Ten Days Back to Hirakata I

Day 1: Flatter then a hedgehog on the road.

Out first destination was Kofu in Yamanashi. Yamanashi means no mountains, which I thought was quite ironic considering it’s in the middle of the mountains north of Mt.Fuji. Turns out I was wrong. Yamanashi is a large area on a plateau surrounded by mountains with the top of Mt. Fuji just peeking over the south east. The plateau its self had no

mountains and is flatter then a hedgehog on the road. No joke. It is stupidly flat for an area in the mountains. You would have thought a flat area like that would make it easier to drag stupid kilo’s of luggage along. Wrong. The hotel looked a lot closer on the map then in reality and it was along a busy road where people drive rather then walk so the pavement was poor. Needless to say it was tiring, long and we were knackered when we arrived but happy to have Sukiya which was nearby. Day one followed and Hannah and I decided to go for a random walk to find a shrine up in the mountains. We went and found a tourist information who told us how to get there. So caught the train to Kofu and started to walk up the road until we found a shrine which I assumed was at the bottom of the hill in comparison to the temple on the mountain (which we could see from town). But it just wasn’t our day. After heading off trying to find the temple on the mountains we ran into this random Japanese guy who wanted to talk to us. This has happened a few times, people want to practice English or are just curious, but not this guy. This guy was…weird…I think he might have been smoking something (he even said he liked drugs…or at least I think that’s what he said). Now I can normally understand people but this guy was just….completely random. I couldn’t understand a word! What I did get was smoking was bad, he was an artist, were we going to Yamanashi University, and could he take his picture with me…just me, not Hannah…shortly after that we quickly ran away…only a lot more subtle then running, ie, walking quickly. One good thing we got out of him was that there was a bus up to the temple, and Hannah wanted to get it so we walked aaaaall the way back to the station to find said bus. There was no sign of one so we asked the Tourist Info lady she said the bus wasn’t running anymore that day even though it was 2pm ><> was very miffed and we couldn’t go hiking up the mountain and that we didn’t do anything that day apart from run around in circles. At least the day was improved but a really, really nice Chinese meal at one of the restaurants along the busy road.

Day 2: To The Giant Frozen Lake in the Middle of the Mountains!

Suwa is a huuuuge lake surrounded by a town to the north of Yamanashi in the Nagano prefecture in the middle of the mountains. When we arrived we were pretty early coz we accidentally got on the wrong train (and had to pay 1100yen extra ¬¬). So after checking into our hotel and getting kappa zushi for lunch (OMG was soooo happy there was a kappa zushi opposite) we walked the 40min walk into town. We wandered around the lake and then to the station, found a map of the area and headed back to the hotel after passing the castle. We walked so much and didn’t really feel it that much…I think we were kinda used to it by then. The evening was then spent plotting the following day which (as how we found most of the things for this trip) was spent on Google Maps investigating landmarks in the area…including a park…on a mountain >8D

Day 3: Gradual Climb Up, Dangerous Neck-Breaking Slide Down

Morning we had complimentary breakfast (which we’d paid for…so not that complimentary). BUT it was a buffet and like true foreigners took our moneys worth pluss a couple of rolls for lunch. SO GOOD! Rice, miso soup, fish, boiled veg, bread and jam and 4 glasses of apple juice (every day in Suwa) ^___^ Best breakfast on the whole trip!

WOOT! I was really excited for the mountain hike, although I kinda forgot to mention to Hannah that that was what we were doing ^^;; It was a really fun walk up though! We first went through a Buddhist temple which had the nicest smelling incense burning in the cemetery. Then it was a gradual stroll along a windy road which slowly went around the mountain. It took about 3 hours to get up there. I think most people take their cars although we only saw about 3 cars (including one which just kept going up and down. I think he was a ranger).

