Morning Camper

The local mosque this morning.

Not sure why, especially considering the fact that my camera takes crap photos of flowers and food, and that the Perfect Camera I saw the other day - on sale, good quality, waterproof - is now locked behind the doors of the shop where I found it, until November 20th (wtf, shops NEVER close here for long periods of time), I'm tigressing, but not sure why, but this morning I woke up feeling full of joy, all excited in my tummy, for absolutely no reason but for the fact that I am alive and that I got re inspired to visit Everest Base Camp, a long-held dream of mine, after seeing this photo last night, posted by one of my 156 FB friends.

I met the young Japanese lad from Hokkaido, who took this photo, in eastern Turkey this summer. He joined us for the trip to the World's Oldest Temple at Gobleki Tepe.

I'm tigressing, but back to the point in my head right now,wtf, who wants to spend their formative years bringing up kids, when you can spend your money seeing places like this instead. With all your own teeth still.

Go Takuya!

Just kidding, you know, about the breeding thing. I realise that I'm missing out on the many joys that come from raising another human for the planet, that I will never know what being truly loved by another feels like, that I won't ever be able to feel the immense pride that comes with those first steps, that first graduation, that first job, and so on, and that I will die alone, but, wtf, look at the planet!

Not sure why, but the above photo sends more shivers of life through my pulsating body, than say, a photo of this

I was reading an article in a UK rag this morning, about how more and more people in the F.UK are having to forgo their annual holiday and whatever. What a life. What skull drudgery.
Shoot me. I am the 1%.
The original F.I.L.T.H (Failed In London, Tried Honshu) who will probably die young for being such a smug git.

That's what I felt this morning, whilst feeling all joyful and full of life, I thought to myself,
 'It will be just my luck to get struck down, just when life starts turning the corner I've been loitering on since 2008.'

Which is probably why I felt the need to stop at my Favourite Temple In Japan this morning.

I heard the monks inside methodically hitting traditional drums, a low rolling sound, like distant thunder, so I parked the bike and went and sat on the temple steps until they had finished.

It was a lovely moment.

This temple is very special to me.
It is where I came on February 14th 2004, to tie a 'fortune paper' I had got in the mountains of Takayama, to the cherry tree.
The fortune had said that I would have a wonderful life.
As I tied it to a branch, I thought about how much I loved my grandfather.
Little did I know but my grandfather was to die a few hours later that day, on February 14th, over in the UK.

The tree to the right is the Fortune Tree.

When I first 'retired' from Japan - third time lucky, eh - I left my Buddhist prayer beads, bought here and there over the years (I'm not Buddhist but I respect how peaceful a religion it is) - on the altar where people light candles, and where I have lit 4 candles at a time on many occasions; one each for my mother, my grandfather, not-the-grandmother and Shosei Koda, the kid beheaded in Iraq on October 29th, 2004, who even as he was about to be murdered, showed true Samurai spirit by using his last words ever on the planet, to apologise to his parents for the pain this would cause them.
Shosei's name meant, 'Proof of Life'.
Anyway, I will never forget him and often light an extra stick of incense or a candle in his memory.

I'm tigressing.
Whilst I was standing in front of the little statues where you go to pray for all the little children who have died or been aborted - sigh - an elderly woman, carrying a bucket of persimmons and a long pole to reach the persimmons, looked surprised to see a foreigner standing in these off-the-beaten sidewalk temple grounds.

Indeed, she was speechless at first.
I broke the ice and told her how this was my favourite temple and so on.

She wound up saying, 'You're more Japanese than the Japanese are these days!' and then went on to lament that the visiting of temples, outside of special occassions, was a fast declining thing to do, especially amongst the young.

I was going to tell her that I'm not that Japanese, that I ignore red lights, have kicked an elementary school kid on the shin after he kicked me (many moons ago) and that I refuse to work during the summer vacations, but I didn't want to ruin the fleeting feeling of Sainthood she had bestowed up me.

It was a really lovely conversation and I'm so happy that I stopped here on the way to school and I should do it more often.
I love how the temple grounds have become 'wild'. They used to be kept immaculate. Wild flowers galore. Love it.

Love my new boots, too. So soft and fluffy.