We took our bikes with us today.  I still don’t feel confident cycling.  Cycling in Japan is awkward.  The strange combination of using footpaths and roads confuses me.  And I find it really hard to cycle on narrow streets with pedestrians and other cyclists heading straight towards me.  I’m sure there are rules, but it feels like a free-for-all.

I agreed to cycle as long as I didn’t have to cycle on busy roads.  The plan was to cycle to Mr Donut (a side-effect of making toy donuts in the morning) and then to cycle back along the river.  You can imagine how thrilled I was when I ended up having to cycle uphill on a busy road full of lorries.  I had no idea where we were and what had happened to the river.  And neither did Marty.  I knew things weren’t going well when Marty checked google maps and told me that we were about to cross the river – just not the one that’s beside our apartment.

We did manage to find the right river and our way home but it wasn’t exactly the pleasant cycle I had imagined.  It wasn’t a complete disaster though as we discovered a few new places and I did get to eat donuts.  I also got to try out my new camera lens.

Hydrangea Season

I spent the morning at the local children’s library making soft toys.  I went with a group of people from Marty’s work.  It’s the sort of thing I wish I could do by myself but my Japanese still isn’t good enough.  I do find Japanese easier to understand when I know what the topic of the conversation is going to be but I still struggled today.  Thankfully sewing is something that you can concentrate on without being expected to chat.