When we were ¾ way up we found this ooooold shrine infront of this use bolder with an amazing view over the valley! After another 10mins we found some stairs. I decided to go up the stairs but Hannah took the road. So with that I had a little break and recorded a short video blog (which I won’t be putting up coz im mean) ^^ Theeeeeen it was just another 10mins up these stairs to the park! And it was surprising just how clean and tidy the random park ontop of the mountain was! It even had a view point in the center where you could see Mt Fuji, Lake Suwa and the surrounding mountains and valleys! Soooo pretty! It even had a random Japanese conveyor belt slide! How could I NOT slide down it ^O^ A bit more of a stroll was needed before we resided we needed a loo…on a mountain…oh dear. There was one next to the old rickety shrine buuuut…it was kinda…well…just a hole in the ground ><>_<

Anyway, loo conundrum aside is was time to climb back down. And when I say climb I mean slide. No joke. I decided we should take the steap dodging mountain path back down which started infront of the small old shrine. Because it was winter the ground was covered in dead leaves, which made walking down veeery tricky. So we slide down most the mountain. And where it took us 3 hours to get up, only took about 30-40 to get back down. Hannah was not impressed but she was laughing so I don’t think she mined too much (unless they were laughs of nerves…)

Day 4: Suwa Stroll

This day was pretty chilled in comparison to the mountain. We did our normal breakfast run and strolled out into town again. Headed over to the castle, but it was expensive for such a little thing and we knew it would be a museum so skipped going inside. Then just wandered over to the lake and around town for a few hours. OH! It started to snow! OMG SNOW! The first bit of perspiration we’d seen in over a month and it was snow! I was so happy!...Until I realised how freezing it was! >_<>t was better then doing nothing at least ^^;;;

Almost Valentines Thoughts

You know this year I’m actually looking forward to Valentines because I get to spend it with my best friends in Japan and give them gifts for once. I don’t have to expect a card from a guy, and I don’t have to give it to anyone, just friends. I like it that Japan has the tradition of girls giving the boys they like (or their friends) chocolates (for friend’s it’s called “tomochoco”) and then a month later on 14^th March the boys return to the girls who gave them chocolate (or the girls they like) white chocolate.

I’ve surprised myself about how I’m dealing with it. I normally dread the day because I’ll either get awkward confessions (the first time being at Uni when I really was not expecting it) or last year which was fairly uninteresting with the &(£$^%!£@$*$&-ex. And I was thinking back over the past few years about how I spent my Valentines in secondary school, then uni and all my friends who I love way more then any person and as I was I was flicking through old photos of my Uni life. And I think that although out of all my friends I’ve made the greatest loss, and the greatest regret I have was loosing Dani. You know I’ve tried to keep quiet about this because last year people were all very close and I didn’t want to turn people against each other or create unnecessary drama (and I'm not one to talk about things which are really personal) but I think now it’s fair that people know what happened between us.

In the first year of University Dani was one of my best friends and she really helped me open up and I in turn tried to help her and be supportive of her. But in the second year things changed and for reasons I still don’t know Dani began to ignore me. Not just ignore me but avoid eye contact, not greeting me and avoid talking to me unless I spoke first. Which kinda hurts when you live with the person and have the same classes. When I got my hair cut she avoided looking at me and when I finally asked what she thought she said “Yeah it’s nice…I guess”. Those words still ring in my ears. At anime I heard that she thought I was being passive aggressive and I went home in shock and cried because that hurt so much, I felt like I’d really lost her. Sadly I was too much of a coward to confront her about it because I was afraid of making things worse, and I just kept thinking things would get better, she’d snap out of it. But no. Even after I did try to talk to her about it she still didn’t change, even after I helped out with her now ex she didn’t say a word to me, even after I got drunk trying to pluck up the courage to talk to her (that time I thought I’d gotten through but I hadn’t), even after everything…So after 6 months of being ignored by her, and having her treat our mutual friends like crap (especially her ex and a guy who had a crush on her) I decided to just give up and start ignoring her back. Perhaps that would wake her up? Would that make her come to me and ask me for once “What’s going on? Is everything ok?”? Nope. It just made things worse. I think what was bad was that neither of us were particularly aggressive towards each other, it was both of us who were being passive aggressive at that point.

In December while in Japan I finally took her off my friend’s list on facebook and told her the things she had made me feel. I was emotional at the time and said I didn’t want to know why she abandoned me. After that she blocked me on facebook. I was surprised that that still really hurt. I know it’s silly to still think about it, especially because she hasn’t acted like a proper friend to me in almost a year and a half but I still mourn her loss. And as I was flicking through my old photos hers came up of when we were still in the first year. I really miss that Dani who was kind and considerate of others, who didn’t only think about herself and who was happy to see me and listen to me and who was interesting to talk to and had depth to her personality and was sweet and who cooked for us and who showed us new things and…who was all those things and more……I think friend’s are the most important things and the betrayal of a friend cuts the deepest.

