It might be because I'm a bit dim...

No, it's DEFINITELY because I'm a bit dim, that something dawned on me today, just about half an hour ago. As I was walking to the nearby park to eat my dinner outside, I realised I don't have a back garden!
I know British people are meant to be a nation of gardeners (well, my Dad definitely fits into this bracket!), but I hadn't quite realised that I've been lacking a back garden - to eat lunch/ dinner outside; play games in etc, for the past 2 years.I guess I've made do with local parks to some extent- when I've had the inclination to go outside.Today I met some girls in the park & they asked (in Japanese) if they could take their photo with me. Which I said they could... and then they went away!
Earlier today, I went to the ultimate park- well, it is actually a forest 県民の森

- the people of the prefecture's forest.I'd heard about it from various folk, and despite trying to get friends to go along with me, ended up thinking - well i've only got 3 more weeks here. instead of surfing the internet all day long (on a day i had planned to go to the beach), i might as well strike it off my list of things to do, while the iron's hot. And so off I went on my bike in search of this place with a forest trail and assault (surely i've spelt that wrong?) / exercise course for kids.
I got there OK & was consulting the map in the car park and started to head off in the direction of what I thought would be the way to see this course for kids, when a Japanese old man asked me something incomprehensible. Turned out he & his wife were asking me if i wanted to go to the exercise course and if i wanted to go with them. My guides said they go there every day if they can. The man said it'd be an hour trip. I looked at my watch - "should be OK", I thought. We got up the top of a hill to a park & they explained the exercise course had been funded by the national lottery. Did I want to have a try? I thought I'd humour them and stand at the top of the tower- the start of the course. And then the old man started going down the course, so I thought I'd follow, with his wife behind me. The man was soon out of eyesight as he pegged it over and down rope netting; complicated stepping stones and spring boards. I was trying to balance my bag containing camera (snap snap), phone, electronic dictionary, rain coat, bottle of water, cherries [you know, the usual], thankful that I'd changed out of my skirt and into trousers before going out, and do this assault course- which wasn't TOO taxing, but was giving me quite a good workout in the cool forest humidity. we got to what I guess was half way point and the man showed me where I was to go next-

through some rope loops; up some springy steps (pieces of wood with rubber tyres underneath); then up through a net tunnel. Eventually we got to the final piece- a genius long slide. It was very good.

When we got to the bottom, the man said it was a 2km course. We went back a slightly differnet way, and overlapped the path were we came in.I said goodbye to them in the car park, EXACTLY an hour after we'd set off (what more do you expect??) and gave them the cherries I'd brought as a snack. They must have then fished around in their car and presented me with a chilled can of green tea. And we said our goodbyes. A nice day in all. - Or 2 hours to be precise!

It reminded me a bit of Carroty Wood.

I'm so lucky to live less than a 30min bike ride to a forested mountainous park & less than 30mins by car to the seaside, in a town that touches Pacific Ocean and mountains. Only 3 weeks left. If only there were a Rifu in Britain...

Today's the 7th of the 7th 07!