Hanami Number 2

Posted on 2006/04/06 15:38:56 (April 2006).

[Wednesday 5th April]
Everyone that worked on my floor had been given the afternoon off to go to a hanami at a nearby theme park. This ought to have been great, but unfortunately this was the one day in a week of otherwise marvellous weather that it absolutely pissed it down. All day, non stop. There had been serious talk at one point of turning the picnic into a bus tour of Tokyo, but this hadn't met with much enthusiasm. So instead we all soldiered on despite the awful weather in what seemed like a very British way to me. There were some small gazebo things put up, and 100+ of us were huddled into these with our drinks and nibbles, pretending like we were enjoying ourselves. Whilst the party was supposed to have gone on until at least 3, by 2 o' clock most people had gone home already. It was, quite literally, a washout.

Still, I'm a great believer in not looking a gift horse in the mouth - an afternoon off, is, after all, an afternoon off. Even more so when free drinks are also supplied. So I stayed right until the bitter end, and then, when everyone else was getting onto the last bus, one of my colleagues suggested going to a nearby bath house place to wile away the rest of the afternoon.

This bit was really nice actually - the rain didn't seem to be able to spoil even the outdoor baths. Plus afterwards we were able to sit for a long chat in the kind of cafe/restaurant place attached to the bath house, have a couple more drinks, and talk about life, money and the future of the broadcast industry.

It was, as Arkwright might have said, a funny sort of day.

Was that hanami or sunami then ?

Posted by Rev at 2006/04/07 11:22:56.

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