Kamogawa

Every couple of days I walk down the Kamogawa from Shichijo to the hyaku-en shop at the corner of Gojo and Kawabata-dori. The life there is wonderful. On most days pigeons, crows and eagles will be flying overhead with big herons, egrets, black diving birds and of course ducks ('kamo') settled on the water below - or idling on the banks if rains have made the current too strong. Groups of catfish - I've seen one at least a meter long - lay still beneath the bridges where last Sunday I spotted a small turtle paddling around.

Just as I started out on Tuesday a fairly fluent but demented elderly man grasped my arms as I passed and shouted "Welcome to Kyoto". Pulling several crumpled slips of paper covered in writing from his pocket he pressured a 45-minute English lesson out of me. "He is by nature a scoundrel... Why 'nature'? Nature is birds and trees and environment. Nature has more than one meaning? How many? How many meanings does it have?!", "It is high-time you went to bed. Why is it past tense? Why not 'Go to bed, now!'?!". He proceeded to demand my assessment of language teaching in Japan and how it should be remedied.

An adorable and friendly dog added a little colour to work yesterday, but I began feeling ill after heading out at 6:30, going north to Nijo via Teramachi then back down Kiyamachi, turning left across the river after passing some pink salons and following it to Shichijo. I need to force myself back to the river the next night I'm feeling healthier. The warm air, coolness from the running water, shadowy river grasses and walls of lanterns on the far side - there's no competition for it. Unfortunately my little camera is all but useless at night.