The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond

“Whirr, whirr, kachunk! Whirr, whirr, kachunk!” These are the dreadful sounds that greet me as I try to start the mighty Tacoma. In the 11 years we have been together, she has never failed to start instantaneously. The symptoms are unmistakeable – flat battery.

My extraordinary good luck holds, as the engine grunts into life on the last death-rattle attempt. Phew!

I immediately drive to O’Reilly https://www.oreillyauto.com/?srsltid=AfmBOooUVnrZhD1t3unI0zBjuJ1hWpK75bCNV8tvnpKs9eIbE_pSjAbj the best auto part store in San Francisco. It is not far away on Geary. https://www.google.com/maps/search/O’Reilly+Auto+Parts/@37.7808825,-122.5370085,13z?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDgxOS4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

The bartender is a short, very happy guy who with great skill guides me through the different possibilities for a 2010 Tacoma battery. This may sound dullish – not so. I learned so much about batteries.

” Would you like me to fit it for you sir?”

“Why, sure.”

He fills up my washer fluid and generally makes sure everything is OK. All this while exuding a magical aura of happiness and joy.

“No charge, sir.” What a great man. Thank you O Reilly.

James makes it back from Geneva after adventures!

Congratulations to Vivien and Jeremy on their marriage in Geneva on Tuesday!

Jeremy is my eldest boy.

All my very best wishes to Jeremy and Vivien. As I have already mentioned, they love each other. So important.

I am racked with guilt for not travelling to Geneva. Too far, too old.

James, second boy, represents the Californian Calders.

So ,everybody lift a festive glass to the happiness Vivien and Jeremy!

Meanwhile, people dance in the street in the park.

It is so delightfully cool here in San Francisco! Bright sunshine, fresh air and cool ocean breezes.

James gets another cake. This is a riff on the Black Forest cake.

Where is my wallet? I search everywhere without success. I search everywhere again – still no good. Green card, social security card, driving licenses, Japan and US, credit, ATM cards, Japan and U.S. Japanese permanent resident card, boat license and tons more. It is a good day to die!

I take a load of washing from the machine and in the pocket of a now clean pair of trousers; is my wallet. Drenched but unbeaten.

I drive over to Santa Cruz to visit David and Kendra.

I drive back home the next day along Highway 1. All up the pacific coast.

I like it here.

There is a big typhoon smashing around Okinawa as I write.

Please all pray for the well-being of my boat.

The last thing I did before leaving Okinawa was to pay my yearly Health Insurance bill – 12,902 yen.

This is about 75$. Hooray!

This gets me full medical and dental treatment.

I didn’t exactly leave Okinawa; I was driven away. For the last 3 weeks it has been 33 degrees day and night with high humidity. Unbearable.

I get to Narita airport in Tokyo. It is a huge place with distances of kilometres between gates. I am stumbling towards the lounge when an angelic voice fills my consciousness.

“Would you like me to take you to your destination?” It is an ANA lady with a wheel chair. Sad that I am obviously well passed it but gleeful as I get pushed around. She takes me to the lounge and organises for someone to pick me up and take me to the departure gate. I am first to board as I now have the very useful status of Pre Boarding.

There is a wonderful young man waiting for me when I get to Vancouver. Again the airport huge and he pushes me over monies the lang Scots miles.

There is a young lady from Columbia waiting for me when I get to San Francisco. She takes me to baggage pickup and then to the taxi rank. Luxury, the only way to travel. Thanks everybody.

Ah, San Francisco; so sunny and deliciously cool!

Yes, it means I have been back to the dentist. After misery and pain, I reward myself with a nice, big octopus from the Tomari Fish Market.

Mina san, who has been voted Okinawa’s funniest dental nurse, no mean achievement as the competition is intense, is eight months pregnant with her second daughter.

Charlie, the Bonny Earl, Murray, pays a visit from Australia. We all worked together 10 years ago and had a wonderful time.

Happy days.

This is what I have been leading over the last few months -no great drama, nor tragedy and only bits of comedy. I blame the weather; well, up to a point.

It rained consistently for the first 2 months and then from one day to the next, Okinawa became a cauldron of heat and humidity. Impossible to do much in either case.

Nonetheless, I continue with my rigorous training schedule of walking to restaurants and wolfing down large quantities of outstanding food – mainly fish.

Maybe the greatest excitement was getting a new car. Kiyuna san, who runs the rental company and is a fantastic bloke, explains that my current car needs to be serviced. Could I accept a replacement?

