The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond

Someone is backing out of their garage on Hayes when a truck hurtling down the street smashes into them. The truck careers across the road straight into my gently sleeping, beautiful, Tacoma.

This is truly a disaster. We now have to launch into the distressing tedium of police reports, insurance claims, towing and eventually a new truck as I guess and fear that my beautiful truck will be condemned. Such a shame as she is/was the last of an era of Tacoma trucks – single cab, manual transmission, bench seat, no electronic gadgets. Fingers crossed the she can be repaired. How ironic that after mastering frozen mountains, scorching deserts, the most remote trails in the U.S and Mexico that she should meet her maker on a leafy suburb street in San Francisco. To add another bucket of misery, the radiator on James’ Kawasaki sprung a leak and he has to wait for a replacement part. We are transportless.

The house has been under restoration for 2 years. Nothing much happened until the last couple of months when the guys, all from Ukraine, Bielorussia and other former Soviet states, have really got the bit between their communal teeth.

We now live in a very smart NoPa house. https://www.tripsavvy.com/guide-to-nopa-4084567#:~:text=NoPa%20stands%20for%20North%20of,entrance%20to%20Golden%20Gate%20Park. So lucky!

James points out that if I buy a big screen, I could link it up to my laptop and so watch movies, rugby matches etc. Once again, many thanks to James who is able to work out how to remotely connect my laptop to the new monitor using Apple AirPlay. I could not have done it in a thousand years.

I have not sat on a sofa watching movies for more than 10 years. In Japan I sit on an office chair in front of my Big Mac screen. Very different experience.

I am invited down to Stanford to attend the 30th anniversary of the BaBar experiment.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BaBar_experiment Babar was a fabulous success bringing together an uniquely efficient and fun team from all over the world. I am so privileged to have taken part and honoured by the invite. Lots of old friends; most of us showing the ravages of time, but still in great spirit. Very nostalgic.

We go up to Clement to buy new plates and bowls. Clement is very Chinese and has amazing stores and restaurants. It is always a blast to wander around and, of course, eat.

All in all, despite various setbacks, life is fabulous. I can also see much better. I think the eye drops are working. I’m now just old, fat, bald with a limp, rather than blind, old, fat, bald with a limp.

Loath to leave Okinawa, the morning of departure my body revolts. My leg is very painful in a new area – hamstringish. My right eye is very red and vaguely painful. By the time I get to Haneda, I have great difficulty walking, my eye is very painful and I have poor vision with lots of floaters.

Stumbling around in Haneda, a kind disabled truck driver asks if he can help.

This is the first time I have been driven around an airport since I broke my leg in 1980.

Hooray! Back in San Francisco but definitely under the weather. I hope that my eye condition, which seems identical to a previous complaint I had in Mexico a couple of years ago, will go away, https://thequietripple.com/2019/01/22/huatabampito/

It does not so I go to the Emergency Room (ER) at UCSF hospital. I point out that I have no health insurance and would like to know how much debt I am letting myself in for. They avoid the question. Anyway, I wait for 7 hours with very painful eye before a disinterested eye doctor shows up.

He recommends a whole series of further appointments and tests. I have a strong feeling that he is fishing for business camouflaged by concern for my health. I ask how much the treatment he suggests will cost but says he does not know. Dreadful experience; something badly wrong here.

Apart from that it is great to be back in San Francisco.

The guys restoring the house immediately cover the front of the house with scaffolding.

Very rapid progress is being made on the house, which is a pity as we have paid half rent for the last 2 years because of the restoration disturbance.

I go to the Pork Store for breakfast.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pork+Store+Cafe/@37.77,-122.5183501,13z/data=!4m10!1m2!2m1!1sthe+pork+store!3m6!1s0x808580acc910b809:0x9387ec1e9c3c598d!8m2!3d37.77!4d-122.4462523!15sCg50aGUgcG9yayBzdG9yZVoQIg50aGUgcG9yayBzdG9yZZIBFGJyZWFrZmFzdF9yZXN0YXVyYW50mgEjQ2haRFNVaE5NRzluUzBWSlEwRm5TVVJ3ZG5adVVGcDNFQUXgAQA!16s%2Fg%2F1tddx_j2?entry=ttu

Such a great place serving non pretentious Californian food.

Fingers crossed that both eye and leg make rapid progress so I can burst out into the wilderness soon.

So tomorrow I set off for San Francisco. Many things to do to make sure that things do not fall apart while I am away. The most important thing is to wrap up the boat as snugly as possible so that the rain does not get in. If it does, it fills up the cockpit, the engine compartment, the bilge, the cabin and eventually the boat sinks. This should be avoided.

I have a very good cover but typhoons are tough opposition. If the cover blows off then all the above mentioned awfulness ensues. I have had the cover strengthened to avoid rips and also have replaced the elastic rope with hooks that attached the cover to the boat. Now there is much stronger cord.

