Family comes then 6 weeks later bike accident!

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It be update time!

I seem to be becoming my slack old self. But all good. I do in fact have reasons for that. One is that I have been incredibly busy lately and the other is that I had a bicycle accident last week (car vs me on my little pink bike).

So, I’ve been meaning to write about Mum, Dad and the big sis coming but to be honest, I think they’re the only ones that read this and they know what happened when they were here. :-P But anyway that was in March. They came to primary school with me one day and were treated like royalty. The next day we headed up to Nagano for a spot of the ol’ skiing, which resulted in a tiny bit of wind related stress and a couple of bruises on Mum. We also cruised off to the snow monkeys and Nagano City, that was a day trip from Hakuba well worth it. It was great having them in the country and I do miss the free calls to the Softbank cellphone that Dad rented for their 12 days in Japan!

Here's a photo of me teaching when they were here. I wish I had a photo of the whole family here but unfortunately the closest I have is four snow monkeys in a hot pool and that's not on my computer, it's in my phone, sorry.

I decided last night that my darling big sister deserves a decent present when I go to see her and am working on it. She’s going to be getting an email from me soon asking exactly which suitcase she wants and which doll it was that she saw in Tokyo and wanted. Or at least she was, I just found pics on her facebook page…. Kat those Blythe dolls are expensive but I shall see what I can do!!!!!!

Now to my ‘jiko’ (accident). Hit by a car on my way to work when I was already running late and was horribly damp because a friend of mine had told me that it wouldn’t rain and I went for a cycle in the rain didn’t I.

So, what happened? I was going straight. I had right of way, same rule on that here as the rest of the world I do believe, unless Japan completely has no common sense. She was pulling out of a side street and only looked right; I was coming from the LEFT and could so easily have been a pedestrian. I was also carrying my big green bag on my right shoulder. Yes, my green bag, the same green bag that I had my eye on for 6 months before leaving Wellington and bought only a few days before I left from Fruitti (see above picture from September 08 in Kanazawa). The green bag protected me and is now known as ‘protector’. It left a big dent on her bonnet and a green line. The bag fought the car and won! I fought the pavement and came off with a few nasty bruises, a grazed elbow and more adrenaline flowing through me than I care to think about. I also got ordered by a doctor not to drink coffee for 3 days… a fate worse than death? I though so, but no, I survived that too! That was a week ago and I’ve had little time to rest since but all good, I’m a Kiwi, I can handle anything!

The latest on the accident is that the insurance company of the lady who hit me is going to handle everything and give me some extra moolah for having been hit, how nice of them, not expected at all, I love Japan! They did not HAVE to do that! Actually, I think that legally they don’t, my colleagues are like ‘wow, you’re lucky, I bet it’s coz your foreign!’ (Yay for being a different colour in Japan!). Or maybe it’s because I’m just such a wonderful person and they love me enough to just give me money. ;-P

Seriously though, all I wound up with was a big bruise on my hip, that graze on my elbow and a slightly munted up, now replaced, bike. I’m tracking the bruise with photos and am thinking of buying myself a helmet, I don’t care what the Japanese would think of me, it’s about time someone set a new fashion trend and since my students all live in the areas that I cycle in and (mostly) they love me why not let it be me? I want a helmet from the oh so incredibly fabulous UK based Cycle Chic (google their online store, they are amazing!).

Bicycle law in Japan is something that intrigues me greatly and I am yet to find a decent (English) source of information on it. It seems to be that the basic rule of thumb is:

"behave like you would if you were driving a car (watch out for hazards, avoid them and what not) and exercise caution and common sense. If you are over junior high school age a helmet is not necessary, you will not hit your head on any pavement if you follow the above rule about common sense.'

"Oh and you can ride on the footpath too, it's safer than the road, mostly. "

"If you do have an accident you must go the hospital for a CT Scan of your head and x-rays of places on legs and arms where it hurts even if you can move everything." :S

I had something else that I wanted to write about but I can’t remember what it was just now. Will remember later and write it up tomorrow, maybe.

Until then... don't forget to wear your bike helmet!!!!

Rae