August 8–12涼風至 Suzukaze itaru - Cool winds blow
August 13–17寒蝉鳴 Higurashi naku - Evening cicadas sing
August 18–22蒙霧升降 Fukaki kiri matō - Thick fog descends
Since there appear to be no immediately forthcoming additions to okasan's seasonal postcard series, this is the second of a set of two flower themed cards she finished back in June, during rainy season.
Monday, Aug. 1st
With the slightly late demise of this year's rainy season, the formerly promised 'greater heat' finally became a thing around the middle of last week. It's slightly different from the ten day heat wave that touched down around the end of June. So far, it's a few degrees cooler (37C as opposed to 39 or 40C), but heavier and more humid.
Oppressive.
Mina and I both got our fourth jabs in on the cusp of the weekend. My 'Golden Ticket' came in the post last Tuesday. Surprise of surprises - and precisely five months to the day I got my last booster. Mina went online as soon as she got home from work, and booked me in for Thursday evening at the closest public vaccination site. Wednesday, her hospital announced that they'd be starting an all-out employee booster program, and deferring the requirement that staff present government vaccination coupons, in an attempt to expedite the process, and get as many jabs in staff arms as quickly as possible.
With the current number of staff infections and relative 'close contacts' at an all-time high, the situation over there is currently pretty dire. Hospitals can't function on auto-pilot. Fortunately, she has a friend on the booster jab organizing committee, and was able to secure a spot mid-Friday afternoon.
For some odd reason, it seems that there isn't much of a rush to take advantage of the hospital's in-house offer, so it was surprisingly easy for her get her name on the list. With our turn to mind the old lady coming up next weekend - and the Obon holiday period following on directly after - we decided that we needed to get a move on, and get our jabs in as soon as possible.
Needless to say, with both of us in various stages of post-booster malaise, the weekend wasn't much fun at all.
I had the worst of it on Friday, with a fever and the usual array of symptoms. Luckily, I had nothing scheduled. Mina's temperature shot up right after breakfast on Saturday, and she was laid out for the whole day. My fever was down, so I puttered about and took care of her.
By Sunday afternoon, she was pretty much back to normal.
She got Pfizer, and I got Moderna.
Almost four days later, I'm still feeling dragged out and shitty. No fever or anything, and the arm tenderness has pretty much resolved...but I feel like warmed over crap. I'd liken it to an extended bad hangover. Brain fog. Fatigue. Same deal as the last two times. Hard to say if it's any worse; but I was reading that with the Moderna jab, the severity of the side effects seemed to amplify slightly with each successive booster. Fingers crossed that it'll have subsided by tomorrow.
I'm scheduled over at Mr. Insecthead's Summer COVID Funhouse in the morning. I'm sitting on the fence as to whether I'll go, or decide to call in and cancel. Mina is leaning toward the cancel, as the kindergartens are a complete shit show right now, and probably the biggest viral spread vectors going. In a week my antibody count should be way up...but okasan still hasn't got her booster, which means she'll be a sitting duck this weekend if I pick anything up doing my routine over there tomorrow.
Of course, this whole situation could have been avoided if Mayumi had made a point of getting the old lady jabbed two weeks ago...but she didn't. With everything that crew has been through with the virus, I don't understand why she doesn't act with any sense of urgency. It's all laissez-faire brinksmanship.
So...to go, or not to go. Mina figures we should wait until tomorrow morning, and see what the 7:00 am TV horoscope has to say, then decide whether to call in or not. At this point I'm leaning toward bailing.
We'll see.
Thursday, August 4th
I called the kindergarten at around 7:30 am on Tuesday morning and informed Insect Daughter that I'd been hobbled by side-effects of the booster jab I'd got on the weekend, and would be absent. She told me that she'd pass the message on to her father, and to 'take care'.
I felt a little guilty. I hadn't cancelled on them in almost two years. I'd also be losing a pay packet. The last few times Insecthead cancelled on me, he reimbursed 60% of the wages I'd lost. This time, it was going to be 100% on me.
Here's the rub, though - I could give up that one pay packet, cut the risk of getting sick, and just go in next week when my antibodies are in order - or roll the dice, and possibly get sidelined for two or three weeks if I got unlucky and picked something up. In that case, I'd stand to lose a lot more than just a day's wages.
As a 'deep contact', Mina would also be forced to stay home for a week, which would put more pressure on her already over-wrought co-workers. Mayumi would be also be stuck with okasan until everything over here cleared up - which might be well into September. Of course, we'd ultimately have to make up for every weekend we missed. Bad news for everyone.
Mina's take on it was that I should just 'suck it up', cancel, sustain the loss, and err on the side of safety.