I go to my last physiotherapy session at the wonderful Ginowan Sports Lab, https://ginowanspolab.com

They are great people and we have had a lot of fun, not to mention serious, proffesional treatment of my leg.

Anyway, I am waiting for my treatment when a beautiful young woman comes in, walks straight up to me and gives me hug. I like this sort of thing.

Jonathan and Renee return to OIST. Great to see them! We reminisce on the first years of the university. We did a good job, especially Jonathan..

Nothing very interesting I am afraid but I like to keep up the diary.

My personal health supervisor, the magnificent Komesu san https://thequietripple.com/2023/11/15/how-much-is-that-doggy-in-the-window/ summons me for an audience. She has the results from recent diabetes, arteriosclerosis and other stuff tests. I expect the usual, “Eat less, drink less, do more exercise” but get a 2 hour medicine tutorial instead. Very detailed explanations of the science behind the conditions mentioned. I knew nothing about this stuff before.

Komesu san’s English is limited and she is aided by the charming Hitomi san whose English is good. As usual we giggle a lot.

Thank you Komesu san, thank you Ginowan City Health Service!

I renew my tenancy of the berth at the Marina.

The bakery https://thequietripple.com/2022/12/29/fresh-bread/ that is a short hobble, my calf is still painful, from my apartment now does delicious mentaiko rolls.

I will be returning to California soonish and am setting the boat up to resist typhoons that might blast through in my absence.

The weather is beautiful by the way.

Is a festival that marks the end of winter. Hooray, well not so hooray, as I prefer the climate in winter to the dreadful heat and humility of summer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setsubun

We run around shouting, ‘Devils out! Fortune in!’ and throwing soya beans around.

Much beloved Greta is here. https://thequietripple.com/2017/03/25/great-is-an-anagram-of-which-womans-name/

We have a wonderful dinner in Ichiro san’s studio in Ada. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ada+Garden+Hotel+Okinawa/@26.7508995,128.2983789,460m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m9!3m8!1s0x34e4401ed330e98f:0x2c018f8bcf9fe175!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d26.751331!4d128.2985728!16s%2Fg%2F1tgrzpgq?entry=ttu

Tomomi has prepared an amazing Setsubun meal characterized by lots of wrapped up stuff and minced sardines.

Incredible meal, thank you Tomomi san !

We go for a stroll around 11:30. It is beautifully cool and fresh. The stars are blazing. It is silent apart from the hooting of Scops owls. Ichiro san immediately spots an Okinawan Rail in a tree.

We go for a ramble the next morning.

It is cherry blossom time in Okinawa. There are blooming trees and butterflies everywhere.

The party continues the next day. The plan is that Arisa san, Greta and I will have a night picnic on the boat under the blazing stars. It does not work out like that. It rains all day and by the time we get to the boat, it is very windy, cold, damp and the stars are hidden by cloud.

We scuttle back to the shelter of the apartment. We have the best time.

We also eat lamb chops and Mentaiko Salmon and drink lots of good wine. Suddenly it is one a clock in the morning! I rarely make it past 10:00!

Off to Chubu Hospital to get the result of the pathology on my late lamented polyps and have the usual deep scrutiny blood test. As soon as you arrive you nip up to the blood test place on the second floor. They are super efficient and the throughput is very fast.

Down stairs to wait to see the doctor. This is usually about an hour but I enjoy the wait as there is a big screen TV. This is only time I get to watch Japanese TV. It is wild! In fact I haven’t watched Tv for over 13 years.

The doc gives me some disappointing black and white shots of my intestines. They used to be colour!

Anyway he reassures me that there is no evidence of cancer.

He also goes over the blood test results in detail and remarkably there seems to be nothing wrong.

Well. not quite true, as my torn calf muscle is painful so I stumble and hobble around. I go to the Sports Health Clinic twice a week and they plug me into the strong ju ju electrotherapy machine and make me do exercises,

You will remember that every 3 years the boat must be inspected for safety equipment and general seaworthiness. https://thequietripple.com/2021/07/19/an-inspector-calls/

That time has come again. The Inspector calls on Monday morning, I ask Kiyuna san if he can be there in case of language difficulties. The Inspector is a hilarious person and the inspection, which I imagine would be fairly formal in most places, soon becomes a party.

The next day I go down to the JCI office in Tomari Harbor to pick up my new stickers.

It is so cold – 14C! We go for a winter meal.

I went to an English boarding school from 1965 to 1970 where, unless you were actually dead, you had to go out on the frozen fields in the driving rain to play rugby. Any attempt to shirk was the lowest form of human behavior.

This has left its mark. When I am vaguely damaged I just suck it up and expect it to go away.

