Like the back of the Batmobile

After all my posturing, I actually managed to last an entire week of not eating or spending outrageously. Granted, I was helped along a bit by a bout of what I'm convinced was cholera and spending the better part of a week with literally 40 yen to my name, but credit where credit is due. Some would consider this a terrible way to spend the last days of your summer holiday but after the past few weeks, limitless guilt-free vegetation is just what the doctor ordered.

Well, that and some antibiotics maybe.

I thought I had gotten away with the excesses of the past few weeks and managed to last a day before my stomach threw up its hands in disgust. There was an ominous rumble on Tuesday night and then Wednesday morning hit me like a runaway train. "Hm. I have a bit of a stomach cramp" turned into "Oh my god help me" within about ten minutes. Lisa kindly dashed off to get me something from the pharmacy and I spent the next hour thrashing around on my bed like a cut snake. It was like a torrid love scene in a PG movie - white knuckles gripping the sheets, biting of lips, muffled groans; the difference was that only one person was involved and that it was horrible. Not even the fabled "high power" of the air conditioner could keep me cool - when my stomach finally untied itself I stood up to reveal a perfect Mike shape of sweat. For that moment, I knew what it would be like to die in a rainforest of something with the word "fever" on the end of it. "Lasts between 1 and 6 days," Wiki said, looking a bit worried. 1 hour down, 143 to go. Thankfully not though - after spending most of the day turning myself inside out, there obviously just wasn't enough sick (or anything else) in me any more. The next morning I wobbled to my feet, cautiously optimistic but still in no mood to open the front door.

Thankfully I was right as rain by Friday night when we went to a light-up at a garden in Kobe, which was very strange but quite nice. The garden (which is apparently lovely during the day as well) had been snaked with tea candle-like lanterns which led us along the path to what was apparently once a stable. Inside, caricatures covered the walls and the man who had drawn them sat looking very pleased with himself. We added our names to what we thought was the guestbook and then he took our photo, which we didn't realise was for a caricature of our own. The results will likely be most amusing. We walked over to the "Hassan House" which was an old residence of a British-Indian merchant who lived in Kobe during the early 1900s; he was obviously so fed up with squat toilets and tatami mats that he built his own (very English) house. I imagine he would be very cross at them leaving all the windows and doors open and letting in all the mosquitos, but at least it gave us a chance to go in and have a look around. Continuing along the lit path, we passed by an old teahouse and part of a houseboat; at any second I was expecting to see a caterpillar with a hookah or a rabbit with a pocketwatch, but we continued out the exit without incident (apart from my stomach briefly telling me off for attempting fizzy drinks too soon). Lisa has photos, by virtue of her camera not weighing 150kg.

Saturday night we headed out to Akashi for the Summer dinner party, climbed to the 16th floor of my coworker's apartment building and coveted her sweeping view of the bridge, the mountains, the city and the sea. "I don't have a chance to enjoy it," she moaned, "because I am always working." She scuttled off to the kitchen and produced plate after plate of roast beef salad and prawns, bread and butter and other snacky things - I was almost full before the appetisers stopped. The cheese fondue and paella weren't far behind. Lisa shot me a look that said "We have 3 plates, 1 gas burner, 2 chairs and a coffee table. How are we going to pull this off?", which was a very good question given the ridiculous spoiling we've been given at both the Spring and Summer parties. The host admitted she had cheated and bought a lot of the food and Lisa visibly relaxed, but I still think we're going to need to be very creative to make our Autumn one as successful. It may well be the first ever dinner party without a table or cutlery. We sat outside with our glasses of wine and watched Akashi bridge flicker in rainbow colours, then it was suddenly time to go. The conversation probably shouldn't have turned to train delays because we jinxed our other coworker on the way home; once we bid her farewell and got off at our stop, the train was apparently delayed for 90 minutes.

Sunday we went out looking for Lisa's birthday present, finally settling on a vintage Louis Vuitton bag. It turned out that they didn't take credit card at the shop though, so in astonishingly bad form she had to lend me money to buy her own present. However, this means that she'll hilariously be receiving a designer bag full of money for her birthday, which I think she'll quite like.

And that's that - the summer holidays are over and I'm back to the grind. I'm not sure how I feel about that really - in some ways I'm sad that my days aren't my own any more, but in others I'm happy to be back to my old routines and OCD ways. It's not like I'll be left wanting for things to do - I'm off to the Tokyo Game Show in a couple of weeks and then Lisa's folks arrive a week or so after that. By that time 40 yen will seem like a king's ransom.