Day 23 Wednesday 1 September 2010
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| Sans Balcony |
First day of Autumn. 33 degrees. Still feels like summer to me. The seasons here are like clockwork and the national life follows them rigidly. The start and end of the rainy season in June can seemingly be predicted to the hour. The weather here is remarkably stable and weather forecasts eerily accurate. Compare this to Auckland where the word changeable doesn’t even come close, forecasts are a complete guessing game and aren’t worth the paper they are written on. It’s often said there that if you don’t like the current weather you only have to wait about 10 minutes. So the fact that this year in Japan nature isn’t playing ball is a bit of a dismay to the locals. Still, that’s no reason not to implement all usual autumnal procedures such as switching off air conditioners and breaking out your winter wardrobe. Never mind that it’s still sweltering hot out there. Rules are rules don’t you know. All fans must be cleaned up and returned to storage. People must switch from eating cold noodles to the hot variety. All across the land winter bedding is being dragged out and made ready and snow tyres are being fitted to cars all by hot and sweaty people.
I had another lost in translation incident today at the Home centre. The staff there are, no doubt, tired of me with my awkward questions and unusual requests. On the other hand, they are pretty damned useless and know next to nothing about what they are selling. Take Jointing compound for example. This is stuff that every home has in it. For those that aren’t familiar with it, it’s the plaster that is used to fill the gaps between the plaster boards on walls and ceilings. Anyone with even the vaguest notion of DIY home renovation skills knows what it is. At home, there is a whole aisle dedicated to the stuff.
The staff at Conan Kameoka have never heard of it. I tried the following languages.
English…Plasterboard.
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| The mysterious plasterboard |
Kiwi….Gib board.
Blank looks. They sell sheets of it but they don’t know what it’s called or what goes between them.
Next up was sign Language. Ah yes!..... They bought me a tube of silicon!
A quick sketch with paper and pen yielded a tub of epoxy filler.
By now there 3 of them gathered around.
I mention that it comes in a bucket….and am given tile grout.
I tell Shizuka to tell them to go away. They are all utterly useless.
I didn’t expect much from the part timer Housewife or the high school student working there for the holidays but the supervisor having no clue was too much to take.
In the end I found a type of gap and crack poly filler. It’s not really ideal but it will be covered by the textured wallpaper so we will get away with it. On the subject of wallpaper, I was concerned about finding a match for the stuff on the walls of the house. Needless worrying however as there is only 2 kinds available. It was like the line in the Blues Brothers…”we’ve got both kinds here. Country. And Western.”
At least they knew what sandpaper is.
We never did find out the Japanese name for Jointing Compound. If anybody out there knows please do let us know.
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