2 more sleeps

My children are counting down to our departure for New Zealand by the number of sleeps.... 2 more including tonight. I am counting down by the number of classes I still have to teach - 5 down today, 2 left for tomorrow. In other words we are almost off! As usual I have been leaving a few things to the last minute and as usual Japan is living up to its wonderful service in an attempt to keep me happy enough that I will want to return after our great holiday in the land of the long white cloud. On Friday I decided that after 9 years of the same glasses I "needed" some new ones before we left. I wandered into the local shop and asked if it was possible to get some new glasses within 5 days (remembering that there was a weekend included in there). No problem. Sit down, get my eyes tested, get given a cup of tea, have my old glasses cleaned and the nose piece changed while I wasn't watching and was told that they would be ready on Sunday! The whole process took less than half an hour and that included a chat about the fact that in Japan you don't have to be a "real" optometrist to make glasses and another chat about how New Zealand won the world cup rugby. As well as taking very limited time it also only cost me about a third of what it would have in New Zealand. I will still have my eyes tested properly in New Zealand every now and then, but the technology they used here was definitely very good and I have no complaints. Thumbs up for Japanese service - again!