It’s funny coz my new years resolution was to not talk about her anymore and to just forget her and if I saw her in the new school year just to start over and introduce myself as if we’d never met…but I guess my heart is still soar and I think with being open about this I can get over her. Hahaha, I make it sound like she was an ex, although I think in a way she was because to me best friends will always be closer then boy/girlfriends. But I don’t think things can ever be fixed now. She’ll always have what ever happened weighing over her mind and I know she’s not the sort of person to let things go to accept the responsibility for her actions. If she can never return to the Dani I knew then I just hope Japan makes her a better person.

Last Few Days in Tokyo

So our holiday in Tokyo was coming to an end before the 10day trip back through Japan to Hirakata. After the Brits all left Hannah and I really didn’t have that much to do, so to prevent vegetation in the house we’d go out for really random walks trying to get to places near us, mostly shrines. The only thing I wish I had done in Tokyo was go to the book market and Umeda and go to Akihabara more on my own to explore it all properly. Oh well ^^ It’s stuff I can do next time. One night randomly though Myra’s friend Cheese came and cooked for us. The numpty managed to slice his finger open but it didn’t stop him cooking and omg the food was soooo good. I must remember to the marinades and stuff he used to cook with. Things like a mixture of cooking wine, soy sauce, sugar, and then various spices mixed together.

On January the 14^th Hannah and I went on a trip outside the main Tokyo distract to Tama Zoo! It was a zoo Hannah had really wanted to go to because it was apparently the largest and most natural zoo inTokyo. (Note: most zoos in Japan are really poor and small and not very good for the animals). And it was a really impressive zoo! Took us 6 hours to wander around and stop for lunch and we saw all kinds of cool animals. We seemed to time it just right as well to catch most of the animals getting fed like the koala, red pandas, and wolves. I’m just a tad annoyed that I lost about 200 of my photos from that day ;_;

Next it was my turn and we went to the Ghibli Museum on the 17th which I had really, really wanted to go to ^o^ And it was so cool! We couldn’t take pictures inside *sadface* but it was just…so AWESOME! It was like a European house but not and it was full of cool little contraptions and drawings and devices and hidden little details and a cat bus that children could play on! On the roof was a robot from Laputa Castle in the Sky which you could take a photo of. If I ever get rich I want to build a house like the Ghibli Museum >8D

Our final whole day before we had to pack was the 18^th and we spent it with one of our new housemates walking the Rainbow Bridge at sunset! It was so cool! I really, really, really love Tokyo as it’s getting dark and the city scenery is just so pretty! At the end of the bridge we found a random beach! A beach in the middle of Tokyo! Who would have thought it XD

The following day we packed and then the day after finished packing, sent a parcel, georged ourselves on Taiyaki (fish shaped pancake dough sweets filled with anko, but these had chocolate, strawberry and other flavours)…it was good ^_^ And then we left Tokyo for our first destination of Kofu in Yamanashi!

I have to say I think Tokyo is my favorite place in Japan so far. Being able to explore it every day was fun and not having money meant I had to walk everywhere which meant I got to really to know it well. There were a few things I wish I’d done but nothing I regret doing. People say Tokyo is too big and too full of people, but I found that apart from the salarymen in the stations people were generally very nice, especially if you spoke Japanese ^^;; I never experienced a busy underground train where we’d have to get pushed onto the train but Brit and Cait who were there for a week said they had. I think I’ve gotten used to the large crowds of people and I’m happy to take my time trying to get through them all and I think I have a skill similar to the Japanese of being able to walk through a crowd without touching a single person. The Japanese tend to have body language and unsaid rules about elicit when it comes to moving around in public, which I think can sometimes be very similar to Britain.

Visiting Friends

I mentioned before that Louise and Sheila had come to visit myself and, of course, Japan. A few days after then, after the Yokohama trip, Imogen, who had also be visiting friends in Osaka, came up to join us. Picking her up from the station was a bit of a palava but she managed to make it to the Tatami house alright (the hostel Hannah and I moved out of but which Louise, Sheila and Imogen were staying in).

