December 7, 2022

Wednesday - Rainy and cool

A good day. I got to bed a tiny bit earlier than I have been lately. This morning I didn’t hear F leave the room at all. I woke up when my alarm went off and I got up and went downstairs for a quick trip. I came back and watched the news in bed. I closed my eyes for a couple of minutes and then got up. 

I dressed, had an onigiri and just before 10 am went downstairs. I didn’t see K at all, so couldn’t tell her I was going out. I had asked F to tell her yesterday that I was going out, but I don’t think he did. There was food for her in the fridge and she had already taken her breakfast food so I figured that she’d be okay. 

I went out and walked to the new bus stop that is only a couple of blocks away from the house. Of course, I was heaps early, it was pouring and the bus was about 5 minutes late, but, it all worked out. The new bus is really more of a mini-van…about 14 seats or so I think. The driver asked me where I was going as I got in and I told him. It took me a second to switch my brain to Japanese, but I managed. At first, I was worried that he did it to me because he wanted to check if I knew where I was going, but then I noticed as other people got on, he did it to them too. The bus was very comfortable and the route was interesting, to be honest. I got off at Tsuruoka station and waited for my other bus. There isn’t really a transfer system here, in Edmonton we can travel on the same payment for an hour and a half (or at least we could when I lived there!). It cost a lot less than the bus here, but to be honest, I’m just so glad that there is a bus that I was okay with it. Taking the nearby bus and transferring was an extra ¥270, but it was raining and I really didn’t want to walk to the big bus stop anyway. 

I got on the bus to Mikawa when it came and had a quiet trip to the mall. I paid when I got off, no big deal.

In the mall, I checked out the craft corner but didn’t get anything today. Some of the yarn is yummy, but I have so much already that I really need to use it up. I did buy a few more Christmas cards, and I got some really lovely ones.

That reminded me that I needed to go to the post office, so first I did a little deposit to get rid of some of my ¥1 coins…we’re only allowed to deposit 50 coins of any denomination without being charged for them…Then I mailed off my Christmas cards. The clerk that served me was brand new, but she took things carefully and I wasn’t in a hurry so things were fine I think. I also bought some nengajo so I can make a few New Year Cards when I’m finished with my Christmas cards. 

I went to a restaurant next but it looked a bit busy, so I decided to come back in a few minutes. I did a quick tour of the hundred yen shop but didn’t buy anything. I went back to the restaurant and it had cleared out. I was seated right away. 

I had a Japanese meal today. It was salmon and avocado donburi. It came in a basket with a lot of other foods. There was a little tonkatsu and some veggie stew, pickles and all kinds of things. It wasn’t the best meal I’ve ever had, but it was really nice and I liked it. I also had the drink bar and an order of fries because why not? F texted me to say that a crisis had come up at work and he’d have to work late. Oh, dear. I asked him how late, but he didn’t know.  I read a book on my phone while I ate and paid when I was done.

I decided I’d go back to Aeon and have a look at shoes and such. I had a good look, but I didn’t really find any shoes that would do. If I liked them, they didn’t come in my size and if they came in my size I didn’t like them! Boo!

After a while, I realized that it was nearly time to meet my friend, so I walked down the mall and waited at our meeting spot. She texted to say she was running a little late. She arrived soon enough though and we hugged and started talking. We didn’t stop for ages!

Rather than going for a coffee, we decided to go and have McDonalds! She told me about the McFlurries and they sounded good, so off we went. I ended up having a caramel pretzel one that was very nice. The salty-crunchy and the sweet-soft worked very well together. She was delighted to see that McDonalds has a Paddington bear promotion so she bought whatever she needed to get a bear. It was pretty cute!

We chatted for a while and I told her that F said he might have to work late. She very nicely offered to drive me back to my house. Soon after, F called and said that he had no idea when he’d finish work. When I told him that she had offered to drive me he suggested I take her up on it. I did. 

We decided to leave the mall fairly soon afterwards and we drove back to Tsuruoka. I navigated and she drove and we got back a bit too fast for both of us! Still, she had a family to return to. We hugged our goodbyes.

I went into the house. K was nowhere to be seen. I checked and one plate of food had left the fridge, so I know that she ate. I went upstairs, changed and relaxed for a bit. I didn’t hear from F so I decided that I’d go down to the kitchen and make some dinner for K and me. I was in the kitchen when F called. He said that he was coming back. I suggested that he get a bento for K and that we should go out. He said it was okay.

While he was on the way back, I heated up the kettle to make her some soup and checked the heater in the living room. It was empty. Oh, dear. I filled up the kerosene and started the heater so that the living room would be warmer when she got up. I also did up the garbage in the kitchen as tomorrow is the burnable garbage day. 

F came back a few minutes later. I suggested that he wake her up and I would heat the bento. That’s what we did. 

We left K sitting in the living room eating away and we went out to go to the post office and also have our dinner. 

We tried to go to the main post office. They used to have an after-hours window that would take parcels and mail but unfortunately, they don’t have it anymore. Sigh. I’m feeling sorry for my poor nephew. His birthday present might be very late. 

I suggested going to either Cocos or Gusto tonight for dinner since we also had to get kerosene and groceries. Both restaurants are in the same general area, so we would be conserving gas really. F sailed past Gusto, so we ended up at Cocos. I didn’t mind!  I had soup curry and drink bar and F had a burger with cut steak and rice on the side. We had a fairly good meal and stayed a little too long.

F and I went for groceries next. I actually went into the store and did the shopping while F waited in the car. I didn’t mind. I got through the store rather quickly. 

We hit up the gas station next. F filled up the kerosene tanks and then bought some gas too.  We came back to the house and F brought in the kerosene and I put the groceries away. I carried one of the tanks to the closet for F since I didn’t want him to overdo it with his knees. 

We came upstairs and relaxed. Tomorrow, F has to work his usual shift and then go back to work from midnight to the morning. I’m a bit worried about him. He does get Friday off, but he’ll already have done a shift that day. We don’t know yet if he’ll have to work on the weekend or not.

That’s it for me. I’m out of here. Come back later if you like and hear about my Thursday. Until tomorrow….