perk her up. Unfortunately we had to wait more than 20 minutes for the bus, though once aboard it got us home quickly enough.

6 October 2010

As the weather was favourable, Lydia held Mia's 3rd birthday party at Arisugawa Park. It was an exclusive affair, with Emily and Camille the only guests.

We hung out in the sandpit for some time, making sand birthday cakes and collecting acorns, then moved on to the playground. Emily refused to use the toilet once or twice, because she wanted to wee in the bushes, which is all very well but results in drips. I was very pleased with her when I asked her to count out the acorns and she accurately counted to the total of seven. Usually, she double-counts an item or loses interest and starts looking around even while she is saying the numbers.


We adjourned for a picnic when Emily said she was hungry at 11.30 (which surprised me after her large breakfast). It took a lot of encouragement to get her to eat her sandwiches; the usual story when eating with other children and in a place full of distractions. I had to resort to threatening no birthday cake in the end, which did the trick. After the food, we made some funky egg-box spiders, then with Mia becoming a bit tetchy, it was time to pack up.



Once the party broke up we went over to Julia's. The girls are playing more nicely these days and getting along very well most of the time, though what they like doing most together is squealing. As it was such a pleasant day we finished up at Amishiro park. The two of them got filthy, and loved it when I buried their hands and feet in the mud that passes for sand there. Emily got involved in a 'sandwich' of about seven kids of varying ages on the rollerslide, to her delight.

Emily was worn out after such a full-on day and it took so long to get her to eat her tea that I had to cancel the bath and give her a brief shower instead. Even so, when I tried to tuck her into bed she got upset that I wouldn't let her get out and look at Tokyo Tower's lights.