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Weather: cloudy, chilly
Dinner: Oden @ Shikiyu-jin, Ponto-cho, Kyoto
Stayed @ Mitusi Garden Hotel, shijo
Took the bullet train to Kyoto at 2:06, arriving at 4/26. Took a walk at night to Karasuma, then to Ponto-cho.

We have been up since 3:30 in the morning, when our son in Massachusetts woke us up with a telephone call.

Another flood in the basement with one foot of water! It sounded like the ejection pump that should have prevented the flooding failed during the night. Is it possible to have a flood only one year after installing the pump, buying new furniture, exercise machines, and remodeling the whole basement?

After the first shock that made us almost cry, we gave him a few instructions, including such things as emptying the file cabinet in my study that got wet, calling the flood cleaning business, and calling the oil company to check the furnace, while I called the insurance company, the cleaning helper to explain the situation, contacting the hotel in Kyoto to cancel tonight’s stay, etc. etc.

Fortunately my son was quite levelheaded, and had already covered more than we expected. Furthermore, almost all the files that got wet were not as critical as last time; I could tell him to throw a lot of them away instead of trying to dry them out.

Right now we are waiting for the Northwest Airlines office to open, t see whether or not I can shorten my trip and go back to the US next week. I thought of going back immediately but decided at least to go down to Kagoshima to see my parents.

This is an emergency, but it is not a life-and-death situation, not like the cancer or today’s shooting rampage at Virginia Tech. In a very strange way, both Mark and I are tranquil and assessing calmly the situation.

We are extremely thankful and proud that our son seems to be handling the situation quite well. He is a grown-up!