Kiyuna san’s hobby is restoring 50s and 60s American cars.

A big typhoon swept past but luckily not over the island this weekend. It was reasonably hairy with 70 knot winds. Poor boat.

A great joy over the last months has been the recovery of my tree. It had lain on its side in the blazing sun for several months, whilst I was in California and had evolved into a bundle of dried up sticks. He, she, it, they, fought back and with much care recovered remarkably.

This is no good, the poor tree blows over in fairly mild breezes.

I track down a suitably large pot and transplant.

Go tree!

I will start by recording progress on my fitness campaign. You will remember that I walk to nearby restaurants and gorge thus becoming fitter and stronger.

To mark the upcoming Irei no Hi, OIST organises talks. I have experience with Irei no Hi; https://thequietripple.com/2016/06/23/irei-no-hi/

Yamauchi san, now in his 80s was a boy during the battle. His memories of trying to survive in Onna are heart rending. One thinks of Gaza.

Hooray, it is time for the Haari boat races. I crewed in the OIST boat many years ago. https://thequietripple.com/2016/06/23/irei-no-hi/. It does not rain. This means that it is very hot!

I take my amazing Nikon DSLR with pro lens and take lots of amazing photos. However, I manage to lose them all attempting to download them onto my computer! iPhone from now on. Anyway, such a lot of fun and I meet a lot of old friends.

I have to go for more root canal treatment, my hobby you know. This means a detour to the hard by Tomari Fish Market.

I am marooned on the island until my tooth is fixed = new crown etc. I feel the menace of increasing heat.

My phone is buzzing with warning emergency messages. They are in Japanese so I can only speculate. The loud speakers in the streets roar out messages. Finally a message in English comes over but I can’t understand due to the very metallic tone of the loudspeaker system. Is a huge tsunami heading straight at me? My apartment is about 5 meters above sea level.

What to do when you are in trouble? Go to Lawson’s of course! The ladies know me well and with patience and Google translate we establish that there has been an earthquake in the Philippines and the resultant tsunami will hit the beaches of Okinawa at 11:30.

“What must I do?”

“Go to the mountains Neil san.”

“Are you going to the mountains?”

“Oh no, we must work.”

I do not go to the mountain but decide to go to my dentist appointment instead. I am in pain.

My good friend Kinjo sensei says there is much rot under a crown. It needs to be removed and root canal treatment initiated.

Kinjo sensei does not do this kind of low life dental treatment; reserving himself for implants.

Not to worry, a branch of his empire does this sort of stuff.

He fixes an appointment the same afternoon. Thank you Japan. In San Francisco it would probably take weeks to find a dentist taking new patients and then further time to actually get an appointment.

Whilst waiting to be seated chez Kinjo sensei, I look at my Facebook page. It is my niece’s birthday.

I ask if we can send her a Japanese birthday message. The Japanese are so playful and they all jump on the idea.

The Tomari fish market is adjacent. Several fish stalls have been converted into restaurants that are crammed with Chinese or maybe Taiwanese tourists.

Anyway, I go to have root canal treatment done in a new dentist place.

The dentist name is Shinjo sensei.. He does the business and they charge me 1630 Yen which is $10.

Great day!

My new favourite places are the fish restaurants beside the Ginowan Fishing Port. When not eating soba for lunch I eat there. They are only a skip and a jump from my salubrious apartment

I am the only non Japanese. The food is fabulous.

There is a Farmer’s Market at the far end of the restaurant space.

Another great thing about the restaurant is that it is very close to the Yanmar store. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yanmar. I can have a memorable lunch and then pick up parts for my engine.

Anticipation is nearly always more thrilling than the act or event.

The tycoon was pretty good but not much more than that. I would call it a severe tropical storm.

It started off quiet but Okinawa took it seriously. Schools, public transport supermarkets were all closed.

As the afternoon wore on things got worse.

Old age anxiety sets in as I realise that I had forgotten an important line that stretches the cover and keeps the leading edge flat on the cockpit roof. However, the wind has got up and I am too scared to drive to the marina to attach it, My Tanto is very light and easily blown around by serious wind.

The most awful thing is that my dearly beloved barograph appears to have died. There is no comforting tic, tic, tic from the archaic clockwork system. This makes me sad.

Anyway, it was fun but not the real thing; 40 – 50 knot winds at best.

What delight to find that the barograph works! The absence of tic, tic, tic can be attributed to my much diminished hearing.