Thursday, April 08, 2010

On duty

Yesterday I met police officers and city officials and bowed hundreds of times and said "Yoroshiku ongegai shimasu." "Please be so kind as to regard me favorably." (Take my word for it. That's what you say in any and all situations in Japan.) I am officially a crosswalk guard.

And this morning I finished my first hour of crosswalk duty. It takes me as long to get dressed as it does to do the duty (not true but it seems like it). I HOPE that this is the last picture of me dressed as a crosswalk guard for awhile on this blog. Tetsu seemed to think it necessary to record my leaving for the historic event.

The uniform is still too large and yes I called the city hall and asked if they could replace it with a smaller size but no, they can't. I've asked a seamstress friend to come and look at it today but she just laughed when she saw the pictures on my blog and told me to call the city hall. I may or may not be on the sewing machine this afternoon trying to take in a few seams...

And I've found another uniform glitch. You cat owners will probably sympathise with me when I say that I am somewhat limited when wearing clothes. (Now you know why I only wear jeans.) For one, I don't wear black. I would like to wear black because it is supposed to be slenderizing but I don't unless I want a cloud of cat hairs on my rear end. There are also some fabrics that catch the cat hair more than others so I go around in stores running my fingers over fabric trying to determine what is and is not cat proof.

My uniform is NOT cat proof. I have tried the uniform on twice. It has been hanging on a hanger in the corner of the room. Even so when I put it on this morning Tetsu had to go over me with the sticky roller. I doubt that he is going to do this for me every morning. And when I came back from duty I find cat hair "clouds" here and there UNDER the jacket. How did they get there? My crosswalk guard uniform ATTRACTS cat hair!

Still, all the children safely made it across the crosswalk this morning with me blowing my whistle and waving my flag. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

4 comments:

Jan said...

Oh Tanya, what a new direction your life is taking! I'll bet Tetsu enjoys running the lint roller across your posterior, heheh....

Amanda said...

The sticky roller has a permanent home in our house too; I'm like you, never wear anything decent in the house because of cat hairs. We've only got the one, but I've never had a cat that moults as much as she does before. I groom her every day but it doesn't seem to make much difference. Best wishes for the new job.

Allie said...

Tanya you look adorable in that hat! But oh dear your uniform isn't cat-proof - go take a look at my blog, see the lint brush I found, and tell me if you have those in Japan. If not, I'll send you one. They are so superior to the sticky rollers.

Sew Create It - Jane said...

You look adorable in your car with your hat and uniform...I bet Tetsu is very proud!