Day 77 - Feeling Better

I did exactly what I said I was going to do. I sat down with a bag of chips and watched Footy Classified, and then got to bed about 10. We had the windows open and the fan on level 2, but it was still bloody hot. Next thing I know, Junko's waking me up and it's 7:10, and I usually leave for work at 7:20. Wow. I haven't slept that long for ages. So I decided to ride my motorbike to work, which I do every now and then, and had a quick breakfast, a quick wrestle with Will, and I headed to work.
I really have to do more riding. I've done about 2 and a half thousand k's since I bought my bike, but they are all just around the hills near my house, on a Sunday afternoon or something. I haven't actually gone for a ride with a goal in mind, or a destination. It's a good looking bike, a Honda CB400SS, and it goes okay, but I can see the appeal of having more power. I think I'll go for a couple of big rides during the Summer holidays. Maybe to a hot spring or something. Hey Stevie, do you remember when you, me, and Kouki went to the hot spring, and we saw that guy with all the tattoos? Can I just say how rare and amazing that is, to see a guy like that, so obviously Yakuza? I wish we had talked to him a little, see if he was a good guy or something. I was also thinking of climbing Mount Fuji sometime in the Summer, but it sounds like it kind of sucks. Eight hours of walking up a steep hill with a bunch of other people. I'll do it with Will when he's a little older. I hope I don't get altitude sickness.
I haven't come close to coming off my bike yet (touch wood). The closest I have come was when I was out in the hills and rice paddies and I was going round a bend and there was this old Yoda woman crossing the road pulling a cart. I wasn't going fast so there was no chance of me hitting her, but I am amazed that she has lived so long doing that. I told my mother-in-law about it and she said the people who live in those areas consider the roads to be theirs and don't really pay much attention to traffic. We are talking beautiful black tarmac roads with clear white lines and an 80 km speed limit, not crumbly country lanes. Old people here are amazing. I think after years of worrying what other people think of them and never being sure that they are doing things properly, there comes a time in every Japanese person's life, especially the men, when they think, "Ah, fuck it," and they just start doing whatever they want. You can do anything here, and no one will stop you. It must be quite a revelation when that realization comes. The old guys start walking around in their underwear, yelling at convenience store shop assistants, spitting, pissing, whatever. It is kind of inspirational. There's an old guy who lives a couple of doors down who's taken to tossing his rubbish on the roof of the house over the road. He is not happy about something they did last year, something to do with parking or something. I asked Junko why the guy who lives in this house the old guy is throwing rubbish on (we know him, his daughter goes to Kinder with Will) doesn't just beat the crap out of this old man, and she says it's because the old man is crazy. That explains why he's throwing the rubbish, but not why our friend shouldn't beat the crap out of him, in my opinion. I give the old guy the evil eye every time I see him, a look which says "I know your game, buddy. You've got everyone running scared. But fuck with me, and I will retaliate." I think he understands.