After the festival...

I am a massive fan of proverbs, sayings and word play, so learning Japanese was a whole new avenue for ridiculous sayings. One of my favourites is ato no matsuri, or after the festival. It literally means after the festival and can be used to say stuff like, the wisdom of hindsight, closing the stable door after the horse has bolted or in this case, the damage has been done. That is kind of how I feel now it's winding down. Yesterday we packed up the majority of the sales area in the dark and went home for a well deserved meal and I treated myself to some alcohol. Not too much mind. The waiting around was the hardest bit, there is an order to letting people in and pack up, and although we were in the second group, I felt like the Dauphin the night before Agincourt, thankfully we fared a little better than he did.

Would it were day! Alas, poor Harry of England! he longs not for the dawning as we do...

 

The day however was ours, and we trooped home, like tired and weary men at arms to some chicken and assorted meats on a stick. Thankfully no horse meat this time. The shop we went to was close the the Chiefs, but it was my first and last visit. It was tasty if not a little too on the salty side but this picture frightened me a little

Im not sure if that is supposed to be a thumbs up or something inappropriate. Either way the apprentices all had a relaxing time as battle stories were shared and tales told of those who didn't make it.

 

Needless to say, I slept like a baby last night.

The day after the night before was a long one too, taking down the rest of the sales area and also the exhibition. Although it was over, there was still an eery beauty about the place, trees past their best, a sense of moving on to the next big task and planning for the future. Maybe that was just me though, most people just seemed relieved.

The sales area was even more lonely and deserted, where once there were occasional throngs of customers and more trees than you can look at in a day, now there was the remnants of what we had worked so hard to put together.

It was a bittersweet day, mainly because the weather turned nice and we were bathed in warm sunshine and a beautiful aozora or blue sky. Regular readers may remember the aozora satsuki episode, and there is nothng quite as beautiful as deep blue sky on Japanese winters day. It seems to go on forever (which it in fact does).

Obviousy the trucks are not the nicest thing, but this is Tokyo.

After the exhibition is the time to be careful with the trees, most trees are damaged after the show by poor care. Buds have opened and growth has occured due to the warm temperatures in the exhibition hall. On these chojubai's you can see just how green they have become.

Akiyama looks on, planning the position in the green house for when they get back. You wil notice as well that the flowers appear orange rather than red. This too is a result of a lack of sunlight. They need an immediate watering then protecting from the elements for at least a couple of weeks if not months, until the weather catches up with their biology.

Now after the festival, I am faced with sorting out all the stuff which was purchased...shipping pots, stands and stones out and taking trees to the respective exporters. Athough the fun is over, now the hard work begins...still, at least I'm not in a suit...and for those of you who don't know what that looks like...

Here I am, bald eejit heed, mini mutton chops, steptoe gloves and my Numancia scarf I have been trying to lose for ten years. Im hard at work on the Pad, working deals and also writing these ridiculous blog posts. It has been fun, at least I have had something to talk about this time. Im in Japan for a few more days, hopefully I can get everything done, so I had better stop this and get on with it...

 

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