Japanory

SNOW!

Sunday 3^rd February 2008

Oh my god! It's snowing!!! Proper snow. In Tokyo! How exciting!!!

As you can tell by my overuse of exclamation marks!!! Isn't it pretty?

The cat was not impressed. He went out to do his business, looked at his paws in disgust and promptly came back inside again, miaowing at me as if I'd deliberately made it snow in order to spoil his day.

It was snowing hard. And the flakes kept getting onto my camera lens. It was strange to see blossom covered in snow.

And just down the road are grapefruits on a tree. Very peculiar in the snow!

After coming home poorly from school on Friday, yet making a miraculous recovery yesterday, Rhiannon was a bit lethargic today.

I thought she was just tired and wanted to watch TV as she's a bit addicted to the box. She had no temperature; therefore, I was insistent that we all went for a walk in Shinjuku-gyoen. Fresh air and fun in the snow is far better than being stuck inside a stuffy house. So we bundled up and went out.

It was beautiful.

Tim and Rhiannon built an enormous snowman! Judging by the reaction of the other people in the park, snow in Tokyo is rather rare and they were all very impressed by our snowman.

After building it, we trotted over to the shelter in the distance to warm up with a tasty can of hot chocolate from the ubiquitous vending machine. I turned back to see "our" snowman being appropriated by everyone! They popped their own hat or scarf on it and then posed for a photo beside it.

Then we realised that Rhiannon was actually not-very-well-at-all. So we hurried back home.

She ended up with some sort of 'flu and was off school for the rest of the week.

Bad mum moment.

A Busy Friday for a Mum

Friday 1^st February

Today was a busy one!

It started off with getting Rhiannon to her stupid o'clock gymnastics class. We will never, ever do morning classes again. It's hard enough to get Rhiannon out of the house on a normal day, but to get her to school for 7.40 in the morning is horrendous. Actually, she loves the class, it's me that loathes mornings.

After this, her class group is holding one of their assemblies, so I go to have a much-needed coffee before it starts. All the children did extremely well, showing no signs of nervousness at all when they have to stand up in front of the entire school and the mums and dads. Unfortunately, my camera isn't good at taking photos in the big hall. Once the assembly is over, and all the other attendees has left, the parents of the class involved get to take photos of their kids and have a little cuddle. Rhiannon is a bit weepy, for some reason, but trots off like a good girl when it's time to say goodbye.

Then we had a Class Mum Coffee Morning – so over to another Starbucks for a get-to-know-you chat and more latte for me.

While I'm in that area – Shibuya – I went for a wander around Tokyu Hands after coffee. Well, I had to get rid of the caffeine buzz somehow! And Tokyu Hands is the best place for that. Such a fascinating, yet confusing store.

I got home just after lunch time and had settled down to work when I had a call from school to say that Rhiannon was unwell and with the nurse. So another drive back to school – if I'd gone to another shop, I'd have saved myself a double trip. I even remembered to send a text message to her violin teacher to let him know she wouldn't be coming to her lesson after school.

Rhiannon's running a bit of a temperature and is very quiet, which would explain the weepiness after assembly, but she didn't say she felt ill then. I tucked her up on the sofa, dosed with the ever-useful Calpol (imported from the UK – medicines are pretty much impossible to get here) and she had an early night.

She was much better the next day. Of course.