SQUARE MELONS: Finding the coast

M: Last night was fun, we went to a bar in Chiba called Oceans Deep to meet up with some other teachers. I was gagging for a pint and the first 2 slipped down easily, then Jack had the genius idea of moving on to Tanqueray and tonic – usually a pricier gin in the UK but it was 500yen which is approx. £2.50 and they were measuring by eye. Needless to say after a couple of those we were quite jolly! It was good meeting other people doing the same thing and also to let off a bit of steam. Jack got chatting to the Australian barman and has managed to talk his way into some dj slots there too.
We weren’t feeling too rough today, just a tad tired after getting to bed in the small hours. We’d been told that the coast wasn’t too far away so we decided to hop on our bikes and head in that direction. The weather was amazing today, clear blue skies and blazing sunshine. We hit a major industrial area with loads of factories, and I mean loads. I saw some of the workers walking around one place and it didn’t surprise me to see that they wear exactly the same here as they do at home i.e. white coats made of teabag material and hairnets, and that factory work, wherever you are in the world, sucks hardcore! (That happy summer spent at Hopper’s, packing treacle tarts and mince pies and coming home with an inch of flapjacks on my shoes!). Anyway, we new we were getting near to the sea and persevered and eventually arrived, hurrah. My camera was playing up today, and really needs some new batteries so the pictures are a bit limited I’m afraid. We cycled along the path and discovered a sandy beach bit (not sure of anyone swims in the sea as the coastline is lined with factories) and a cool-looking water park. There was also a lovely park there too, so all in all a nice little discovery.
We tried a less convoluted route on the way home and to Jack’s delight we actually went past the school that he teaches at on Saturdays, so now he knows a simple and achievable route to ride there. A fine achievement.
After our productive start to the day, we got home, had showers and ventured into the city, to a place called Shinjuku to visit a shop called Tokyu Hands – a mad department store that sells some crazy stuff. I think our favourite section was the games and costumes department. I don’t want to describe too much about what we found as we’ve got some excellent ideas for presents. It was cool.
After that we went for some tempura and noodles which was good comfort food and for pudding we went past this crepe placed that did a crepe with squirty cream, strawberries and cheesecake. That’s correct, they wrapped up strawberries, cream and cheescake in a pancake! We had one. It was intense.
We wandered round Shinjuku and took in all the noise and bright lights, and arcade sounds, and people outside bars and clubs trying to rally in customers. We did come to Shinjuku a few weeks ago but it was pissing it down, and we were still very much new to Japan and it didn’t seem as vibrant as it did tonight.
An ace day, I’ll certainly sleep well tonight.