On January 6^th all the Brits went out to Asakusa for the day. That was Me, Hannah, Myra, Louise, Sheila and Imogen. We went down a famous and terribly packed street full of old style shops selling overly priced touristy

stuff. At the end was a temple which was also packed because it’s still the New Year. We prayed and then got fortunes which had English on them for once (mine was fairly average), and then food at the mountains of food vendors off the side. OMG I love Japanese food stalls. Then it was off on a mission to find a shop that sells plastic food because we’d heard there was some in the area, and we found some and I got an ice-cream and steamed buns! PLASTIC FOOD IS SO COOL! It looks like real ice-cream but it will never melt! Mwahahaha!

After that the other headed home so Myra, Hannah, Cheese (who joined us after the plastic food hunt) and myself went to a wander towards the Sky Tower. The Sky Tower is even taller then Tokyo Tower but it doesn’t open until later this year though. BUT we did find a fandom play park in the shape of a boat with a slide! Japanese slides are awesome fun because they’re more like conveyor belts then slides XD I’m not joking, it’s really weird to go down them.

The following day on the 7^th I met up with Louise, Imogen and Sheila at Daimon and we went to the pokemon center, which is so expensive when you don’t have money but full of so much shiny stuff!!! We wandered over to the harbor bit before going to Daimon Jinjya which was probably just like any other shrine except that it had a woman with a monkey performing out the front…I felt really bad for the monkey being dragged around by the woman and made to do tricks for peoples entertainment. The shrine though had loads of Jinzo who are gods which tend to have bibs and hats and these ones had little windmills. They’re offerings for him as he’s normally associated with death, the afterlife and in particular of taking care of the spirits of dead children and aborted foetuses. Random fact of the day XD

On the 9^th, a Sunday, Hannah, Louise, Imogen and I went to Harajuku! I love Harajuku! Louise and Imogen really wanted to go shopping though so Hannah split up so she could go see the shrine in the park. Harajuku was as packed as ever. Oh! I met Gabe who was also coincidently in Harajuku! It was brief but nice…for some reason though the others just avoided him :/ We basically just went around the awesome shops and I got a nice dress for 1000yen, and spend another 3000 odd in Body Line (I love that shop too much I think).

Louise and Imogen also spent stupid amounts of money in there. Although what was really cool was a random guy in…well, I’ll put up a photo, was standing outside Body Line for most of the afternoon posing for the tourists. Hahahah. Ohh Japan you are so strange but I love you.

When it was starting to get dark Imogen, Louise and I wandered over to Shibya, which is only a 15min walk away, and we took pictures of the crossing again and then had to say bye on the train beca

use they were leaving the following day. I thought about it but Louise will have graduated and Imogen is going to America next year so that was probably the last time I saw them ;_;

We did try to arrange to meet briefly the following day so I could help them post a parcel but in my hurry I jumped on the wrong train and was late and missed them. Was really angry with myself and just had a shite day until I phoned Areal to find out about his adventures snowboarding in the mountains which cheered me up. Oh yeah I don’t think I said. Areal walked from Kyoto to Nagano where he snow boarded for about a week and then got the train into Tokyo and then the shinkansen back to Kyoto. Everyone thought he was going to die in the mountains, instead he just lost a stupid amount of weight, was really loaning traveling by himself, but I think also had an amazing experience walking Japan and through the mountains and then meeting people at the ski lodges. I admit I’m still jealous and a part of me wishes I’d done something like that. But I like my warm showers and the chance to go to Comiket ^o^

A little bit of China, Europe and a Fair

There was only one place we went to which was outside of Tokyo and that was Yokohama! 3rd January was when we went because it was one place Hannah really wanted to go, and it was cheap to get there from Tokyo so why not? Really glad I went now, I think it was one of my favorite places on this trip.

When we arrived we walked the whoooole length of the town to reach Japan’s largest China Town! And it was huge! And FULL OF FOOD! OMG it smelt so good! We found a reasonably priced place down one of the streets and had some of the nicest Chinese food I’ve ever had! It was normal chahan (friend rice) but…it just tasted different to what you get in England. Probably because it was made for Japanese tastes rather then English tastes, and probably because Japan is closer to China it has a more authentic feel about it. I mean, yes it was made by Chinese people and no it’s not real Chinese food because it’s made different, but still it just tastes waaay better then English Chinese food and is significantly less oiling (although it’s still an oily meal). I don’t know if that made sense…so here’s a picture of the meal:


After wandering around the area all the streets began to look the same! Manjuu stand (steamed buns), Chinese temple, tourist shop with extortionately priced tea/Chinese toys/Chinese clothes. It was cool don’t get me wrong! And I really loved exploring all the little side streets and the smells of the food were sooo good! I even got some Chinese pastry things from one lady (the only ones there it seemed) which were soooo delicious! I wish I could go back now and get more! But after a while we got bored and decided to go exploring around Yokohama. We digged out our maps and ah-ha! A park! So wandered over to the park.

