A day out (well, a few hours anyway)

Today we sent our middle son off to soccer day camp and headed out the door with the other two boys. Goal? Get out of the house, hang out in a big park, make the boys tired and enjoy the day.

But before we got to the park, we encountered the train station. Even if we were anticipating a pretty normal day, there was no way to ignore the changes since March 11th. The escalators are shut. This is still a strange but common sight as Tokyo conserves energy. On Saturday we went to a department store with escalators in the middle of the store. To go from floor to floor we walked up the unusually still steps.

Then the train pulled up. The train was dark on the inside. It is a station where the concourse is above the lines so little natural light shines down. I never realised that the trains used to run with internal lights on during the day. Now I know, because today they weren't.

But it was lovely once we got to the park. The hint of a spring day, where we didn't need our thick winter coats or our gloves or scarves. My 5 year old had a thick hat on that was soon discarded. We wore sunglasses and sun hats - both usually absent during winter here in Tokyo. The trees are still largely bare and the grass mostly yellow, but it won't be long before spring bursts forth. The cherry trees are pregnant with buds.

I'm pretty sure this is a magnolia tree.

It was great to get out. Since the 11th of March we have not driven anywhere nor gone by train anywhere. Only walking or biking within a very small area of our house. There was a strange feeling of "what if"s when we left the suburb. Probably the same "what if" that our boys expressed when we talked about going back to school next week. The last time they were officially at school in their classrooms the earthquake hit, I guess it is natural to wonder if/when it will happen again. The sooner we get back on that horse the better, I'm guessing.

Tree climbing

We enjoyed a Japanese picnic (rice balls) and generally frolicked in the sun. No email, no news. Lovely to leave that behind for a time. Of course our youngest got tired eventually and we returned home again to the news, emails and the work, but the time away was delicious.