Typhoon???

 There's a massive, powerful, slow-moving typhoon forming south of Japan.  Depending on which app or news feed I check we are either going to be spared the storm altogether, get the edge of it or get hit really bad!!  It's predicted to hit on Tuesday!

As always I'm more worried about our neighbors than the storm itself. The three closest houses all have nice cars parked outside, I worry that stuff from our yard could fly and damage their cars!  A few weeks ago David cut down some of the trees and bushes outside but didn't clean up, so there's a lot of branches lying around. We got some of them moved but still too many for me to feel that it's okay if the typhoon hit.  So this morning Mikey, David, and Christopher were tasked with cleaning up as much as possible.  While they were doing that Hannah cleaned the living/dining area and I did the kitchen and made lunch. Nice, productive morning. After lunch, Mikey and Christopher took the trash to the other house to burn!  I'm not sure how much they could burn because about an hour after they left we had an incredible thunderstorm!  The storm has passed and the temperature is a lot cooler, about 27C but humidity is high! Still, it feels a lot better than 35C.

Hannah took these photos the other day when she went to the special needs school.

Winnie the Pooh on the fence

She thought it was kind of cute. I like the fact that the photos show how interesting the houses are in Japan. The wooden house in front is old, maybe 40 or more years old.  The ones that look like boxes are very new, it's a style that is very popular at the moment.  The houses are next to a field, that looks like a rice field, this is also normal here to have a mix of fields and housing. And of course, no pavement to walk on, in most rural or semi-rural areas cars, buses, trucks, bikes and pedestrians share the road.  In larger cities, there are pavements (sidewalks) and bike lanes but in the countryside, it's a bit hit-and-miss!  

Sixty-Two

 I didn't reach my goal of being 62kilos by 62 years old! Still in the mid-90s! That's how old I feel as well!

I have lots of reasons but I know that they are really just excuses. I have to find a way to focus on eating healthy even when everything around me is crazy.  I keep telling myself that once we have moved, and everything is settled and the weather is better then I can focus on my weight.  Which I know isn't true as I'll just find other reasons not to focus on losing weight!

I'm also suffering what I'm calling the moving blues! Just over two months, 72 days until we move and I'm still not happy about it. 

I know no choice, I know that I'm lucky to have the house to move to and that I wouldn't be able to find another rental because of the cats and teaching from the house. I know that I'll be saving money on rent (but paying tax on the land that doesn't earn an income!), that it's my house and I can change things, and save for a nicer kitchen but I still don't want to move there.  The closer the moving date gets the stronger my feelings are about that!  It just makes me sad!  

Part is bad memories, the year we lived with my mother-in-law, the times we visited and got yelled at for different things.

Then there is just the actual move. Just thinking about the logistics of it makes me panic!  I'm trying to box up as much stuff as possible and move the boxes every week. In the past few weeks, I've sent more than ten big boxes, but this house is still full.  I'm throwing out and giving away as much as I can. This house is big, with 4 bedrooms, two Japanese style rooms downstairs and a big open plan living, dining, kitchen area.  The other house is half the size, with a Japanese-style room, two small bedrooms, a kitchen/dining room, and a small living room that will have to be a bedroom. About half the size of here!

I'm just not coping at all. I want to crawl into bed and not do anything at all but that isn't going to help.

Tomorrow I plan to sort my clothes and throw out stuff that I don't wear.  Some things are still good but the recycle shop won't take them as they aren't brand names and there are no charity shops!  I tried the recycle shop the other week with a few of my clothes and some of Hannah's, we got a pound for a bag of about twenty items. cost more in gas to get to the store! 

I can still laugh at things.  I'm trying not to be too down, my energy level isn't that good so I can't afford to get overly depressed because I just wouldn't get out of bed at all!  I'm reading a lot of daft books, and watching far too much on YouTube, there are some videos of the city we are moving back to so I'm watching those. I set myself a goal to do something every day, pack one box, sort one drawer or cupboard, and find answers to the problems we have.  Most days I feel I have accomplished something!

My kids and the cats make me laugh. The kids are supporting me, which helps.

And of course, the cats are cute!!

Sam being cute!

