Rescue Mission...

We had a great day out at Kamakura (see previous post); we visited loads of important temples, the great Buddha, even the beach. It was a good day; all that was left was to get on the train home at the right time to make it in time for training which started at 8pm. We worked out that if we boarded the train at 6pm at Kamakura-Eki, we would arrive at Wado-Eki and still have time to get changed and to the dojo. No problem.

The journey home couldn’t be simpler, the ‘Shonan-Shinjuku line’ goes all the way from Kamakura to Kuki, and so there is no need to change trains. We have to change at Kuki for a train to Wado, but that’s only a 3 minute train journey. As we were getting on the train near the start of its journey, we were able to get seats (trains can get filled to capacity during rush hours), so this made the journey a little easier. We sat down, plugged our IPod’s in and dozed off.

When we got to Kuki, we got up and headed towards the gate. As I stepped off the train I reached for my phone to check the time, but the phone wasn’t in my pocket. It was obvious that I’d left it on the train, and I just had time to see the train doors close and the train leave the station.

Amy, always quick thinking, pulled out her dictionary and started looking up the words for ‘phone, left on train’ etc... And we headed up to speak to the ticket guy in the station. The guy was very helpful, he understood straight away what I had done, he checked the train schedule and explained that the train would finish at Koganei-Eki at 9pm, and would be cleaned by 9.30pm. If there was anything left on the train, it would be found then and handed in. He asked for a contact number, so with both Richard and Lawrence already in Canada, I gave him Arakawa Sensei’ number. He said he would call at 9.30pm tonight.

We said our thanks and headed to the platform for Wado, Amy laughing at my stupidity. When we got home, I got cleaned up and headed for the dojo. When I got their Sensei was in the middle of teaching the Adult class, so I went into the small office and checked my email while I waited. After the lesson, I explained the problem to Sensei. He was really helpful, he called my phone and left a voicemail message and then he started to look up the number for AU, the phone network in order to block the phone. Whilst he was looking, his mobile phone rang; it was the guy from the station. He explained that my phone had been found at Koganei-Eki and that I could collect it myself or they could post it out. I agreed to collect it on the next morning. Sensei was very happy for me; he shook my hand as he said that I was very lucky. I agreed.

The rescue operation the next morning was very straight forward, all I had to do was go to Koganei-Eki which is about 1 hour from Kuki, pick up my phone, and come home. Hopefully I won’t have to repeat this again!


Carl