Since I 'm a lot less busy for the past 2 weeks or so,
I've been continuing to achieve the daily walking goal I established to address
issues including underexcersizing, elevation of cholesterol level and
low bone density.
I first set my goal at 10,000 steps a day, but it wasn't easy at all.
Walking 10,000 steps a day is achievable, but coming up with idea for
a course everyday was a really tough task.
The farthest supermarket within walking distance, which is one in front of
the next station, is only about 4,000 steps away, meaning only 8,000 steps
there and back.
And because it's far, I can't buy heavy things like milk and juice, and therefore
it's not practical.
Also, using a supermarket as a turning point of my everyday walking missions
means I buy something not truly necessary everyday, thus not good from the
economical point of view.
Factors like these made me reset my goal at 8,000 steps a day.
But still, it wasn't easy if I have to achieve it everyday.
When I'm really busy with work, I walk like 800 steps a day.
This is a major shortcoming of the fact that I do not commute.
Last Monday, I walked to the next town to do something I'd kept postponing.
It was a beautiful day, and I enjoyed my walking greeting a local god here
and the oinari-san god there.
The road is what used to be called a road of pilgrimage.
In a matter of 30 minutes I got where I was heading, and did what I had to do.
Now that I am freed from the long-time pending issue,
what do I do?
Yeah, quench my thirst. What else?
I went into a self-service cafe with a nice wood deck,
ordered a medium-size iced coffee, and went out for a
table on the deck.
The shop lady said,
"Syrup and creamer are on that shelf!"
from my back, but I just smiled back.
I don't need either of those things in my coffee.
Now what you need to choose the right seat here is;
an eye to see.
Because too many of the seats and the tables had bird droppings on them.
This is because the roof is not really a roof but live tree branches.
Lack of observation result in sitting on a dropping and drinking coffee
from the cup on a dropping.
It's funny that at that time I didn't worry about the possibility that a bird or two
might do it on me.
I sat on a dropping-free seat that was also not exposed to the direct sunlight.
I sipped my coffee, and froze.
・・・It's sweet!?
No, no, no, no. Too hard to believe. I tried again.
・・・GAA! IT'S FRICKIN' SWEET!!
Yeah, this reminded me of iced coffee when I was a child.
It was almost always sweetened.
Then less and less coffee shops sold sweetened iced coffee, and
I thought they died out. A couple of decades ago, at least.
This one obviously has survived. So close to where I live.
This town is recognized as a historical but not too sophisticated one.
It started in the 15th century when some warlord was granted this place as a fief.
The majority of the native residents still have the surname of the warlord.
It seems like, it's a place of a good pedigree
with an insufficient evolution of iced coffee.
I was thirsty enough to sip one-third of it, but that was it.
I only drink coffee black.
It would have been much better if it was freewheelingly sweet and white with
sugar and cream, like coffee milk.
Besides, I walked here to improve my health.
And I'm also on a diet, though not too intensely.
I don't wanna drink any coffee with sugar that I don't even like.
I should have ordered a small.
Oh, well, forget about the coffee and sit here as long as I like.
Luckily there were almost no customers on the deck.
(Because of the bird droppings, I guess.)
Feeling the nice refreshing breeze of May, I took out my book and read it.
The book was called: Tales of Rain and the Moon.
Yeah, not at all like the actual atmosphere, I know.
I first read it as a primary school student when my aunt gave it to me.
It belonged to my cousin, and I guess he was bored with it or grew out of it.
Since then I have read this many times, but never got bored with it.
It seems that everytime I read it, I feel something I didn't feel the last time I read it.
I guess, for one thing, I'm always 5 or more years older each time than I was the last time.
This time I read it in its original old Japanese.
Some sentences are easier to understand, and others have words and expressions
that are so unfamilier to modern Japanese readers.
But one thing in common is that how beautiful they sound.
Simple and crisp wording that seems only possible with old words, and
rhetoric that is unique in modern sense....
I started trying to read old Japanese some years ago, and
I can read better these days, nevertheless I can't help reading the translation, too.
After reading, I went back walking the same distance,
and walked 10,500 steps in total, that is 130% achievement.