A Little Drive

 Hannah had to go to the special needs school this afternoon. I thought it was for her teacher training there in November but it isn't, it's for two days of volunteer work she has to do in December.  She was going to get the train but David said he would drive her as he doesn't have work tonight. I decided to go with them as I know David is tired, I can't drive but I can keep him awake. By car, it's about 20 minutes, by train 40 minutes!

Hannah is exhausted from yesterday,  nursery in the morning, afternoon in the city for university and to visit a junior high school, then back home and to the cram school for another 3 hours of work.  All that in 35C weather, kind of crazy. I think David felt sorry for her and that is why he offered to take her.

After we dropped off Hannah, David and I went shopping! 

At the moment rice is difficult to come by, so my plan is if there is rice in the store I'll buy some. Apparently, it was too hot last year so the harvest was bad.  I'm wondering if this is going to be an ongoing problem, not just rice but other food products as well.  

The first store we went into had no rice!

empty shelves

just 5 bags of 3 kilos rice

I've seen this on the news but those were stores in Tokyo or Osaka, kind of normal for the bigger cities. This was in the countryside!  

We drove back toward home and spotted another store.  I like this store but it's a bit more expensive than where I usually shop. I thought we should just have a look.  They had rice, good brand and not too expensive. They also had a big sign saying only one bag per family!  We eat rice almost every day, it's easy to do. I guess I'll have to figure out some meals that don't use rice and see if we can stretch out what rice we have for a few weeks!

I tried to take a video of the drive, just a minute or so. Ignore David making funny noises!

This is very typical of where we live now.  Not really the countryside but not the city either.  Drugstore Mori is a good store, I was going to go in there but changed my mind as I wanted to see if the other store had any fruits! It did but very expensive, a bunch of grapes was over 1000 yen, about 5 pounds!

view from the second store

I love how right next to two big stores there's a bamboo grove. There was a little breeze, just watching the bamboo sway made me feel a little bit cooler!!

The Plumber

 The plumber came this morning at 10am, he worked until almost 2pm.

He took the pipes from under the sink out and cleaned them, but the blockage was further down.

He set up a very noisy machine to try and clean out the blockage from in the house and outside, he spent hours trying to get it cleaned out but couldn't do it 100%.  The water is draining better but still gets stopped if it's run too long.  He thinks that because this is an old house the pipes might be damaged somewhere and the only way to get it cleaned out properly would be to dig out the pipes and replace them.

This cost us just over 250 pounds! Money I was saving for the other house.

This has me wondering about the house we are moving to. They are both about the same age, built in the early 1990s. This house was built by a reliable company that has a good record. The house we are moving to was built by a local company that was subcontracted from the company that my mother-in-law hired. There have been problems at the other house since it was built, some of the roof tiles came off just a couple of years after it was built, and the tiles in the bathroom came up within 6 months of the house being finished.  The company put in older air conditioners, not the ones my mother-in-law had asked for, Hisao had to sort that out.  She had an expensive automatic front door put in but it broke after a few years. It feels as if nothing was built to last, just throw it up and hope for the best.  

I know we have no choice, we have to move there. I have no money to pull it down and rebuild it, which would be the best but I can't even afford to pay to have the name on the deed changed legally, which I would have to do to rebuild it. Just that would cost about 5000 pounds! 

I think I'll have to get somebody to come and check all the water and electric systems, but it won't be before we move in. Maybe sometime in the next year. The other house hasn't been really used, just 2 old ladies living there for the first 11 years, then just my mother-in-law until about 6 years ago.  I hope the house stands up to being really lived in.  One reason things break in the kitchen here is that it gets used every day. We cook 3 meals a day for 5 people.  

The cats were having a hard time. They kept sneaking to see what was happening but when the plumber turned the machines on they took off.

Not happy cats

Why?

 Even after 33 years in Japan, there are things that I don't understand.

Our kitchen sink is blocked.  It's not a good design, two sinks with separate drains until the pipes meet halfway down to take the waste water out. If it gets blocked below where the pipes meet the dirty water from one sink flows back into the other sink.  Every few months this happens.  David used to take the pipes apart and fix the problem.  But the newer pipes are rather fragile and he doesn't want to risk breaking them. So we have to call the plumber.

