Just Wondering.....

 If I made a mistake.

In the depths of winter, when it was hard to get out of bed because the house was too cold, Hannah and I made plans to see the musical "Sunset Boulevard" in Tokyo in July.

When we made these plans, summer seemed very far away. I thought that by the time summer came, I would have lost weight, made money, and acclimatised to the heat and humidity.

I haven't lost weight, but I still have 8 weeks, so I could drop a few kilos and get used to walking a lot.

I haven't made any money, but I hope to make a bit before I go. Hannah has paid for the tickets, the flight and the hotel. I'll pay the expenses when we are there. If I haven't made enough, I'll have to borrow from David or Christopher.

That leaves getting used to the heat and humidity. I don't have the confidence to do that.

One big problem I have is that I sweat a lot. Because of the humidity, the sweat doesn't evaporate at all. I carry a small towel to wipe my face, but it leaves it dry and sore. I'm wondering if there is something I can use, some kind of cream, to stop or at least reduce the sweating. 

I'm planning on buying these little hand fans and cooling towels for my neck. I also have to find some kind of electrolyte drink that isn't full of sugar. I drink a lot of water, but in the summer, I need to make sure my electrolytes are balanced as well.

When I got sick the other day, I really wondered if going to Tokyo in the summer was a good idea. I really want to watch the musical, it's in English and is only playing for two weeks.  The question is, can I survive?

I had heat stroke when I was in my 20s. I was so ill for about a week, but it took over a month to recover 100%. It's really a big problem in Japan; every year 100s of people end up in hospital because of it.  I'm very careful in the summer; I don't leave the air-conditioned room unless I have to. But by doing that, I only really live for half the year. I joke that I do summer hibernation! I really want to go out more, even in the heat. I guess from this trip, I will see if I can be more active in the summer.

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to go out in the day, just to get used to the heat and humidity, just pottering around the garden, not at the hottest time of day but in the morning. Just a few minutes to see how I feel. I hope that I can used to heat and deal with sweating.

Wish me luck!

For the past hour or so I've been hearing helecopters over head, which is very unusual in this area. We sometimes hear the hospital emergency helicopter, but they leave very quickly.

Curiosity got the better of me, so I went out to see what kind of helicopter it was. 

The helicopter was circling the mountain, I noticed smoke, looks like a wildfire had started.

Smoke from the wildfire.

In Japan, wildfires happen more often in the winter because the humidity makes everything damp. At the moment, however, it's hot and dry. I met our neighbour when I went out, he said that we aren't in any danger. I hope that's true. Plus, the forecast is for rain tomorrow.

I'll let you know if there is any more information!