The first time I had to empty my shoes before entering my home

Boy, did it rain this afternoon!
I was out on my bicycle, shopping in some used goods stores not too far from my home (about 2km away).
I found some good deals:

This bike was outisde at this old 'shed', full of crap, run by a few old guys.
I asked one of them how much they wanted for this sweet folding bike with front and rear shocks and a folding basket.
He told me it was "sold out" (I think that's his way of saying he has already sold it).
Damn.

Oh well.

At another place, I picked up a head torch.
"What the fudge is a head torch?", you may ask. Or you may not.
A head torch is a torch that is worn around the head, via elastic straps.
Here's a pic of the one I bought.
I bought it for 1,300yen.
Not cheap, not expensive.
It seems to work okay.
Why buy this thing?
Well, on 6th July, I plan to mount the Fuji.
Yes, I am going up the biggest live volcano in Japan. Heck, the 12th biggest in the world! I plan to go up at night and catch the sunrise in the morning.
Hope the weather holds - unlike today.

The next place I went to was the Treasure Factory.
This place had some good deals. Here are the best:

I liked this fridge, very much.
It's only 8,800yen.
It comes with a 6 month guarantee.
I'm thinking of using it as a second fridge or, more specifically, a 'beer fridge'.
Every guy needs one. I'll cover it in beer bottle caps on small magnets and stock it ful of my favourite booze! Cool!
Here's a photo of the inside. You can see I can stand large bottles inside the door on the bottom and normal 350ml bottles half way up.
I can also fill the insde with a combination of cans and bottles. Awesome!!! I'd put the power on low to keep the beer at a nice cool but not too cold temperature.
For quick extra cooling, I can put a bottle or two of my choice into the small freezer compartment and hey presto! However, most of the beer I like to drink is of the weissen or ale or stout variety, so there's no need to cool those babies too much.

This is a little similar (same price, too) to a wine cooler I found in another recycle store. This one also had a guarantee of 6 months, but it is smaller.
However, it has a glass door, so you can see the booze inside! I'm not sure if it can cool the beer enough, as it is designed for wine and so may only go down to 10C, which is not too bad.




Hmmm... decisions...

I did buy two things.
The first was this barbecue:

It looks okay.
I found an identical one in the same store for 1500yen. Not bad.
However, you can see the rpice tag on this baby - 300yen!
Wow! I pulled it out of the box to check the condition and see if anything was missing. Everything was there and in very good condition (just a little burned patch in the centre but it will rub off no problem).

The other bargain I found was this:

It's a cooler bag. It's a designer label (but that is NOT why I bought it!). It's a nice convenient size. It can fit 6 or maybe 8 cans. It has a divider than can also be placed over the top to aid insulation. It has a front pouch which can hold nuts and snacks or other small things. It also has a carrying handle and a shouler strap.
Sweet. How much?
300yen. I thank you.

Well, I came out of the last store and looked at the clouds.
They were ominous, to say the least.
I figured I'd better get home.
As I was crossing a bridge, I took this photo:
The city up ahead is Kawasaki.
It's not very far away but you can see the clouds have already darkened the area whare I was standing. Nasty.

Soon after then, the clouds opeened up and the rain came.
Boy, did it come down.
It was as if the heavens themselves were projectile vomitting the very oceans onto my head.
I managed to get home but I was totally and utterly drenched.
Like the heading of this post, it was the first time that I have had to empty my shoes and wring out my socks before entering my home. I put my tousers in the washing machine to spin dry. My shoes are still wet.
I think it has finally stopped raining now.
We had about 70mm in one hour.