Temporary interruption to services

I suspect I will not run this week. Probably not even once. We had the big move into our new apartment yesterday. It all started with a visit to the bank on Tuesday to finalize all that side of affairs and declare us the legal title holder of the property. Thereupon we took possession of the keys and proceeded to begin moving in. Tuesday afternoon was then an interesting process of marching back and forward from our place to the new place, just 80 m up the street, with a couple of small trolleys. Several friends pitched in to help and we got to a point of feeling we had made a significant dent in the job. Since all the kitchenware was gone, and who would want to cook anyway, we baked half a dozen pre-fabricated pizzas. (While a lot of what you hear about Japan being expensive is exaggerated, especially in these days of spiralling deflation, one thing that is NOT exaggerated is the expensiveness of delivered pizza. How does $25 for a medium grab you? At least $40 for a large. Hence with a hungry mob to feed we opted for the nuke your own option served on home-made cardboard plates.)

Yesterday the men in the truck came and moved the big things. During the morning the new double-bunk bed for the younger two boys arrived and I had to spend an hour, or was it two, building that up. Tatsuya's loft bed (bed up top, desk underneath) was supposed to arrive in the afternoon, but in the only major f***-up of the day, the delivery company had made a  mistake and arranged for it to be delivered on the 22nd, not the 21st. A very irate wife made the poor guy on the end wish his shift, or maybe his life, would end sooner rather than later, I'm sure. Anyway, totally beyond their ability to get it there any sooner, so we had to live with it. Their one concession was to get the delivery guy to assemble it, since a major part of the problem was that by it not being delivered yesterday, I wouldn't be there to assemble it (I still don't know how this panned out). The other less than happy discovery was that the Internet provider (optic fiber, ahem) found a break in the line somewhere in our ceiling, so that is going to take a bit longer to get us on-line.

The day ended with Tatsuya and a couple of his mates completing the transfer of sundry items from the old place and us being surrounded by more cardboard boxes than I thought you could fit into such a small space. I then had to conveniently toddle off to a company end-of-year party. Korean BBQ, beer, and kim-chee. Not very popular when I got home, especially the beer induced snoring. Back at work today and the next few days offer more of the process of settling in, including procurement of those last remaining bits and pieces. Like lights (which don't come as mandatory fixtures in Japan) for some of the rooms and a closet for our bedroom, which is a Japanese room with tatami but no space for hanging clothes. So, with these things still hanging over my head, pardon the pun, it will take a bit of serious will-power to get out for a run at an hour that won't be construed as subverting "The Cause". A good thing I have committed December as a rest and recovery month!