October 27, 2007

• Stop the insanity!  Daughter had a group trip to make with her work cronies.  "What time to you have to leave tomorrow? Five?? To go to Narita???  Leaving for three nights in Beijing????"  That was the first that I heard she was leaving the country...

  Son was very nice and took me to the opera for my Birthday to see Mozart's "Cosi Fan Tutti."  It is about two couples.  The men want to see how faithful their girlfriends are, to they pretend to join the military and come back in disguise.  Each tries to romance the other's girlfriend, and they are so successful that a double wedding almost takes place.  The fellows then reveal their true identity and everyone ends up singing "live and learn."  The music is lovely, but the plot got Beethoven angry enough to write "Fidelio," which is about a very faithful wife.  We had to brave a small typhoon to get to the theater in Yokohama, but I have seen worse.  Before the theater we went to the Yokohama Doll Museum.

  As we are on the train home, Hub calls from Fukuoka to say that his wallet went missing on his way home from Kagoshima and I have to jump on a plane out of TKO RIGHT NOW because he can't get home from the station or into his house when he gets there.    Tole him to call somebody at work who is in closer proximity.  He stopped all the bank and credit cards, and then his wallet turned up minus the money but the rest of the stuff is intact.  Hmm.  I wonder if that means my bank card is stopped, too... 

  Meanwhile, son and I are hungry and stop into a kaiten conveyor belt sushi place.  It was the worst we ever had.  I never had fish so dried out before, and the dorsal spines were not even cut off some of the meat.  The lady at the cash register offered us coupons that we could use on our next visit which is never to be.

  Son had found the number of a locksmith in Fukuoka on his cell phone Internet connection.  Hub called a locksmith and got into his place and I will mail him some cash special delivery tomorrow.  I suppose that I may be able to stay here until the day I originally planned to return.  I have bank cards to pick up here, too.  After all the ruckus I had to raise at the bank over those stupid cards I'll be derned if I am gonna leave TKO without them.

  Son says the bathroom ceiling in his first floor apartment was leaking to the degree that he needed to use an umbrella on the toilet.  The second floor apartment is unoccupied.  There was water leaking into the third floor apartment, too, but the occupant figured that it would stop by itself eventually and didn't report it.  The problem was on the fourth floor.  Son asked exactly what pipes were leaking, l'eau de sink or l'eau de toillette, and could not get an, um, clear answer, but the landlady did offer him the use of a cleaning service.  Maybe he should take her up on the offer. The following is part of his version of the story:

  ある日の朝、いつもの3点ユニットバスでいつもと変わらず顔を洗おうとすると背中にポタリと何かが落ちてきた。見上げると3点ユニットバスの天井一面に、入居以来13ヶ月間一度もお目にかかったことのない、おびただしい量の水滴があった。床にはというと、ゆうべは僕より先に寝ていた同居人が置いたであろうタオルが敷かれているのが目に入る。これも普段はない。昨日は飲んで帰ったから気付かなったけど、これって昨日の晩からあるんだよなー？多分これってすでに一晩こういう状態なんだよなー?会社なのだけれど気になって支度も手につかず、3点ユニットの天井ふたを開けてみることにする。
  ざばー　うぎゃー
  溜まっていた水が流れ出し、目に飛び込んできたのはユニットバス天井からさらに30cm上方のコンクリ天井。長さ1mほどのヒビ？から水が、あっちでぽたぽた　こっちでぽたぽた。
  風呂場の天井の上は深さ5mmの水たまりになっていましたとさ。さて、管理人に電話だ、同居人はもうでかけているからこれも電話だ、とりあえず水抜きだ、オレはインテリだから毛細管現象を使ってタオルの上半分を天井に引っ掛けてだなウン、2枚かけておこうか、床の上はどうだ、掃除はまだいいけど特に水が多くたれてくるところにナベを置いておこう。
  さよなら定時出社。
  思い出してまた疲れた。

  • 11:58
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