I've mentioned before (in my Kamakura post) that my night vision isn't that great. I know this and even accept it, but apparently, my subconscious feels the need to remind me of it every once in a while.
I've ridden home from the Isesaki train station at night a number of times now, and it's lit rather decently, so I thought I knew my way around it alright. To get from the bike park to the road, you have to cross a street and get up on the sidewalk. Well, I forgot that the sidewalk had a curb to it; I saw it too late and plowed right into it. I'm not even sure if I had time to hit the brakes. One moment, I was thinking, "Oh, crap, I'm going to hit that curb, I should do something about it," and the next, I was flying off my bike. I always thought that flying over handlebars was an exaggeration, but it turns out that it's entirely possible if you hit something head on. I didn't exactly shoot over the handlebars, but I did get kinda flung over them, to painful results. Of course, I landed heavily on my knees, but my right foot got caught on the pedal and sort of broke my fall on that side. It also pulled my shoe off.
My initial reaction to this was typical for me: I laughed uproariously at my complete and total idiocy. Yes, when I injure myself, I laugh. A string of expletives also came out as I berated myself, but mostly I laughed. I also inspected the knees of my jeans because I could feel that my knees were badly damaged and I was wearing my favorite pair. Miraculously, they came through unscathed. My knees themselves were not so lucky, especially my left one. I could feel dampness and immediate swelling.
I was still gathering my wits about me when I noticed two young Japanese men approaching slowly on their own bikes. I didn't think I was able to get myself up yet, so I tried to scoot out of the way to let them pass. I can only imagine what they were thinking (crazy drunk foreigner, probably - I was, after all, sitting on the sidewalk with only one shoe and laughing about the fact that I'd just crashed), but they very kindly stopped to help me. One them picked up my bike and inspected it for damages while the other helped me up. They were very nice, and one of them pointed out my completely useless light and kept saying, "Broke? Broke? Need fix." I'm not sure if he thought it was broken in the fall or if he was telling me to get it fixed (and therefore avoid any further accidents), but I appreciated the concern. I've been meaning to get it fixed ever since I got the bike.
They asked me several times if I was alright, and after making a show of inspecting myself and thanking them profusely in Japanese (which is one thing I can do and do well - they certainly appreciated it and shook their heads and said, "no problem, it's ok, it's ok"), they continued on their way. I took a few more moments to collect myself before setting off on my journey home, which takes about 20 minutes.
I immediately noticed that my handlebars were a bit cockeyed, and my tires were definitely a little flatter than before. There wasn't enough light to really see how bad the damage is, so I'll have to do a more thorough inspection in the morning. I'll probably have to take it to Cainz Home and get some work done on it. The least I should do is get that stupid light fixed.
That was the least of my problems, though. It rained the past two days, and now that lovely mountain wind is blowing through the valley, and I AM SO SICK OF IT THAT I COULD SCREAM. My students just shrug and say, "That's Gunma!" but they're not out riding their bikes around in it, are they (well, maybe Naofumi-san is, but he's a road racer and is therefore more capable of dealing with such conditions, and when I mention the weather, he just grimaces and complains about it too). It's bad enough when my knees don't hurt, but I thought I was going to pass out from sheer exhaustion. However, this did assure me that my knee hadn't been completely destroyed; I could still muster some form of locomotion, which I doubt would be possible if I'd broken my kneecap.
Currently, I am in great pain, so knowing that I was able to walk and ride on it comforts me. The numbness in my knee (either from the initial pain or the incredible cold) has worn off, and great bolts of agony rip down my knee into my leg whenever I move. I have a very beautiful strawberry forming on that left knee, and it's swelling to a nice size. My right knee is a little skinned and swollen, but it's otherwise fine. It might have a little bruising tomorrow, but I'm sure the left one will be the show stealer. Well, at least I'll have a story to tell my students.
Speaking of students, I do have some bad news about GEOS Isesaki, but I feel that I've had enough hardships for tonight, and I don't really want to write about it. Tomorrow, I'll get to it. Right now, I just want to eat a lot of chocolate and watch a movie or something that doesn't require a lot of my energy.
And, just for the sake of entertainment, chew on this: I slept through an earthquake this morning. Well, not exactly slept - it did wake me up. At first, I thought my (already very strange) dream was getting weirder, and then I realized I was awake. It wasn't strong at all, just a weak shaking, like someone picking up the apartment building and jostling it about. I heard some dishes clanking about in the sink, but that was it. It didn't last very long; I'm not entirely sure because I was half-asleep. I also feel immediately back to sleep when I heard birds start singing again.
When I woke up, I went online to see what I could find about it, mostly to prove to myself that it wasn't a dream. An earthquake did indeed occur, just a little before 7am, approximately 18 miles off the coast and of 5.8 magnitude. Apparently, no damages were reported.
It turns out that this is not the first earthquake since I arrived in Japan: there was one in December too, also off the coast and would probably have been felt inland. I do not recall this at all.
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