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Geoff is waving to you ….! And on the map, ignore the ‘You are Here’ red box & look for the red squiggle and that is where we are located.

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So this is where our post is delivered, on the ground floor. And packages are left in the white lockers with a note posted in the mailbox. Or at least that is the theory. The other day we were waiting for the delivery of an ironing board and we were discussing whether or not it would fit in the largest mailbox … but then we found it propped outside our apartment on the 21st floor!

Post Office

Staying on the subject of post, I went into the post office the other day to post a letter. Working out from symbols on the floor, I found my socially distanced spot and waited. When a counter became free, I moved forward and asked for an airmail stamp. The postal worker said something & repeated it when I looked puzzled. He said more, and whilst I was planning to launch my airplane acting skill, he said more. His voice was getting louder & louder, and it made me think of all those comedy sketches when the English speaking person repeats himself shouting when someone doesn’t understand. Finally the penny, or rather the yen, dropped …. I should have taken a ticket so that I could take my turn! There was a woman in the far corner & I had assumed she was waiting for something other than her turn. Hmm, I’m not sure putting socially distanced markers for the ticket machine but not in the waiting area works! An interesting experience and the first time in Japan when someone has been angry with me.

More bicycle storage

Tokyo has so many bicycles & I have, in a previous post, shown photographs of underground storage at Omori station. This cycle storage is at Tamachi station …

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The first two photo show the entrance to the cycle park. In the middle photo you can see the downward sloping ramp on the right side of the steps making it easy to push a bike down. And the photo on the right shows a small conveyor belt making it effortless to bring the cycle back up the the road level. Nifty!

Birthday Cake

Geoff celebrated his birthday this last week & I set out to make his some sort of birthday cake, using some fabulous, but expensive Japanese strawberries.

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The amazing thing about this isn’t the cake – it is the fact that I managed to beat the cream with this weedy whisk. Surely this must be an expression of true love! And I must tell you that the strawberries were delicious. Yum yum.

Big Issue

I had no idea that the Big Issue was a thing in Japan. More recently I have read an article that because of the downturn in commuters, Big Issue Japan have just launched a new initiative ‘Nighttime Bakery’ to sell on unsold bread from bakeries. We hear about the effects of the reduction in commuters to businesses around workplaces, but Big Issue vendors must be having a particularly bad time.

Men with batons

These are the powerful guys on the streets of Tokyo. Mainly older and nearly always male, they have a baton that lights up, a whistle and usually white gloves. And their job? To wave their batons at vehicles … and indeed pedestrians … when directing access over the pavements. Smart uniforms if they are employed by hotels but bump hats & less formal wear if working at a building site.

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Zebra Crossings

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This is the famous Shibuya Scramble Crossing … a stock photo pre-Covid times. The traffic is stopped in all directions to allow pedestrians to cross the roads in any direction.

I love my local version in front of the station here in Shibaura with pedestrians able to choose one of the seven crossings!