"TALES FROM TOKYO" -- THE ENDLESS SUMMER

    Check this out for a disaster!!

                       Summer was rolling along wickedly.  I couldn't remember the last time it had rained.  Tokyo's sky had also been blue!  Normally during summer,  because of the intense humidity the sky is hazy,  gray and it's rare to see the blue of the sky.  But this summer was different.  Blue,  blue and blue was all we saw here in Tokyo, day in and day out.

          It was time to go to the beach.  Not a beach where the locals go.  Naaaa,  Izu is where we are heading!  At least that's what I would try and arrange anyway.  Jared,  my very cool friend from New Zealand was leaving Japan soon and what better farewell gathering could there be than to get a good bunch of friends together down to a fantastic location for 4 days of drinking,  surfing,  body surfing,  snorkeling and numerous naughty things that  a bunch of dudes to get up to!?


          I gathered,  Jey-J.,  A.J. and his brother Steve,  Dan and a few of his friends plus Jared and his friend that was over from New Zealand for a holiday ... and of course me too  :))   that makes a wild bunch for a beach party!!   Dan and his mates were heading down a couple of days before the rest of us.  Jared and his mate would meet us Monday afternoon as Jared had to get visas from the Chinese and Russian Embassies.

          Early Sunday morning,  Steve,  A.J.,  Jey-J. and myself caught the train to the sumptuous beaches of the Izu peninsula.  The sky was how it had always looked recently ... blue ... ohhh what a fantastic blue!  Looking forward to heaps of good times we stocked up on beer and train snacks.  I brought my bike too.  After Izu everyone had plans to go somewhere so I'd made a plan to cycle back up the peninsula then train it home.  The vibe going down on the train was cool  :))  Beer after beer,  stop after stop we were getting revved up for our fun in the sun.

It's time to party.  Jey-J.'s got his board and Steve is checking out the life guards  :))

          Yeeee Haaaa!!  :))   We made it!  no sooner had we arrived my phone was buzzing with Dan on the other end.  He's a stone's throw away and is heading to the convenience store which is where we were stocking up on beer for the beach.  Instantly recognizing the state Dan and his mates were in,  it was time to do some catching up.  Obviously we hadn't drunk enough on the train!

          With the sun shining in all it's glory and a pack of guys loaded with beer and grinning faces it was time to hit the beach.  Actually the grinning started on the beach  :))

          Jey-J. rented a surf board,  I body surfed while A.J. and Steve went to check out the gathering of female life guards happening not too far away.

          The day was turning out to be a cracker!  Heaps of time was spent in the surf, a party atmosphere under our sun shades and still plenty of grinning going on.  Towards the end of the day it was time to find a location for our camping spot and after surf partying site!  Down at the end of the beach seemed likely as there were a lot of trees which could provide wood for our fire.  With the beach clearing of day trippers,  it was time to scout around for scraps in the sand.  We found an extra beach umbrella bringing our total to 4 and some large plastic sheets.  I was planning to sleep in my hammock but the late afternoon sun was still warm so my idea was to spread one of the plastic sheets, put the hammock on top and enjoy the stars.  Dan and his gang were staying in a hotel in town so it was the 4 of us on the beach.  The next day we would be joined by Jared and his mate.

The morning after.  We made it through the storm alive  :))

         
          Some food and copious amounts of beer were purchased, then the search for fire wood began.  It didn't take long as there was plenty of drift wood lying around at the end of the beach.  There was also a massive tree stump which would be very useful in the later hours when it's glowing through the night. 

          Now,  at this point it's about 7:30pm and slight cloud cover has joined our party.  A.J. points out that he just felt a rain drop.  Gradually over the next hour the rain drops become more frequent.  We are still partying on and not paying the slightest bit of attention to the weather that is now above our heads as it deteriorates.  The wind has also picked up quite a bit too. 

          A.J. starts to talk about emergency shelter plans while cracking open another beer.  With a fresh beer in my hand and the good ol' Aussie attitude of " She'll be right mate,  no worries!  It'll blow over soon",  didn't seem to get heard by anyone  :))

          Soon the frenzied activity of plastic sheets was heard ruffling about with shouts of "Shit!  hold that still,  this wind is getting out of control!!"

          It was plain to see that our party was becoming a shambles and a night of survival was what we had to battle with!  :))

          It was now 4 men against the mother of every one's .... nature!

