Across the water

It's been a fairly hot week and with not having much of a cooling wind, it has quietly baked us dry. Sales of drinks have gone up and you know I'm always eager to be seen to be doing my part when it comes to drinks!
This afternoon I picked up Sayou, my sister-in-law and Kiyoshichan, my little niece who is not so little now. They grow so quickly these days although if you look at me you would think I stopped growing when I was twelve. We decided to 'cool in the pool'. Sayou couldn't join us in the water so she sat by the side shouting encouragement for her daughter.
When I learned to swim I remember having a plain white float that looked like the front half of a surf board and that was my only comfort as I dared to take my feet off of the floor and trust that somehow my head would not slip under the water as I tried to float.
Now it's all water wings and plastic rings.
It was lovely and private in the training pool where I could teach my already confident niece the art of propelling yourself through the water. She is happy in the water and swims well. It was spoiled when six or seven guys started staring at us through the observation glass and were making fairly rude gestures. Not something that should be done in front of children. I made a complaint to one of the pool attendants and slipped my vest on over my swim suit. Their banging on the window soon stopped and we could peacefully continue without interruption. I have never known such a disturbance at the pool, it was such a disgrace!

The very nice attendant returned shortly after that and said that the rowdy group had been asked to leave the building. I imagine they were asked to behave and failed to do that and so the next step of eviction resulted. I have no doubt that incidents like this will be written up somewhere saying that 'foreigners were evicted from public pools', suggesting that we are xenophobic rather than just trying to keep public order!

Hitomi and I are catching an early morning train across the water to Tokushima in Shikoku.
It's a week-end away where we can relax and get some sand in between our toes but with an underlying motive. Through one of her contacts, I will speak with someone regarding a possible career move when my resignation is final at the end of October. Perhaps I can say more of that later, I don't want to be too hopeful about it prematurely and then be disappointed if it amounts to nothing.