So now ive moved on up the coast, to Takahagi. I didnt know what to expect ata all, but I think ive struck some good luck :) The apartment that Im sharing with the other 4 lifeguards is right on the beach, about 20 min walk from our patrolling area. Not bad ay :)
The novel thing on this beach is the man-made concrete breakwaters every so far along the beach, 60m or so from shore. I guess theyre meant to protect the beach from erosion, or maybe rogue tsunamis?? Dunno if they'd do much to stop a tsunami really, but im not that anxious to find out!! They do make the occasional good surf break tho :) So we've been out on the rescue boards every day, doing some 'training'. Theres no surfboards here for me to borrow tho.
We also got the jetski out for more training a couple of days ago. Its been a little while since i was on one, but its pretty easy :) and fun too :)
The 2 young guys working with us both got to do rescues too, so they were pretty happy! None for me yet tho.... ive got my fingers crossed.... ;)
The beach has a nasty shorebreak along most of the length too - bit scary for the kiddies, but fun for me - sprint down the slope & fly through the air, just over the crest of the waves. Feel a bit like superman, for half a second! ;)
I experienced one of the standard occurences for foreigners in Japan on the weekend - being mobbed by school kids. They were a friendly bunch of 10 year old boys who'd just been swimming while i was down by the waters edge. I think they knew almost as much english as i do japanese!! My bilingual dictionary has certainly been getting a good workout during the quiet times, so my vocab is slowly growing... :)
ahhhhhh, i love this endless summer game :)
(theres a couple more photos online from here now too)