This morning David called a plumber that we have used before. He said he was at another job and would call after he had finished there to say when he could come here. That's fine. About an hour later the phone rang, David had gone to the shop so Hannah answered it.  She started to explain who was the older brother between David and Christopher. I'm listening to this wondering who was calling, maybe from the City Hall or something to do with inheriting the land. After the call, I asked who it was, and Hannah said it was the plumber. 

Why does the plumber need to know who is older? Also, how does he know Christopher's name (he used their Japanese names)?  David paid one time with his credit card so I understand them having his name on file but Christopher wasn't here. All rather weird. Plus they haven't called back to make an appointment, it is now 6:40 in the evening.

Am I missing something here, is this a Japanese culture thing or is this company just strange.

I'll ask David to call again tomorrow.  We might get an answer.

On Sunday on the way home I stopped by a supermarket that is opposite a train station. Hannah took some photos, of a very typical Japanese cityscape.

The train just pulling into the station

In the top photo, the building on the right is a block of flats, very typical in this area.

The photos are good considering she took them on her phone!!

I Missed A Day

 I was determined to write every day this month and until the weekend I was on track!

On Saturday I went shopping with Mikey and Hannah, just to the local shopping mall. I wanted to check out a furniture shop.  I want to buy a few pieces of furniture, I've looked online but seeing things in real life is better for me.  The other house is smaller, I want furniture that looks nice, and comfortable but doesn't overwhelm the small space.  One thing I want to buy is a new sofa, one that is easy to clean, with a high back to lean against.  I've seen some online but wanted to touch the material to see how it feels.  We had a look but most pieces were sold out, the mall is closing down so I think the furniture store isn't adding any new inventory.

We had a look in an electric store. I went in to stand in front of the fans.  Even with the air conditioning, I was sweating buckets!  The fans were nice!  Hannah wanted to check out the size of the refrigerators.  She wants to buy a set, washing machine, refrigerator, vacuum cleaner, and rice cooker but she couldn't understand the size of the refrigerators.  She has a better idea of what to buy now.

I bought some new towels. I have no idea what's happening to my towels but they aren't lasting that long, most of my bath towels have holes in them. I'll cut them up to use as cleaning rags but I don't know why this is happening. Maybe because they are cheap. I had one towel that was given to me as a gift that I used for over 10 years.  These new ones are only lasting a few months!

My big news is that Mikey got engaged on Sunday!  I want to post photos of his fiancée but he didn't ask her if it's alright. She's a very private person!  She's a lovely young lady and shares Mikey's crazy sense of humor.  I'm so happy that he has found somebody to settle down with.

Hannah got all dressed up.  She spent most of her time playing with Mikey's fiancée's baby niece!

Hannah looking cute

It's back to work for me today. Only one lesson so I hope to pack up more stuff later.  David and Christopher took a load of boxes this morning.  We are getting there, slowly!!

The End....

 ....of my summer holiday. Back to teaching on Monday.  I'm not that busy but on the days I have classes I have to be aware of the time, some projects take a few hours to complete, plus I need to have energy to work into the evening.

I managed to get a few things done, of course not as much as I would have liked.  Never is! 

I packed up four more boxes of books from my room, Hannah sorted a big bag of clothes to go to the recycle store and a friend came and took another box of children's books from the room I use to teach in.

I need to tackle the walk-in closet and the room that was the office but is now a second teaching room and a dumping ground! I don't know if anybody else does this but when random things need a place they get dumped in the office, my idea is to sort them later, but somehow later never comes! The cupboard under the stairs needs cleaning out and the shoe cupboard, lots of old shoes that need to be thrown out!  

I've packed up most of my baking things but still have kitchen gadgets that I won't be using until the cooler weather, so that's a project for next week.

I hope we can move in the middle of November, that is 86 days, 2 months, and 25 days!  Not long at all!

There are still things that need fixing at the other house. The toilets still need seeing to, I hope to get that done next week.  I want to put a sunroom on the front of one of the rooms, it's similar to a conservatory, but not as big.  I want another room for the cats, also sunrooms are good for hanging laundry when it's rainy! I've looked online but need to go to stores to see exactly what they are like.

I would love to change the kitchen and bathroom but I think that will have to wait until next year!

This morning Fred and Alan were fighting, there was blood at the top of the stairs and paw prints going from David's room but I can't see who was bleeding.  

Alan

Fred

The two culprits but don't they look innocent!