The last few times the virus hit really bad, the prefectural government requested that all kindergartens and pre-schools temporarily shutter. I didn't need to worry about walking into a viral hornet's nest, and risk getting sick. It wasn't an option.
This time around, it's different. There are no restrictions, or 'State of Emergency' measures. It's every individual for him or herself. It seems that the government current strategy is to shoot for herd immunity by letting as many people get sick as possible.
The medical system is buckling. Public services are being effected. Yesterday, the numbers here in Aichi hit a pandemic high of 17,778 positive tests in a single day. Tokyo was just shy of 39,000, after clearing 42,000 last week. With the Obon holiday period coming up next week, I expect all of this will peak out, then hopefully start to drop off toward the end of the month, or early September.
With kindergarten cancelled and my schedule clear for the day, I decided to attempt my first run since last Thursday morning. Never mind that it was being touted as the hottest day of August, with a forecast high of 38C by 1:00 pm - I desperately wanted to shake off the last of this post vaccine bullshit feeling.
Mina was pretty firmly against the idea, and made me promise to stick to the heavily shaded park across the road, as opposed to my usual 10km canal trek. I agreed, and got an early start.
I must have been half a lap in on the park course when it became apparent that the shit bag track and field club from the high school up the road had decided to come over and do sprint and relay time trials, effectively taking over the entire course. Aren't they supposed to be on summer vacation? Oh, yeah...I almost forgot...there is no such thing. Schools mandate club activities in lieu of any scheduled classes. I fucking hate these selfish little pricks. Go practice at your school's track - not in a public space.
I had no option but to break my promise, and head west to the canal from the far end of the park.
It was hot as hell; but I pushed through at a bit of a slower pace, and made it back without expiring from heat stroke, which has been trending pretty solid in these parts. Between emergency calls for COVID and heat stroke cases, there've been ambulances rushing up and down the main street out front at least twice every daylight hour for the last week and a half.
When I got back, I hit the shower, and finally felt like myself. My third bout of post-vax malaise was history. I ran the course again yesterday. Hot as hell, and not a single runner on the course for the second day going. Beautiful.
Around dinner time, Mina's smart phone started ringing. It was Ashtrayface Lady, the chain smokin' mother of the two junior high school kids that I usually teach on alternating Saturday mornings. They had a class scheduled for this afternoon; but the 12 year old girl had just been identified as a COVID 'deep contact'. Apparently one of her friends came down with a fever and tested positive after the girls got back from a summer break trip out to Universal Studios Japan, in Osaka. My student has already already had it. She and her brother missed a few classes earlier this year after she tested positive toward the beginning of the sixth wave, and grounded her whole family for ten days. It looks like they'll all be stuck at home for a good chunk of their summer break, too...and longer still, if she starts coming down with symptoms. Kudos to Ashtrayface Lady for calling it in, and keeping us safe, though.
Apparently Omicron likes to re-infect the previously infected, so fingers crossed the girl doesn't get sick again, and infect the rest of her mom and brother. In the meantime, their class is rescheduled for the third week of August - after all this Obon business is behind us.
I'm already feeling a bit less guilty for ditching on the kindergarten class.
Today the weather changed. Heavy cloud cover started moving in shortly before Mina left for work, and a piss down was forecast before noon...but it never materialized. I went out and ran the canal course for the third day in a row.
This time there were a couple of other joggers on the course...these two old Japanese ladies in their cheesy Billy Jean King tennis visors, yapping and slow plodding along canal side by the Shirotori Gardens. I see them every once in awhile. Sometimes there's a third old lady with them; but today it was just the two.
I actually saw three foreigners along the canal as I was heading back, which is something of a record. With the two year old moratorium on tourists still firmly in place, I'd guess that they're either 'teachers', or students...though one looked to be about my age, so in his case, I'd assume the former.
A lot schools are off on summer break now, leaving the non natives without the financial resources or inclination to risk a trip back home with a bit of extra time on their hands.
While one can't help but take notice of other gaijin, I never pay specific attention to them, and try to avoid eye contact, or the painful 'gaijin nod'. I don't feel the need or obligation to acknowledge a complete stranger simply because he or she isn't Japanese. You don't see foreigners winking or nodding at each other back in Canada because they're...foreigners.
Some people wave at strangers on passing trains or boats as a matter of course. Outside of a social situation, I never understood why anyone would wave at or otherwise acknowledge anyone they aren't already acquainted with, unless they're harbouring some ulterior motive. Like they're on the make, or want to sell you something.
I mean, in toddlers maybe it's to be expected; but as far as I can tell, waving and yelling 'bye-bye!' is mostly prompted by parents who thinks it's 'cute', or 'charming'. Perhaps it comes down to how one was brought up? I was taught not to speak to or acknowledge people with whom I have no relation or connection. To mind my own business.
