Every now and then, you make a mistake that is so incredibly stupid – so unbelievably dumb – that it makes you stop dead in your tracks and wonder how on earth you managed to survive this long without getting eaten by a predator.
Fortunately for our species, the vast majority of humans can display some adaptability, which has lead to us making this far along our evolutionary tree. Those that don’t learn from their mistakes are usually quickly selected against and end up in the belly of a lion, frozen into a glacier, or embedded face-first into the grille of a Mack truck.
My mistake was thinking that there might be some vague, remote similarity between a Japanese spring and a Brisbane spring. The last time I was in this country, it was 35 degrees celcius and humid – just like home. So I figured, hey – maybe its the same just after winter: nice, dry 20 degree days.
Unfortunately, I forgot a key fact – in winter in Japan, it snows.
Not too far off in the distance from where we are staying in Shirakawa, there are mountains that still have actual snow on the top of then. If it gets to more than 10 degrees during the day, people here start putting on bikinis. Needless to say, as a born and bred Queenslander who tends to wear beanies as soon as the mercury drops below 25 degrees back home, I am suffering.
Hopefully the lesson has been learned – do more research before heading off to parts foreign. I knew it would be cold, but merely throwing in a jumper and a pair of thick socks is not adequate prevention.
However, despite the numbness in my hands as I type this and the constant threat of frostbite each time I step outside, I can’t help but think I’d rather be here than back home perched in front of a computer screen for ten or twelve hours a day.
The wedding is tomorrow. Remarkably the happy couple-to-be are relaxed and appear to be well prepared.