I was pretty exicted when I found out that this week's theme was Pink Umbrellas. As one of my favourite possessions is a Pink Umbrella.
I was in Tokyo... and it was raining... fact it rained for 7 days straight. I never knew it rained so much in Tokyo. It was only when I noticed the huge umbrella lockers outside the major hotels and buildings that I realised... that and the fact the gardens were all so green.
My friend was attending a conference and I decided to take a day trip out to Mt Fuji. I didn't see it through the fog, but they assured me it was there. (I also didn't see it from the top of the second tallest building in Tokyo, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, or from the top of the Park Hyatt or indeed from the top of the Tokyo Tower, where its position was clearly indicated in Braille. (?))
And at a gift shop at the magnificent 1930's Fujiya Hotel in Hakone... I found a pink umbrella. I didn't need it as I had a very serviceable red umbrella, which had pretty much become one with the sky in Toyko from my viewpoint. I spent much of my time trying to hold onto the handle on the umbrella with the crook of my neck at an odd angle while I tried to support my camera and compose a shot in the rain... and I had got quite good at it.
And back home I hardly ever used an umbrella. There is one in the boot of my car, which seldom gets used. And there is the one I bought in Florence... but that is a story for another day.
The Pink Umbrella was exhorbitantly expensive. I would be too embarrassed to say how much I paid for it. I didn't need it, but I decided at the last minute I couldn't live without it.
It was the bane of my life for the next two weeks. Traveling around Japan, it was a tantalisingly 2cm too long to fit in my suitcase and therefore became an extra piece of luggage to lug around and guard against foul play.
It has never had even one droplet of rain touch its beautiful silk panels... and never will.
Once when one of my children, standing at the front door ready to walk out into a torrential downpour, asked me if I had an Umbrella. I said no.
”What about that one” was the response... as a finger was pointed to a gap in my wardrobe door, where the Umbrella hung smugly.
”You can't take it” I said flatly.