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I have never liked the number four.  I always avoided it and thought it was bad luck.  I refuse to buy four of anything at the supermarket, it has to be three or five.

I don’t have OCD.  I just don’t like four.

Strange thing is, the number four seems to follow me, and has been doing so for a while now.  I pretended not to notice until it became very clear that four seemed to be my number.

I pointed out to Patrick one day that every cafe we go to, they always hand us the table number four.  He hadn’t noticed but from that day on has become more and more convinced four must be my lucky number.

It’s not just table numbers, but every numbered thing.

I am testing the theory here.  I am writing about it.  Putting it on record.  I wonder if the number four will continue to follow me now I have outed it…

Speaking of four…

Patrick saw four weird things on the way to meet me this evening.  He saw a very angry looking man on the train with a hitler moustache and japanese army uniform, another man covered in blood and being hauled away to an awaiting ambulance, a man waiting at the station to molest passersby, and he said there was another thing but he forgot…. all very unsavoury.

The ambulance was still outside my workplace when I came out, and there were more police cars than I have ever seen all rushing off in the same direction…. Must have been something interesting happening somewhere…

A little scary really.

At least the police sirens are not as eerie as the others I think might be the fire brigade’s sirens.  These sirens sound like an air raid warning, a very spooky sound.  We hear them all the time from work, but I still haven’t got used to them.  When we hear them while walking home on the little quiet streets, it sounds like the world is ending.

We took another sightseeing trip today. The weather was only half bad, so it was quite a lucky day.

We went to Nikko for the day. We set out at 7am which is quite an effort for us non-early morning people. Patrick forgot to buy a drink before boarding for the two hour long train ride, and upon realising there was no vending machine on board, was suddenly dying of thirst.

Unfortunately the train only stopped very briefly at five stations along the way. At each station, Patrick dashed out the door and tried to buy a drink from the vending machine but each time it ate his money and he had to get back on the train empty handed, and increasingly unhappy.

Eventually he decided to go and get a drink from the bathroom despite the fact that it said “Do Not Drink The Water”, so we spent the rest of the day hoping he wouldn’t die.

He didn’t, so the day was good.

We also spotted from the train a group of businessmen in their suits out doing their morning exercises on the room of their building. Such a sight to see!

In Nikko we visited The Shinkyo sacred bridge, which is now on the corner of town, so surrounded by traffic… not quite what we expected. It was lovely though.

We also wandered through all the local shrines and temples and saw the famous “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” carvings and the little wooden cat, which is for some reason I don’t fully understand yet, a National Treasure.

The weather turned grey and drizzly as soon as we left the temples, so we headed home instead of to see the local lake and waterfalls. I think we will go back another time to see those… autumn hopefully.

I am being haunted by helium balloons.

Everytime I looked out the window today, there was at least one balloon floating by.  I am not sure where they all appeared from.

I asked a group of students if they knew where all the balloons were coming from, they looked at me a little strangely and said they hadn’t seen any.  I pointed out the window as one disappeared around the corner of the next building; no one else saw it.

After that class, the balloons got sneakier.  I didn’t see any more balloons themselves, but lots of little balloon-shaped shadows sneaking across buildings, and even the image of a balloon floating through the picture on the big screen opposite.

Eeagh.  Very strange.  The balloons weren’t green either, so nothing to do with St Patrick’s Day.

There have been St Patrick’s Day celebrations all around the city over the last two days.  Someone told me that Tokyo Tower was lit up green to celebrate.  I think yesterday must have been the first night I didn’t look across at Tokyo Tower as I walked into our apartment.  So annoying!  I miss all the exciting things.

My Fuji was apparently also clearly visible from all over Tokyo today.  Obviously it knew I was working all day so it was safe to appear.

Lucky Patrick and I had a yummy dinner at our local Chinese place so my day ended on a good note.

I have been telling Patrick that to save money, we should stop buying cakes all the time.  It’s very difficult not to buy cakes here as they are so yum.  And cheap.

I really feel like cake at the moment.  I must find a way to make Patrick suggest we buy cake, then I will give in.

Bloody difficult…

For some reason I decided today to teach one of my classes how to use the word “bloody”.  The “where the bloody hell are you?” advertisement didn’t work particularly well here as it was translated as “are you coming?”. 

I taught the students how the word could be used to strengthen the meaning of statements, or to discourage drink driving.

They thought it was very useful and wrote careful notes. 

At the end of class, as I walked out the door a lovely, sweet woman called out “Bloody thank-you!”

I was touched.

We had a relaxing day at home on Wednesday watching sumo wrestling on TV,  quite boring after a while really, but more interesting than cricket!

Apparently the matches are all being fixed by the guy thats winning all the tournaments.  People have become suspicious, because he never spends time training but is always at home in Mongolia running his businesses, then comes back and wins all the tournaments.

If I had known about all the rumours before the tournament, maybe it would have been a little more exciting.

I bought a magazine today from our local convenience store that is full of detailed instructions on how to make cute lunchboxes.  They are soooo good.  I would be embarrased to be seen in public with any of them, but I love the magazine and had to have it anyway.

I also read in The Age this evening that it snowed in Tokyo this morning.

I didn’t see it.

Aaand, this was the first winter since 1800-and-something that it hasn’t snowed in Tokyo.  Just my luck.

Damn.