Rookie Mistakes 101

This week also saw me venture into Tokyo to apply for a tourist visa to visit China in September with my folks. I got off to a relatively early start (for me) and was out the door by about 0930. I reached Tokyo by 0950 and it was at 0951 that my day went the shape of a giant pear.

Firstly, some tips for young players dealing with the transport system here;

1) Never lose concentration when wandering the maze of a station and don’t be afraid to check you are on the right platform, going the right way. Several times if need be!

2) Never wear a bag/backpack in the train if you can avoid it. Always try and have it in hand in front of you.

3) Never  be afraid about packing the scrum a little tighter – there is ALWAYS room to fit another person in, just be prepared to invade someone elses personal space (or lose your own).

4) Never think you will be okay walking around in 33C/80% humidity

As you may have surmised;

1) I lost concentration

2) I did not have my back pack in hand

3) I didn’t pack the scrum as tight as needed, valuing my personal space too much

4) I walked around in 33C/80% humidity.

This resulted in a catastrophic chain of events that ruined my morning and went something like this…. Firstly I got onto the train going the opposite direction to what I needed for no other reason apart from the fact I was in lala land.  Essentially this would not have been an issue…

BUT

I also did not have my backpack in hand, so when I managed to squeeze onto the wrong train I was not able to see if I had cleared the door. Again not a big issue…..

UNLESS

You don’t pack the scrum as tight as you need to and a clip of your back pack ends up getting caught on the other side of the doors, effectively trapping your bag and bar cutting said clip off the bag, you ‘aint going anywhere til the doors open again. At this point I was not overly worried as I figured 2-3 stops, maybe 5 in a worst case scenario ‘my’ doors would open and she’d be alright.

Unfortunately, 13 stops and 45 min later instead of being a stones throw from the embassy I was on the opposite side of Tokyo.  With about 90 minutes before the embassy closed for the day. ‘Not happy Jan’ doesn’t really do my frustration justice. Credit to those nearby me on the train though -- either they didn't notice me getting progressively redder and more and more pissed off, or more likely had sufficient control not to piss themselves laughing at my expense (as I am sure most of you would have done)

Needless to say once I was free, (I felt like James Franco) I experienced a euphoria that normally only comes with extreme blood loss and/or malnutrition but was able to duck, dive, dodge and dip to a station near the embassy.

With 30 min to go before closing the ‘Mr Glass half full’ inside of me was brimming with confidence that I was only 15min walk from the embassy. Unfortunately the 15 min walk turned out to be about 25min walk as there were some hideous hills involved. Oh and not a small amount of perspiration too. At 1150, Mr ‘Glass half empty’ promptly took the glass and found an uncomfortable place to put it. I don’t think we will be hearing from Mr ‘Glass half full’ any time soon.

The following morning I decided to try again and this time with surgical precision I was able to locate said embassy (ironically it had a really big wall), apply for my visa and retreat to a/c comfort having only lost 5kgs of sweat (vs the 10kgs lost the day before). Easy once you know how!