Drip, drip, drip!

I guess with all the problems others are having with the typhoons swirling over Japan, I have no right to complain.

Tokyo is on the Kanto plain and fairly flat.

Nerima, where I live, is far from the rising ocean tides.

The nearest river, the Shakuji-gawa, passes several blocks away and in the past few years they have built over-flow underground water storage so we are relatively safe from the river.

And, now that my toe has no more bandages, the boots fit.

Yes, there are problems in an old house with leaky places but compared to floods and landslides, we are safe ... maybe damp, but more dry than not.

When I wrote in a post about a TV dumped in the street, I mentioned the "Ku" or ward, would not
remove it as our little street is not considered part of the Ku. (Forget that our house has the address of Nerima-ku, since our little road is to small for cars, we are in no-man's land.

Here is the view of our little street. The sign says basically, no cars beyond here ... but, does that mean they are not going to try? Oh no. Even trucks give it a try, scraping along the wall and ripping branches off the plum tree at the corner (showing just above the wall) My neighbor has a tiny car and parks it just beyond the sign on the power pole.

When we came here over 50 years ago, this was a dirt ally.

Real roads had open gutters along the sides to catch the rain.
Gradually they were covered, first by concrete slabs, and then turned into real sewers. The new house across the street from ours has a real gutter and drain (at the far corner). This has helped to relieve the small lake at out doorstep. If someone were to dump an un-wanted TV there, I  am not sure the ward would remove it. Does having a drainage system put you in the ward? How about half a drainage system" (on the other side of the road?)

Here is the alternative drainage system for those in the "no-man's-land. Under these man-hole covers is a sewer.  See that tiny hole?
Well, the rain water can drain down that hole ... so when I go out to sweep the street, I always un-plug those holes from rocks and leaves and other debris.  Trouble is, those little drains are usually in the highest part of the street and not where the water tends to collect. (you can see the drain in the first picture sitting high and dry above the gathering puddle.)

The sewer seems to end here just beyond our house.

There is a manhole cover along the wall but it has no hole.

If you have good balance you can walk along that wall to avoid the deepest part of the puddle but you need a good leap when you reach the end.

I guess I should be glad it is not mud as in the "old days" but in order for this to become a "real" road, all the houses on both sides will have to be re-built so the city can grab a meter on each side. I really can't see this happening in my lifetime.

Of course if I live to be 200 in order to use up all my stash...



So, that being the case, I am taking advantage of the rainy days to get something done.

Yesterday, on the way home from school, I stopped off and bought a zipper at the next train station shopping area.


Now it is installed and here is my cushion sitting on the desk chair,

Tonight it will go to it's new home in the choir room.

Considering I didn't know what I was doing, I think it looks pretty good ... and the pillow fit inside and the zipper closed.

Maybe I can get a picture of it in the new location.
I had cool fabric to use on the back ... and it was just the right size. Maybe I can show it off too.


Go visit Tanya and sympathize with her. maybe one quiet shedding dog is not such a big problem.