I guess I'm unfriendly.
Oh, well.
Saturday, August 6th
We're into the last couple of days of summer, according to the Japanese version of the old Chinese seasonal calendar I've been using as a loose framework for this year's dispatches.
While I can't speak to whether or not the Paulownia trees have been producing seed (I'd assume they likely have), the last two weeks have definitely seen an abundance of 'damp earth' and oppressively 'humid air', two hallmarks of the current sub-seasons (#'s 34-36) .
While we've seen a bit of rain around here over the last week, precincts north-northwest of Tokyo (in the area of Fukushima/Tohoku) have been getting a dangerous amount - to the extent that entire rural communities are either being totally flooded out, or decimated by landslides. Every year it's like roulette. No one knows where the next seasonal, climate-inspired disaster is going to strike next. The last few years have seen areas of Kyushu hit really hard. This year, while they seem to be getting a well deserved break, the north of Honshu is taking an absolute beating. Where the buck will stop next year is anyone's guess.
Sooner or later, our number will come up.
Yesterday morning I got my fourth run of the week wrapped up a bit earlier than usual, so I could make it back in time to catch up with my siblings in Canada via video link. My brother messaged me to set up the call and get us all on the same page the middle of last week. This can be a real challenge, as we live on opposite sides of the clock, sixteen hours apart.
We get a chance to do this a couple of times a year, and it really means a lot to me to be able to see everyone together, and catch up for a couple of hours. We had some good laughs, and the time passed all too quickly. It was easily the high point of my summer. For those of us without the time or resources to travel the way we used to, this is the only way we can 'visit' family, and maintain those precious bonds and connections. If all goes well, I look forward to seeing everyone together again around Christmas.
A simulated family pow-wow is surely better than none at all.
Twenty five years ago, video conferencing like this would have been the stuff of science fiction. It's easy to take all the technology around us for granted. Being able to video conference, or even message family and friends back and forth across the globe in real time is amazing. I have two siblings and an old friend that message me once or twice a month, and it means the world to me. As I've said again and again, life out here can be lonely. Without friends or family around, it's easy to start feeling isolated, and get into a dark place.
Today is overcast and humid, with a chance of rain later on - depending on who you listen to. The cicadas are kicking up a screeching and clamouring racket from the trees out front and back.
Mina went out to pick up okasan from Mayumi's place around an hour ago, so I expect her back any minute. Then it's into Moody Old-Ladyland until tomorrow evening. Fingers crossed that things don't start going sideways too soon. Recently she waits until day #2 to start rubbing everyone the wrong way. She'd pretty much worn out her welcome by noon the last Sunday she was in our charge.
She's probably the most self centered individual I've ever encountered. No sense of empathy for anyone else; but plenty of self-pity. With okasan, it's all 'me first', all the time. Fuck everyone else.
I believe she managed a high 'C minus', on the old lady behaviour rating rating scale two weeks ago. This was likely an overly generous assessment.
Though next week is the Obon holiday period, I've been scheduled to entertain the toddler set at Mr. Insecthead's on Tuesday morning. This is the first time in 27 years I've had classes over there the week of Obon. With the heat, holidays, and COVID numbers at an all-time high, I wonder how many kids will actually show up?
Mina is supposed to go out to the family hometown in Shiga with Mayumi, okasan and the Surly Sumo Son crew on Friday. They have an appointment to pray for her father with the arsehole priest over at the local temple. After that they'll go visit his grave.
Earlier this week, the Aichi Prefectural government requested that over 65's and those with underlying conditions refrain from making such trips over the Obon period, to avoid getting infected with the rampant Omicron BA-5 variant. It comes as little surprise that no one in Mayumi's camp takes any of this seriously.
In any case, I'll be absent from the proceedings. I had been on the fence as to whether I'd drive out there with Mina or not, but when it was announced that Mr. Surly and co. would be making the trek, I bowed out. He's one of those people that I just prefer to steer clear of. I tend to feel bad enough about myself as is; but when that whole crew is together, I feel marginalized, and become the gaijin service dog that they all 'put up with' for Mina's sake.
No, thanks.
I'd rather hang back and go for a run.
After that, summer is essentially a done deal. Of course, there will be another month of relatively hot and humid weather...but moving forward, the vibe will be all about autumn.
That about wraps things up for now. In the area of a couple of weeks I'll be back with the skinny on all the late summer doings and happenings in these far flung precincts.
So, until next we meet, you'd do well to remember that...
"No matter where you go, there you are".
There, and nowhere else.
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