last days

The cherry blossoms are almost gone. This time is more beautiful than the peak, I think. The cherry blossom petals snow storm as it is known is just so pretty, just about everyone stops still to watch the petals flutter to the ground after a gust of wind.

We have a big window in the staircase and I am trying to make it look a bit nicer as the days go by, so these cherryblossom themed garlands help...mini moo stuck coloured dots on odd ones for extra colour.

You can see the cherry blossom petals like snow on the ground. This is mid-egg and basket race...it wasnt going so well.......but it wasnt long until big smiles and funny noises were back on the agenda.

On another note, today I got my real Tokyo licence. The one you get just from experience. I drove on a couple of expressways, used our new toll card, which means you dont have to stop to pay the toll but you have to drive quite fast through the toll gate so no one hits you from behind...it is so cool, it is just like a credit card but you insert it into a slot in the glovebox. It is a much better idea than the big bulky e-tags at home. I can see why many poeple do not want to stick them to their windows. I also used the navigation system which is about 80% accurate so you still need an idea of where you are going (I didnt really). Mini moo came too so just us two made great progress. The only thing I am really bad at is merging, you have to do it fast and without hesitation. I did it very badly at first but then got the hang of it. It helps if you are bad but the car picks up fairly quickly....I did feel good when I got in the flow, even though I had been passed by about 10 cars. I was like the one at skipping rope just waiting to find the right time to jump in and start skipping...