On the road again

Or more correctly, I am on the rails again. Or perhaps that should be off the rails as I feel a bit seedy and have no idea where I am going!

Last night, in need of some conversation, I headed out to some tacky English theme pub, firstly because I knew there would be someone who spoke English and secondly because you could see inside it without entering it - all the other bars were a mystery.

First “are you here alone” was a really nice Korean physicist from New Mexico. He was intelligent and well informed and spoke way too much about serious things. I wanted to kill myself. Behind him sat two Canadian guys that I kept pulling faces at for help; and an English boy band looker who was narrating to his mate that I was seriously being trapped and talked at. As soon as the physicist was in the loo I grabbed other people for conversation.

Look if I am going to force myself to talk to strangers it better be mindless, drunk and meaningless banter.

So the Canadians it was. Now that I had some partners in crime, it was off to Selfish Cream - me boldly strutting ahead. It was the kind of bar that Kati, Nina and I would take over. Small, white bar, red sofas, funky red chairs by the windows, a display wall of Veuve Cliquot and Bombay Gin. There was also two people there and I think they were friends of the bar man. Exactly the reason I had not wanted to go into these bars before. Anyway we got pretty drunk on CC and dry and stupid photos were taken. I think at one stage I had both of them stroking my back which was pretty f&cking weird and I hoped that they would accidentally stroke each other’s hands for a laugh. I got a Morticia - Gomez style kiss up the arms and then sent them packing back to their hotel. Hours later, they were on a flight back to Toronto and I was checking out of my hotel, tired and disoriented. Thank god I packed the night before, the room was a disaster area.

The place I wanted to stay near Mt Fuji was full. Then it dawned on me it was a weekend, which explained why every other hotel was full. When I learned that it was also a public hotel I realised that I had no chance other than a day trip and here I am on the 2pm train to Tokyo with no hotel booking but my fingers crossed. Anyway it looks too cloudy for Fuji to be visible.