Friday, 9 November 2012
The last last day of the two week rail leg dawned a little later than Hughesy's regular waking hour, and it was around six thirty-two when I surfaced from a rather weird dream involving catering for wedding receptions while obviously working as a primary school teacher and resumed work on the travelogue. Madam surfaced shortly thereafter, announcing an intention to hie herself off to the nearby public onsen, a development that delivered close to an hour's uninterrupted tapping until her return shortly after eight.
With the train scheduled to depart at 11:32 we weren't inclined to do much in the way of pre-departure activity, happy to wander downstairs for a latish breakfast, return to the room to finish packing and check out just before ten. That scenario gave us a leisurely move to the station and a bit of looking around before departure time.
The day before we'd headed down for breakfast just after six-thirty, and found the place close to chockers. Madam's trip out to the onsen had started with an elevator ride that stopped at almost every floor on on the way down as salarymen and other guests sought to indulge in the ¥500 breakfast that seemed to be the Sunn Days Inn gimmick to attract the business clientele.
If it is, then it definitely seems to work, because when she returned and headed to the elevator to take her back upstairs the breakfast room had progressed to the point where there wasn't an actual queue but awaiting list had the next prospective breakfasted being called by name.
On that basis, my decision to tap away rather hurl myself at the shower once she'd been gone more than half an hour could be deemed to be a smart move. We only had the one room card key and I needed it to keep the lights and electricity running, and I wouldn't be able hear someone knocking at the door while I was in the shower, would I?