What we found on way to discovering the park was not something I had expected to see at all! It was long shopping district which seemed to have been made from different parts of Europe. It just had a very distinct European feel to it. It wasn’t necessarily the contents of the shops or the people (obviously) but the buildings themselves seemed to be based on different architectures from Europe. France, Germany, Sweden…it was like stepping into a Miyazaki movie!

At the beginning of this shopping district as we first approached (which is what attracted us to it in the first place) was the sound of drumming. We followed it to find a lion dance happening! Three guys, one playing drums, one flute, and one as the lion started to play and the lion ran around scaring small children and then preceded to run into the store they were performing infront of before running back out to finish. I have a feeling the dance was intentionally for that store. Maybe good fortune?

We back tracked a little after exploring the shops (found an import shop with foreign sweets, foods and liquor!) we headed up to the park. But as we wandered up we first came across a “Foreigners Cemetery”. This was the most random thing, I thought! It was certainly a Christian cemetery and it went all the way up the hill on the edge of the town. We climbed up following the cemetery and lo-and-behold there was a church at the top and a sign explaining that the cemetery was had been burying foreign Christians for hundreds of years (since after Perry forced Japan to open their borders and trade with America in the 1850s). NOT ONLY THAT but the cemetery held the resting place of Charles Wirgman!!! Now if I had read his name 4 months ago I wouldn’t have cared at all, but thanks to Media and Culture I know who this man is! He’s an Englishman who came to Japan after it opened it boarders to write for the London Times. He drew serious paintings of Japan depicting it for the Brits back home, but also made satirical comics which were only for the resident foreigners but got picked up by the Japanese. His work was…well it never intended to become anything but they say that it did have an impact on those who came after him and was one of the factors which helped develop Japan’s manga (comics). I knew he was buried in Japan but forgot it was Yokohama, and to be there where he was was quite awesome.

Anyway, at the top of the hill past the cemetery was a large area full of houses based on foreign houses. There was even a map pointing out the different homes that once belonged for foreign diplomats in the 1800s such as “the French House” or “the English House”. The parks themselves, we noticed, were even called “France Park” or “America Park”. The one we wandered over to was America Park and it had a lovely view of Yokohama and the bay. You could even see Tokyo. It also had a few of the houses so we found the England House which didn’t look very English except for the HUGE rose garden out the front. Some of the roses were even in bloom!

It was beginning to get dark by then so we wandered back down to town and found a Sukiya (cheap fast food gyuudon (beef on rice)) and had dinner. Then we headed back to the harbor where (earlier that day) we had passed a HUGE fun fair with the famous ferris wheel which acts like a clock! At least at night it does, because the lights on the ferris wheel count down and then every 15 mins the lights change into a rainbow display. We then headed over and went up on the ferris wheel! Ahhh I was nervous at the top but the views were amazing and as long as the thing we were in didn’t rock too much it was fine…I think.

That was going to be our final thing but as we headed back to the station we came across a street performer. He was just…so good! So charismatic and funny and although he messed up a lot he didn’t fail to turn it into a joke or to interact with the audience in some way. People gave him a lot of money at the end too, even I was tempted to but I was already in dept to Hannah ^^;

(Btw he didn’t mean to hit his head with the Diablo)

Ahhhhhh twas a good day. I’m glad I’m writing this now because I can remember it all over again.

The Emperor of Japan

This is a short blog but it comes with a video! Yay! Basically on the 2^nd January at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo the Emperor and the Royal Family appear before the public and gives a speech a couple of times throughout the day. How could we miss this opportunity!? So Hannah and I went to see the Emperor trying to meet up with Louise, Sheila and Myra but missing communications meant we missed Louise and Sheila altogether and Myra was late so I was ahead of Hannah and Myra (and her friends I later discovered), because I had got off at a different station in search of Louise and Sheila.

