March 19, 2025

Wednesday - Rainy and cold

I went to bed a little early last night, I was in bed about half an hour earlier than usual. Unfortunately, F woke up a bit later and went downstairs. I was just about asleep before than so I woke up again. This morning, I woke up around 6:30. I had to go downstairs and of course, I woke up F in the process. Sigh. 

I went back to bed and fell asleep again. My alarm went off a couple of hours later and it took a while before I could drag myself out of bed. I realized that I had to get in gear as I planned to catch a bus at 10:30.  I dressed myself, and even had a quick breakfast. I had a lunch sandwich with marmalade in it. 

I got ready, filled my pocket with the house keys and my Suica Card and phone. I went downstairs and checked what K had to eat in the kitchen. I had made her a plate as usual last night, but I added the leftover stir-fry from another night so if we were late and she was hungry, she had some options. 

I left the house and walked to the bus stop. The bus was a couple of minutes late, but nothing too egregious. There was a little bit of drizzle outside so I was glad the bus wasn’t too late. It was surprisingly busy on the bus. I got off at the station today and went to the regular bus stop. A few minutes later I got on the bus to the Aeon Mall in Mikawa.

When the bus arrived I did a little bit of “window shopping”. I looked for something for my friend’s birthday present and earmarked a couple of things that I liked for later. I went along the mall to the post office and made a small deposit to my post office account. From there, I went to the cinema and bought my ticket for later. I was rather amazed to see that my film was going to be in the big cinema. Woot. 

I went back to the food court in Aeon and went to McDonald's. I had a double cheeseburger and fries and a caffeineless tea. It was good, especially the cheeseburger. I got them to keep ketchup off it, so they had to make it fresh for me! (A little trick a friend told me years ago to get a fresh one, plus now that I’m allergic to tomatoes, a handy thing indeed!)

After I finished lunch, I hustled myself back to the cinema (on the far side of the mall), bought my popcorn and drink and went to see Wicked again! And….it was even better this time. I know I’m crazy, but I really enjoyed it. I’m not sure which actress impressed me more, but I thought the music was wonderful again. 

After the movie, I went back to Aeon and bought a couple of things for my friend and a pair of socks for me. I also went to the grocery store and picked up a few snacks for myself for the next few days. I got things that I can’t get at my usual grocery store.

I was expecting F to be finished work after 5. He’d had to drive to Yamagata City today so was a bit late. When he called me I asked if he’d rather meet at Doutors or Mr Donut and he chose the doughnuts! Now that we don’t have a Mr Donut in Tsuruoka, it seems a huge treat just to have one and some coffee there!

I walked to the entrance of the mall and saw F park the car. I waited for him to come into the mall and we went over to Mr Donut. We each got a doughnut and a cup of cafe au lait.  Then, we got refills on the coffee! After a lot of phone time on both our parts, I suggested that we get going as K was by herself at the house and we were later than usual. 

We went over to the grocery store and bought bentos for tonight. I got a grilled chicken one, F got an assortment of stuff and he chose a keisen-don for K. We also got some gobo salad and some potato salad. We checked out and then drove back to Tsuruoka.

At the house, K seemed happy to see us. She was up for a change too, so that was good. F heated up two of the bentos and made us some miso soup. We had a little feast. K was very pleased with her meal and honestly, so was I. 

After we ate, I went into the kitchen and washed the dishes and glasses and the bento boxes too. Tomorrow is a holiday so I couldn’t do the garbage prep that I usually do, but I changed the drain net and the corner box liner. Yay me. 

I went upstairs and relaxed for a while. F didn’t come upstairs for a long time. He was watching a baseball game I think. Close to 11pm I went downstairs and took a shower. When I came back to the room, I watched one of the news programmes that I recorded during the day. It was the usual news. 

And that’s it for my day. I showed F my purchases and I watched some YouTube videos. It’s been a nice evening. Tomorrow is a national holiday so F is off work. I’m not sure what we’re going to get up to, come back a bit later and find out!

Until tomorrow….