Typhoon 10 Shanshan

 We were lucky again with this last typhoon.

Bit of wind, lots of rain. 

Those videos were from yesterday afternoon.  The wind died down a couple of hours after that but the rain has continued almost nonstop for the past two days! 

This typhoon is unpredictable, although the main part of the storm has passed the wind and rain have picked up again, plus the air pressure is very low.  I've had headaches for the past couple of days because of that!

A lot of places along the southern coast of Kyushu and the inland sea between Kyushu, Shikoku, and Honshu were hit badly.  There were reports of tornados in some places taking off roofs and shattering windows. Underpasses were flooded in one city and rivers are swollen. The typhoon isn't moving fast even though it has lost a lot of power it is still powerful! 

One thing I'm glad about is that a lot of businesses closed for a couple of days. I'm always shocked at how many people go to work in the worst of weather.  There are always people in the background of reports from different cities.  I understand wanting to do your job but surely your business is not going to collapse if you stay home for a day or two!  I feel that risking your life for your job is really silly, the only people who need to work are first responders and hospital staff.  Going out, and putting yourself in danger puts an extra burden on emergency services. The emergency services are always stretched during these disasters as the risk of floods and landslides are very real. Then of course there is the damage caused by the high wind, downed trees and power lines are a big problem.  David's company closed the internet cafe yesterday until 3pm today. He has to work tonight but the storm is bad again so I'm wondering if he should go!  But I know that even if I tell him not to go he will and I don't have the energy to fight with him!

This typhoon is now moving toward the more populated areas of the country. There is still a lot of disruption to travel. Most Shinkansen lines are closed, JAL and ANA have canceled or suspended flights. There is even a possibility that some highways might close. There are a lot of reports of people being stranded at airports or train stations!

I'm hoping that this typhoon will die out soon and that there are no more deaths, I've seen reports of 4 people being killed. 

For everybody who has sent me messages and prayers over the past few days thank you so much.

Waiting

 Typhoon 10 still hasn't hit. It slowed down over the sea, which means it is getting stronger.

This typhoon has had people guessing where it was going! The first forecast, last week showed it going toward Shikoku and Honshu, just catching the corner of Kyushu.  Now it is south of Kyushu and moving slowly up the coast toward Nagasaki! 

It looks like it the eye will pass south of us, near Kumamoto. That is about an hour and a half drive from here. We won't get the eye and eyewall but I think the storm is so big that anywhere in Kyushu will be in the path!  

Flights have already been canceled, as well as most Shinkansen trains. Hannah just told me that local trains will be canceled as well. Even schools are closed Thursday and Friday. 

A few minutes ago we had the first emergency alert.  These alerts go out early to advise people to evacuate to the emergency shelters before the weather gets really bad. This is helpful for the elderly or people with mobility problems!  

Where we live now is relatively safe. There are no rivers nearby or mountains.  The wind is scary but this house has shutters on the big windows. 

I'm a bit worried about the other house as it is at the foot of a mountain. There is a possibility of landslides!  

We've tided outside, just have to bring in the umbrellas that are on the front porch. I've shopped, we have bottled water, cup noodles, plenty of bread, some snacks and fruit. I picked up some candles from the other house as well, just in case the power goes off.

Now it's just a case of waiting and fighting with the kids. David works nights, tonight will be okay but tomorrow night I don't want him going to work but I know he will and I will sit and worry about him.  Is it worth risking your life for a part-time job!? He has to quit so getting fired for not turning up is not a big problem.

David doing his daft selfies with my phone, again.

Just had to edit this to add these photos of a double rainbow.

Really beautiful

The second rainbow is not so clear in the photos but in real life it was!!  Very dramatic sky!!

Why Is It So Hard.....

 ....to declutter?

One good thing about moving is having the chance to sort out stuff and throw away things that are no longer used or needed.

I've been doing the hundreds, if not thousands of books we have.  We have books for teaching, those were easy to throw away. Some were so old and so out of date that they confused the kids! I had one book teaching "How Many?" using everyday objects like pens, pencils, erasers, etc. One object was cassette tapes, I spent half the lesson on this asking the kid "How many" and getting him to answer "There are 4 cassette tapes.", then changing roles.  At the end of the lesson he asked, in Japanese, what are cassette tapes?  I was surprised that he had never seen a cassette tape, CD, or even a DVD.  Books like that were easy to throw away. There's a recycle place that takes books and scrap paper to reuse the paper. We've taken maybe 30 or 40 big boxes there.

A lot of books were from when the kids were little. Bit harder to deal with but a friend of mine took a lot. She is Japanese but has a foreign husband and they are raising their kids to be bilingual. She also knows other families that might benefit from the books.  That was easy to do. I've kept a few, the book I read to Hannah every day she was in the hospital, or a favorite book of the boys.  

Other books that are harder to deal with are ones I've bought over the years. These are taking a bit longer. Also, everybody has a lot of books, 200 or 300 each, maybe more. We really are a book family!

Yesterday I wanted to start sorting my clothes. This is where I'm having problems. Hannah suggested that I throw away anything that I haven't worn for a year. But it's difficult when the clothes are still wearable.  I took out six pieces yesterday, threw out 5, and put one back.  I realized that some of the clothes I've had for years, maybe 20 years or more. Why am I keeping them?  Part of it is worrying that I won't be able to buy things again.  Being big means that it was difficult to get nice things here.  But that isn't true anymore, there are catalogs and of course internet shopping! Got to get rid of my old thinking!

This is the next problem. I asked Mikey to bring a couple of the big plastic drawers from the other house, he bought six over. They are so big and in the way. If we had a chance to go this week I wouldn't mind but between work schedules and the typhoon, I think it'll be another week before we go

Plastic boxes!

The sad thing is that there are about 50 of these boxes, they were full of unused clothes!!

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