Not memory...

Good morning! (My time)

I can't really remember what happened in November..... not right now anyway......

I've had a stressful day dealing with the inadequacies of Japan's two main travel companies. Who would have thought that trying to book a Hotel at a ski resort that does, in fact, have vacancies would have been such a chore. After 2 hours of waiting while someone did unneccessary research

(No, I don't care what type of hot spring they have, so long as the chemical composition doesn't include sulphuric acid I'm happy. No, you don't have to check.)

At the end, just as I was about to hand over the money, it turned out that they place they had been talking up for so long wasn't even opening until mid-January! I think I managed my most sarcastic "Doomo Arigato" before I left to head home. The highlights of the day, which brought a smile as I took the train though, were the foot long sandwich for lunch and the success in finding armour plated underwear that fits.

The Vice Principal at my base school has organised a staff trip to a ski slope for some fun in the snow. In my case, since I began snowboarding in February and have just three days under my belt, and 8 months in between to forget everything, I expect my......everything?..... to ache like last year. Everything except my ass! Ha! Outsmarted you Gravity!

Another reason to smile is the back up plan for the school Holidays, which is more appealing than any other plan I've had. The original plan was to spend some days on a mountain until around new year, then go to Okinawa for a week of swimming, snorkelling et all. Thanks to
some folk on couchsurfing, and no thanks to travel agents, it doesn't look like we'll be going to Okinawa as it's too cold for the water stuff I like, even there. Also, after today, it doesn't look like we'll have any hotel booked in advance for the week after Christmas.

No panic though. The back up plan is to load my laptop with movies, get on a train to Tokyo and then to Erin's. Hang out there, break into the Emperor's palace, watch some films, rent a car and drive (She'll be driving, I'm navigating, relative strengths) to the slopes whenever we feel like it, eat ice cream when we don't, and have some fun in the snow. Preferably at high speed in a downward direction. She's a pretty damn good skier, and I'm a reckless ass armour clad snow boarder, so fun should be had.

There was another plan that I tinkered with.

Dublin.

Erin has a very romantic notion of Dublin, and I liked the idea of showing her around. Plus, she can drive, so I could show her some other spots as well. Again, me with the navigating, not the driving.

Relative Strengths. Very relative when one doesn't have a licence.

Or ability.

Apart from those epic lessons courtesy of Dad in August. But then again, the Dublin Sligo road is pretty easy now.

The qualification for that idea was price. Japan is expensive, and snow sports and Okinawan trips are more so, so for a while I thought that it might be the same price, or a little more, to fly home and offset the carbon. I was wrong. The flights, even before taxes came in, were well above what I would have been willing to pay. In fact, at about one months wages, well above what I would have been capable of paying.

So staying here.

I'm going to go through some photos to jog the noggin, upload them, and get back to you later.

daveeeeeed

or

day-beee-doooo

Never David theses days......

*sniff*