Arisa san is not of this ilk and insists that I have my painful calf seen to. She makes an appointment for me at the Ginowan Sports Lab, which is just across the road from my place.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ginowan+Sport+Orthopedic+Clinic/@26.2887786,127.6117802,12z/data=!4m10!1m2!2m1!1sginowan+sports+lab!3m6!1s0x34e56d9a6c862333:0x8d2fcb96786f720c!8m2!3d26.2887825!4d127.7559669!15sChJnaW5vd2FuIHNwb3J0cyBsYWKSARFib25lc2V0dGluZ19ob3VzZeABAA!16s%2Fg%2F11hzjg4kb6?entry=ttu

They are wonderful. The doctor, whose name I have forgotten, prods around a bit and then does a scan.

I am then plugged into a machine for 30 minutes and administered to by the genial Mizaki san. I do various manipulations and am taught how to wrap the bandage,

I am so relieved that they found something wrong with me. I dread being called a skiver. Public school education.

The time has come to raise the mast. Kiyuna san and I set off with great purpose.

I experience pain in my left calf. I ignore it for a bit until to my great surprise, I can no longer walk!

We were just strolling along with a not heavy mast but I have done myself damage. “Dai jo bu, Neil san I will call Wantanabe san.” 5 mins later he turns up – he is another wonderful Okinawan boat personality. He lived out of a van for 7 years but last year graduated to a live-in boat that is moored in the Itoman Fishing Port. He is currently restoring a beautiful 40ft ketch which went down in the same typhoon that did so much harm to my boat. Kiyuna san refers to it as ‘The Underwater Boat.’

I am out of the game. Kiyuna san, Wantanabe san and Jigen san take over.

We hit a road block. The eye splice on one of the halyards makes the rope thicker and it will not go through an essential block. We need a bigger block. I am all set to go down to Island Boat https://www.island-boat.com/index.php to buy a bigger and probably very expensive block. My friends have other ideas and wander around various boats looking to pirate a suitable block. I am not sure what is going on but I think one or the other was working on these boat and borrowing seemed quite in order. Wantanabe san finds the perfect block!

Jigrn san has to leave so we agree to meet next morning to finish the job.

Incredible! All the rigging is done. I did nothing except get sunburnt in January. The boat boys of the marina rallied round as I lay on my stretcher. What wonderful people.

The following day, not having much on, I have a colonoscopy.

The usual intensive intestinal cleansing ritual prior to the intervention.

This is my third colonoscopy, all in Okinawa. https://thequietripple.com/2016/06/03/nobody-has-ever-done-this/ I find the whole thing fascinating. I watch the screen and point out polyps to Zakimi sansei, who is nominally in charge. 4 polyps! Not a bad score.

Ichiro san has a 3 day exhibition in a very posh space on Yagagi Jima. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Yagaji+Island/@26.6623327,127.9936413,10380m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x34e457a3c6bc8387:0x16929e23f2e116a3!8m2!3d26.6705839!4d128.015522!16s%2Fg%2F121vrgr_?entry=ttu

Here is the invitation.

I go on the last day, 11 January. On arrival, I find Ichiro san packing the last of the artworks into a big van! Apparently the exhibition closed at12:00. It is 1:00. Dang!

No worries as it is beautiful drive and I see some nice birds.

Disturbing noise from the back of the car. I pull over and find a completely flat rear tyre. No worries. Take it off and put on the spare. I open the back and lift the cover. No spare! I weigh various options and decide to drive home on the punctured tyre. Route 58, one of Okinawa’s main roads. I am driving at 20 kph. No one hoots nor flashes nor shouts as they go by. Some people switch on their emergency flashers in recognition of my difficulty. It is a pretty stressful journey, especially changing lanes, and by the time I get home the tyre is destroyed.

I arrange to meet Wataru san, the guy who rents me the car, at 9:00 the next morning.

It is only a 20 min walk to Wataru san’s workshop but in the heat of Summer it is an ordeal. This time it was a very pleasant early morning stroll. He has a spare and we drive back to the apartment. He changes the tyre.

He also points out that all Japanese cars have a small air compressor as standard equipment. I could have repeatedly re-inflated the tire as I drove back. He also shows me an emergency rescue number amongst the car documents. They would have come and fixed everything. I rather wish he had shown me these things when I had picked the car up. I think he thought that this was general knowledge. I know now.

Kiyuna san has been at his eccentric best over the last week or so. He talks to me seriously about the necessity of having an eagle on the boat. His argument is that bad weather at sea is caused by dragons and that an eagle would drive away the dragons thus ensuring smooth sailing for my little boat. I think he sort of believes this. Anyway, a couple of days later I go down to the marina to attach the last halyards and find an eagle on top of the mast!

Back to Kiyuna san; he has great respect for mothers, in particular mine. You will remember he made a collage of pictures of my Mummy after she died. https://thequietripple.com/2019/12/02/urn-burial/

He came around a couple of days ago with a collage based on a picture of Mummy as a young woman.

Arisa san comes back from Imari and gives me a package of high quality mentaiko, which is salted and spiced cod roe, a speciality of the Fukuoka region.

I make baked salmon with a mentaiko sauce.

Next is mentaiko and cheese toast and then mentaiko pasta. Thanks Arisa san.