So in the end I wandered over to the palace on my own. Security was what you expect at a place where the emperor of Japan was going to show and the place was packed! We missed the first…viewing, but I only had to que for an hour to see the second. It was quite…I don’t know. Everyone seemed so excited. They’d been given flags of Japan outside (even me) and there was secret security in the crowds…well not that secret because they all had obvious ear pieces and were wearing suits. The speech itself kinda went like this (the video is a lot clearer then this >< )

When the speech was done everyone filed out and I was able to meet up with Hannah and Myra and her friends Chee Sang (or Cheese) and Jenna (whom I’d met before at Kareoke). But sadly Jenna wasn’t feeling well and had to rush off, which left just the four of us.

We went and found awesome lunch of tenpura don (deep fried stuff on rice) and then decided to head over to Yasakuni shrine. On the way though the streets were full of Japanese Nationalists in their black vans (and a few white) with the Japanese flag blasting old music and probably preaching about how the Emperor should be put back in power and all the foreigners should be kicked out. (They’re like the BNP only they have vans with speakers on them). It is a bit scary hearing them though when you know you’re the one being discriminated against.

Yasakuni shrine is a bit of a controversial one because it’s where the Japanese war dead are buried, including the war criminals. It’s the one where whenever the Prime Minister of Japan goes to pray there, there are masses of protests in China and Korea, because it’s full of the people who did atrocities to them. But despite this it was new years and the shrine was packed with food vendors and people going to pray for the new year. None of us prayed though knowing it’s history, but it was interesting looking around and it had some pretty displays of music and a nice Japanese garden.

After we all wandered back to Tokyo station and Myra and Cheese left Hannah and I felt like we hadn’t quite had enough and decided to walk back to Morishita from Tokyo station. It was far but really nice just to be able to walk through the streets. Also we stumbled across a shrine just before it was closing and I was able to pray for the new year again. Let’s hope all this praying will make the new year worth while.

New Years in Tokyo-World

So I took Louise and Sheila back to mine and Hannah’s in Morishita, making a quick stop at the 100en store (which is like £1 store but has food and things that are useful and work), to get curry and rice and some veg. When we got back I cooked us all a nummy meal of cheap curry and we watched the Kouhaku Uta Gassen aka the Red and White Song Battle!

Every New Years eve in Japan they do this show where the years top singers split into two teams (red and white) and have like a sing off. Not just the J-pop bands but also a wid

e selection of Enka performers as well as a couple of kids songs from animes. It’s basically a variety show, a bit of a laugh. Kinda like red nose day only it’s just singers and doesn’t raise money for charity…I think. I really, really enjoyed it ^-^ But I don’t think the others did so much…could have been thanks for Media and Culture module last term meant I knew half of the people on stage…ahh well. Sadly the video I took of the performance has a lot of background noise and shaking because I was distracted, but I got some photos!

Once that had gotten a way through we decided to head out early to the Shrine. Yes, shrine. Hannah and I decided we wanted to do New Years the Japanese way and had scouted out a nearby shrine that wasn’t more then 20min walk away. It was a Buddhist temple right next to a Shinto shrine. We were arrived the streets were packed with food vendors. OMG it smelled soooooo good! After exploring the mouth watering food stalls we went and found the temple. A few people were quing up so we joined the que…but the que didn’t move…we waited, and waited. I looked behind us and the road down to the temple was PACKED with people! Then as soon as it hit 12:00 (people in the crowd started to count down) the crowd rushed forward with some guard trafficking the people so the temple wasn’t over whelmed. We were near the front too so managed to pray for the New Year soon on New Years day.

Then we went exploring some more, and got omamori (charms, I got one for study) and some uranai (fortunes) for the new year. I got pretty average fortune (again, I never get great, just average, story of my life hahaha). OH! While we were getting those I saw some Buddhist priest blessing someone’s car! I knew it happens (the trains in Kansai get blessed) but it was the first time I’d seen it happen!

Then it was weird Japanese food hunting time >8D Thankfully the curry had filled us and we had little money so didn’t buy too much but what we did get was good. I think it was okonomiyaki, taiyaki and some kind of steamed dough in random sauce XD I can’t remember. Then Louise and Sheila went and Hannah and I walked past. I can safely say we didn’t really do anything the following day, just relaxed in snuggly bed (or vegetating if you want to put it another way XD)