We’re in the usual Tokyo summer heat wave now. For deeply inscrutable reasons, eating eel is thought to give one stamina against the heat. And so Nana decided today to buy an unagi bentoh and have me deliver it to an old friend who is more or less housebound.

I was happy to make the delivery regardless of the 30C heat (it’s only a ride of 20 minutes or so), but I wanted Nana to make sure our friend was home before I covered myself from head to toe in sunblock. It took a couple of tries, but eventually we got through and confirmed he’d be there to receive the bentoh.

I haven’t ridden Dionysus in a few weeks, so I gave the tires a couple of bounces before setting out. The rear felt a bit soft, so I pumped it up until it was bouncing more firmly. Then Garmie gave me trouble, failing to lock onto the satellites. I restarted the unit once and waited a couple of minutes, but no dice. I gave up and set out, hoping Garmie would catch up before I really needed help.

I rode nearly 2km before Garmie finally woke up and smelled the satellites. And not a moment too soon. I’d come to a large road where I knew the right way to turn, but I was unsure of how soon the next turning would come. And the directions after that — rather blurry in my mind. I’d only come this way on two previous occasions.

Our friend was home and happy to see me, and very grateful for the bentoh. He invited me in, apologizing all the while that he couldn’t offer me even a canned coffee, as he had nothing in the house. (This may not have been hyperbole.) I stayed and made small talk for the time it took him to finish one cigarette, and then said I wanted to get home before it got much hotter.

I’d stopped Garmie and saved the ride before entering the friend’s house, so on the return I couldn’t just ask Garmie to take me back the way I came. I haven’t saved my home location in the unit, so I pondered for a moment and then called up my route from home to where I was, and asked Garmie to take me to the start of that route (i.e., home). (I could also have searched for my home on the map, but the way I chose involved less futzing about.)

Garmie let out a cheery chirp and led me on the way, and within a kilometer I was on a route I hadn’t taken before. I didn’t recognize where I was until I passed Nakano station, and even then I wasn’t sure of the way home until I was within a kilometer of my goal. I’ll have to compare the two routes and see which I prefer: the way home was more direct, but also involved more highly trafficked streets.