          Now the wind was on a course of destruction,  but luckily for us  it was coming from our back and as we all huddled inside  the shelter with a clear view of the Pacific Ocean in front of us,  we sat with beer in hand contemplating this nightmare that had risen from somewhere!!   Our fire was just a fizzle now as  just the glow from under the  big stump could be seen.  It was getting quite late now.  Heavy rain and wind was lashing us from behind.  We tried to sleep. 

          As usual A.J. doesn't have a sleeping bag ... it was the same on top of Mt. Fuji.  I'm sure that guy has a secret desire to be a survival specialist,  he's content again with his towel!  :))

          We had settled down when right in front of our eyes,  just a few kilometers of shore,  we were entertained to a lightning display and thunderstorm.  "Fantastic",  "SHiIiIIT" and " I don't want to be zapped on a beach in the middle of nowhere!!" rang out in the darkness!!   It was cool,  we had front row seats  :))

As you can see the weather was #$%&%$ crap!!

         
          Not long after the wind dropped.  We thought we were going to get some sleep at last.  The noise of the constant crackling of the plastic sheets blown by the wind was draining and impossible to sleep in.

          And then the wind started again!  But the wind was now blowing head on into our shelter and it almost took off into the air!  Frantically we get to work on changing the structure and re-arranging the sleeping area.

          What a disaster this night was turning into!!!  :))  In no time we were wet.  This time instead of making a shelter that would no doubt be down in a matter of time,  we covered ourselves with a plastic sheet each and knuckled down to the couple of hours of darkness that we had left.

          Sleep overcame us and a couple of us woke up with the sunrise,  though we couldn't see the sun because of the crappy weather!!  The rain had stopped but the clouds still looked menacingly mean.  Quick work was done to get the fire going again to try to dry at least some of our gear.  Jey-J. went to the shop to buy supplies.

          After an hour or so and just as we were getting dry and warm,  some official from the life saving squad tells us to put out the fire.  If only they knew what we had endured during the last 12 hours surely some sympathy was due!!  None came!!  :))

          Steve,  A.J. and Jey-J. had had enough!!  They were catching the bus to the train station and heading the hell home as soon as they had eaten and freshened up!

          By 8:30am it was just me and my bike,  standing next to a road in front of the beach that had been our survival training experience  for the last 12 hours!  The beach that was entertaining us not so long ago with thunder and bolts of lightning!

          I was determined not to let this weather ruin my short break.  First thing to do is wake up.  The store down the road has Red Bull and that's a great way to start the day for me  :))    I was hoping to get to Atami at the top of the peninsula by bike.  The rain wasn't falling but the clouds looked like they would let the flood gates go at any moment.


The remains of the large stump that tried so hard to glow through the night

         
          I started down the road.  Not 20 meters were past me when I heard a strange scraping noise from the front wheel.  My front brake was broken!  What a great start to the morning!  I'm a front brake fan and relay on that more than the back.  So with all the cycling in front of me to do looked kind of challenging.  I must have rode 3 kilometers and then the rain came.  Luckily I'd packed a couple of those plastic sheets.  As you can see in the picture I made a shelter just off the main road and stayed there for a while.  Lunch time came.  After lunch came.  It was still raining!  The rain didn't ease,  the rain didn't stop!  It just kept raining and raining and raining!!

          It was getting extremely boring just hanging around .  I couldn't believe this was the second shelter I was huddling under within a 24 hour period!!  :))

          It was time to leg it.  To get to the nearest train station and put this disaster to an end.  I was getting nowhere fast!!

          I found a station up the road.  Packed up my bike and jumped on the train.  Lots of people staring at this foreign person soaking wet and carrying a bike!

          Got home and jumped on the p.c. to discover a Typhoon had passed by.  Ahhhh .... now I see the picture!!  Who would have guessed,  just a couple of days ago everyone was in the endless summer.  No one I'm sure would have done a weather check before heading to the beach.  Surely that would have been a joke to do so!

          Well,  it was still heaps of fun hanging out with a bunch of good mates,  experiencing one of nature's finer displays of power while getting drenched in the process!  All this while learning how to make a crazy looking shelter in a Typhoon!!

This is what was left of the second phase of our shelter  :))

The shelter off the road.  Hung out here for bleedin' ages!!  :))

                           Tales from Tokyo will return ...   :))