Day 33 (August 17): In Higashi Maizuru (東舞鶴市） (by train) or "It's the TIRE, stupid!"

Day 33. Tuesday, August 17, 2010. 8:30 pm.In Higashi Maizuru, Kyoto-Fu.

Had b'fast at the hotel, loaded the bicycle and discovered it was flat. Took it to the shop recommended by Fujii-san y'day, but, according to the mother, the son wouldn't return until the afternoon. However, the big variety store across the street had a bicycle department. I left the bicycle in the hands of one of the staff with instructions to fix the flat and patch two other tubes as well. So it seems he did and I was finally on my way out of town... 500 m at least. Flat. Turned around. Clerk most sorry. Repairs it again, but doesn't have a new tire to replace the one I considered the source of the puncture problem. Very well, no tire, but I set out once more for the junction with Route 9. One and a half kilometers from the shop the tire becomes mushy. Ride back to the train station, stow the bags in lockers, remove the rear wheel, lock the overturned bicycle and take the train 30 minutes to Higashi Maizuru only to find that Tanaka's bike shop is closed every Tuesday. Check into "Wave Business Hotel" at 2:00 pm. Eat, nap, take a walk to the sea front after dark. Same old unwatchable rubbish on TV. Listen to "Brandenburg Concerto #4" and continue the blog.
One more memory from y'day: the first flat happened just as I was entering a village situated on the same stream the road has been following. I pushed the bike over into a parking area in front of a small garage and at once removed the wheel. It was then that I discovered that Matsunaga (who repaired my bicycle in Kyoto) had tightened the exterior nut holding the valve upright. I usually don't bother, just tightening it without a tool. Consequently I had no tool to loosen the nut. Dou shiyo? ("What to do?") There was a little post office across the road so I entered and asked if they had any tools. A male clerk hunted around and came up with a small wrench of the right size and, presto, with the lightest turn the nut loosen. An all-service PO to be sure. I'll never know if it was the fact that I have, and will forever have, a foreign face that compelled the PO staff to help, but there seemed to be an immediate, unquestioning desire to assist someone in need that I assume arose from earliest acculturation rather than any job training. Can such an attitude be taught explicitly or must it be experienced and internalized throughout early life until it becomes second nature? Could it possibly be first nature which is "unlearned" as one grows up? But the tool was put in my hand just when I needed it.