Family outing....minus 1.

So - there I am sitting with HIS mother on a park bench in the middle of a Japanese festival.
Eating noodle-filled savoury pancakes from little plastic trays and watching a motorbike-wall-climbing attraction nearby and the youth of Sapporo getting it on in high heels, makeup and summer kimono....


And the missing member of this Family Outing?


Err....on the cell phone....coming from work...coming..I really AM coming soon.....coming!!! soon!!!...yadda yadda yadda....repeat till it's time to go home.


Yup. Our Family Outing turned into me taking Okaasan to the festival, walking her through it, choosing food, sitting on a bench and eating with her...all the chat...chat...chat.
And Yujiro finally arrived 1 hour later just in time to walk back thru the festival to the subway station with us - via a ridiculous "I must go off and find some beer" detour which left Okaasan and I standing again waiting for him amid the festival.
(ok...he also arrived in time to take the picture of me and Okaasan above, she is chumping down on a corn <> and I have a perky little chappy called a Choco Banana).
But...Grrrr......


Ok. It isn't hard to take an old lady to a festival and eat with her on a bench. But this is my blog so I can whinge here as much as I like. Whinge because this was meant to be a nice little, relaxed threesome - family - thingy.....
Instead I felt I was the Mommy with the toddler at the school play when Daddy is late and we keep making excuses for "Where is poor Daddy???".


He got a late customer for the bike taxi. Just as he was planning to head back to the bike garage a family asked him to take them to THE FESTIVAL IN THE PARK.


;-((


While his family waited and waited for him.


Okaasan was fine. She enjoyed the different stalls and I made sure to ask about every single one and what it was...all the old games like pinball, goldfish scooping and lucky string pull...all the food....the pancakes, the shaved ice, the chocolate covered bananas. I took her down memory lane into festivals of years gone by...
We walked and talked and looked.


This is one genki old lady: she KNEW which pinup pictures were the boyband Arashi!! She knew! I can only name two members of SMAP.
She also walked up and down all the subway station stairs with no problem....
81 this summer and no problems with the body.


Anyway Oyomesan Duty done.
We got home about 8.30 pm exhausted. Opened a beer or two and flopped in front of a DVD.


This morning was Yujiro's turn to get Okaasan out for the 9 am Dentist appointment....his turn to do. It takes her ages to have a bath and wash her hair and dry her hair and get dressed...and decide what bits to take with her. Choosing clothes is getting harder I think. Last week she appeared at the door to go out with two shawls trailing...a thick, brown winter shawl and a flowery one too....


and...and ...and!!!!!!!!!!


Oyomesan has booked her first escape ticket: Jet Star is going to fly me away to Australia for a much-dreamed of holiday this September. I booked online yesterday and just hope the Internet booking is ok...it is such a budget airline with option in/out costs for food, in-flight entertainment and pillows...I just hope I didn't miss some vital option choice...such as "one wing or two?" or "pilot or fly-yourself?".


But I am going. I can already see myself poolside with the cocktail and a bronzed Ozzie waiter attending to my  lotion needs.............................