Six days since the earthquake, and things are looking very uncertain. Last night Julia and I stayed up until about 2 AM watching TV, and then some House and Glee we got off the web.
We had a much cooler day today, dipping to about 35 degrees (F) at 6 AM when we had our power cut for the first time. Maki had made coffee by then so we had a little warmth as I got up at 7, and as the day progressed. Power on at about 10 AM. We watched in the morning news with the baptism of the reactors by helicopter. It looked very ineffective. It was also just in time for Julia to get up. Maki cleaned and then I took her to the closest shopping center. Shopping here in Tokyo is usually more vertical than horizontal. You get free parking for 2 hours if you spend at least $20 in the stores. The roads were eerily quiet, and for the first time ever, I got a parking place on the bottom of the 8 floors. The bank was having problems with their computers, so I could only deposit the $2,400 in coins (they have a $6 coin in Japan, and Maki has been collecting them for 5 years) to spend on the trip in Hawaii. Have to look forward.
I bought cheese from Europe, and we got a wonderful nice warm baguette, as bread has reappeared for the first time since the earthquake. We got back home to turn on the TV to get the announcement that because of the cold weather, people were using too much electricity, and a second black-out was due at 2. I finished off the book “Reality is Broken” by Jane McGonigal, while bundled up and at the window with the most daylight. I reminded Maki that we had lived just like this in China 20 years ago, when volunteer teaching in Nanjing. After the lights came back on at 5 we sat down with a nice bottle of wine, some soup, and the cheese and bread for dinner, and hung around in the kitchen, with the gas heating, to avoid using electricity.
The temblors continued throughout the day, a little wiggle right now, but with 3 significan shakes in the afternoon, all of which were mercifully short, not enough time to get to the door. The electric company guy said that we are still using too much electricity, and they may have to shut off all the power across the area later tonight. Let’s hope people go to sleep early,as Maki has done.
Now starting the new book by David Brooks about brain, physiology, emotions, and society, called “The Social Animal”. Will curl up under the covers and get up early tomorrow to get stuff done before our blackout from dinner time to 9PM tomorrow. We get blacked out at different times each day. I may ride the bike into my office, which doesn’t have any blackouts (the capital is exempt) to get some work done there.
