Well … today was somewhat’s different than I expected. As I said I did have a lie in and a rest. Although my body instinctively wanted me up and out of bed at 6:55, my brain told it to shut up and relax, getting me out of bed at about 11 this morning. The sun was out again giving no indication of this storm, so I put some washing in the machine.
Taking a break from the usual routine of McDonalds for Sunday breakfast, we went to the nearby Lotteria to try their wares. For the cost of just over my usual breakfast, I bought one of their highly promoted Zeppin burgers (360 yen). When it arrived I was a bit dissapointed to see it was about the same size as a McPork, which was 120 yen. Nevertheless, I have to admit that it was one tastey burger. It did have flavour and succulence, but it lacked content. Had it been bigger then I would consider returning for a Zeppin, but for now I’ll stick with my two McPork and small shake combo for 340 yen.
Still feeling hunger, and a little adventure, we went a little further into Kamishinjou to a place called Mr Donut. What’s a ‘donut’? We in the UK call it a doughnut, but in other places they skip out half the word I guess. Now they did have a lot of different doughnuts, but they weren’t that cheap. I’m used to getting doughnuts on a carboot sale at 5 or 6 or £1, the same amount from Tesco or Asda. The cheapest one at Mr Donuts was 105 yen (about 53p). Obviously this was the one that I bought; a chocolate doughnut with strawberry cream filling. When I got it home and ate it, again I’d say that it was good, but not worth the price. The strawberry filling was nice, but it was the main body of the doughnut that let it down. It seemed to lack way too much flavour. I would say that I’ll stick to McDonalds, but we now have some pots and pans (bring on the instant noodles!)
On our return we noticed a sign for a festival, the Higashiyodogawa-ku Citizens’ Festival, a hundred or so meters behind the dorm. Yeah, a festival had snuck right up behind us and we hadn’t even noticed. I did hear some cheering earlier this morning, but dismissed it as being a baseball game. My friends had other things to do, so I headed over in the direction that the many bicycles were heading. This festival had a lot of the similar features of the Danjiri Festival of Kishiwada, but was a lot smaller, and gave the impression that it was a lot more focussed on the local community. As I got there a lot later than most others, I obviously missed out on a lot of the festivities, but arrived in time to see a few things taking place in a central arena; including dancing, firebreathing, diabolos and fire tricks.
After I had a look around the stores areas to see what was going on, the central area dispersed to make room for the street parade. Similar to Kishiwada, this parade was a chance for everyone who was involved in the festival to show what they’d contributed or were working on. I won’t go into details what everyone had (don’t worry I got photos), but there was a really nice range of floats. Major kudos go out to the group of girls (about 8-12 years old) on unicycles. I did see one accident involving a group running aggressively (in the spirit of festival) down the road, as two of their members fell over. They got up quickly and caught up with the pack, so I think they were fine.
Unfortunately for me the long awaited storm decided to show itself by darkening the sky and letting out a downpour, followed by a few lightning bolts and thunder. It was unfortunately because this was one of the few days during this “we’re gonna get drenched” period, that I left my brolly at home. Thankfully I did have my LSTV hoody packed in my bag, so I put it on and my hood went up. It was actually quite nice to be able to wear a hood without everyone looking like they’re thinking you’re going to knife them. After having a final look around the stalls again, and after talking to one woman explaining that my umbrella was at home, I decided to buy some handmade juggling bags. It took a bit of confusion on both of our parts (mine and the woman) to come to the conclusion that that’s what they were ^_^;;
After getting home in the lovely wet weather, I realised I still hadn’t hung my washing out. By now the rain was easing up, so I thought “sod it, my clothes are wet anyway”. Now my clothes are hanging out on my balcony, whilst the rain’s … well, it’s easing off to be honest. I’ll check on them before going to bed. But for now, it’s time to crack on with some homework.
Later dudes!