Sweep my gutters

You can see the concrete blocks in the gutter, they smooth the ride.

This morning I swept the gutters in front of our house. First time I have ever done so. Maybe I should have before now, but, well. I was shamed into it because David noticed last week that some conscientious neighbour has been doing it for us.

One of the noticeable qualities of Tokyo, in fact all of Japan, is how neat and tidy it is. This is despite few public receptacles for rubbish. One reason is obviously that people take pride in their little corner of the country and keep that corner clean.

As I swept (and there was a lot of dust) an elderly male neighbour came out of his house. He looked a tad surprised to see me there. But recovered quickly to say (in English),

"It is good to lift up these blocks  and clean under them sometimes." I agreed and he qualified with, "Or when the big rain comes, the water can't run there."

There is a small space for water to run under and behind the blocks, but not much bigger than a couple of finger widths. I wonder if this small space might just be a bit too small for a 'big rain'. Nonetheless, now that I've begun on the serious Japanese-housewifely task of sweeping my gutters, I guess I'll get around to the concrete ramp-thingys too. Though they look somewhat heavy. Maybe I'll defer to my hubby.

But for now I'd settle for some 'big rain'. It is still terribly hot and rain at this time of year usually brings a cool change - one that heralds the beginning of autumn.