There are moments in life that you review later and think, did that really happen? Have I blown it out of all proportion and will anyone believe me when I tell them about it. Today was one of those days. I woke pretty early and headed out for a run to the beach which is a 7km round trip, this is part of my ‘getting more out of each day’ plan so it was at least a good start. It’s a bit cooler here today and there is in fact the treat of.. wait for it.. . rain! I’ve done this run a few times now and I have to say it’s lovely not to have anyone Kokusai Dori in the morning…except the same few people walking their dogs. I love all dogs, but one many has a huge Akita who seems to trot along on his tip toes every morning. I say every morning, I’ve seen him 3 times so I can’t really say that he is regular on our route. In any case, it seems that we share the same turn around point which the Akita definitely knows and so jumps onto the wall by the beach and walks along to the end, gets fed a few treats, walks back to the start of the wall gets more treats and they head home. Today Akita dog decided he wanted treats at the half way points and went into a sulk when there were none forthcoming. A proper all out, arse to the wall, “I’m not moving until I get treats” sulk. I would guess his master has seen this as he headed to the end of the wall and disappeared around the corner. Now every bone in my body wanted to hug this dog but I decided it wasn’t a good idea as sulking pooch watched the last view of his master as he left the park. I swear I saw the decision making process of the pooch who stood up, looked left, right and then started to pace a few feet up and down the wall whilst deciding what to do. There were a few whimpers that seemed to me to say, ‘what the hell? You left me… Come back!’

Now it has to be said that this was not the standout moment of  the day, but it was very cute all the same. If you must know, the owner decided to come back and whistle for his pooch, who came flying off the wall and bounded to his Human for, yup, a treat.

Dog 1. Human 0.

I’ve a great morning routine now and after breakfast it was off to the dojo for the morning session, which for me focused on kumite and bag work. The plan for the afternoon was to hire a bike and strike out of Naha in an effort to see more of the island. That took me to the park in Urasoe and my eternal hut to see one of these famous Habu Snakes in their native environment. Alas despite loads of signs there were no Habu to be seen.

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At this point in the day I realised that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast and so I was delighted to hear that DJ was also in the same boat so we headed to a wee restaurant in the market and continued our tour of their menu!

After getting home and having a quick nap it was back to the dojo for the evening session, Higaonna Sensei was there and was working with a number of students who were preparing for the grading tomorrow. Sensei watched the work that people were doing (for some reason my entire ability to even walk nevermind do Karate disappears when I can feel that he is watching) and was kind enough to help with pointers and improvement areas.  Now it may well be that my name is on my suit, but he called me by name… This was the great moment of the day.