Today, following a 9.3km run with Tom at 7am, I headed out to see Bibi and his wife (and cat), who live up in the mountains of Western Saitama.

One of the reasons for the visit was that I wanted to play with Bibi’s big chopper, which some mumblers may recall me talking about a year or so ago.

Here’s Bibi in action:

…and me looking, er, manly?

It was lovely to see them both, eat some delicious homemade food, breath in some fresh countryside air. Thank you, may the ankle-healing continue 🙂

The journey there had been a good one too – I played “spot mount Fuji” with the two oba-chans (grannies) sitting opposite me on the train, and had a long conversation with a third obachan about my patchwork jeans, which I spent much of the journey working on, patch, needle and thread in hand.

This evening our friends S&M came round for dinner. S&M are a great source of inspiration and encouragement for me, and it was lovely to be able to invite them into our home – although in the presence of such experienced hosts I started to realise just how much practice I need. Thank you both for coming.

Tomorrow morning I’m off again for a run around the palace at 7am, this time with the Tokyo Vegan Runners – a group I found on www.meetup.com. Two lessons in the evening, and hopefully some time to breathe during the day.

oyasumi xxx