A salutary lesson about car hire in Japan

This morning was a bit difficult; after waking up with hair that appeared to have exploded, and a mouth like dessicated coconut, I had a nutritious breakfast of French fries and croissants. I didn't boast too much about how I'd got a taxi home last night, rather than walk for a couple of miles from the station to the flickering beacon of the ANA Gate Tower Hotel. Then we went over to the airport to pick up our hire car.

Unfortunately, to hire a car in Japan it's a legal requirement to have a Japanese translation of your license.

Goodbye, dear little car

I got up early. Well, I got up at 8, to turn off my alarm, then an hour later staggered upright and went to empty all the junk from the boot of my car. I missed some things – a kilo of dried mud, some bits of paper that had been in the car since before I purchased it in 2004, the bicycle tyre marks on the ceiling, the usual stuff, before driving it to Kent.

Selling out

I think I may have sold my car. This will be a wonderful thing after having it sit on my parents' drive for the last two years, dripping oil at irregular intervals. However, perhaps it will just be a pipe dream, and I'll return to Hong Kong still in possession of a car. This will be most inconvenient.