I have to admit I'm tired. World Cup is finally over but it's been several weeks in the wrong time zone. 4.00am starts aren't as easy as they used to be (congrats to Spain by the way). Japan is, give or take, twelve hours ahead of the US, Mexico and Canada so everything was early morning for us. It's a little like having jet lag, but you figure it out somehow, or in my case, a little zombification during day time. And it's only every four years you have World Cup, Wimbledon and Silverstone all at the same time. But I can start to sleep now.
In the midst of everything I received a message that a friend was retiring and would I create a video wishing him well. My view on this is that he isn't actually finishing but more starting something new, and that was my message. Didn't help that summer has arrived with a vengeance and so, as I walk the neighbourhood, filming my message, I'm sweating like a donkey. The people walking past thought I was a little bit weird and the newspaper delivery bike seemed to stick to my trail, but we got there. And congratulations to him too, he worked hard at the sports company for many, many years.
The big change though, has been saying farewell to my place in the mountains. A bolt hole away from the city in a place near the town of Karuizawa. I built it for my son when he was young but those days are long gone and it was time to let it go. I'll miss it, there were many wonderful times there, birthdays, Christmases (?), deep snow, cool summers, croquet, treehouse building, treehouse deconstructing. Yes, I will miss it but as a friend pointed out "without change, there would be no butterflies". And now I'm integrating two homes into one. Time to sleep.
