Lost bicycle...

So one day I had to go to the ward office to renew my health insurance.  Since I hate the bus and I love riding my bike, I decided on the latter.  The ward office is not very far from my house.  It's a straight ride down a main road.  After that I decided that I would jump on a train at Shin-Koiwa station and head to Ginza to pre-order iPhone 5C which was a special offer for older phone holders.

I rode to Shin-Koiwa and parked my bicycle in what I thought was a safe location.  Many other bikes were parked there and I figured I wouldn't be gone too long.  There is where things started off wrong.

At SoftBank Ginza, on that day there was only one English speaking staff member and she was beyond busy.  I waited forever until she finally came to help apologizing profusely the entire time.  The rest of the pre-ordering process was pretty painless but seemed to drag on forever.  I began to sweat, worrying if my bicycle was still where I parked it. 

Finally, I left SoftBank and returned to Shin-Koiwa some two hours after leaving it.  The bicycle was gone.  Shaky and near tears I headed to the Koban.  In broken Japanese (which becomes worse when I am upset) I tried to explain to the police officer that my bike was not where I left it.  After much agony and some tears, I learned that it was either stolen or picked up.  I received a paper with the location where picked up bikes were housed.  The place closed at 6.  The time was 6:05.  Exhausted, defeated, upset, I tried to stifle tears as I got in line for the bus which would take me home.  On the bus, I lost it and started sobbing and sobbed the whole way home.  Why do I always have to cry when I don't have tissues with me?  Besides the bicycle situation what upset me the most was not a single person offered me a tissue (surprising in the land of free tissues).  I can only assume it's because I am a foreigner.  This, of course, made me feel worse.

The next day Super Boyfriend called the place and determined that my bicycle was picked up and I could get it back for the low low price of only 3000円 which I paid albeit reluctantly, but in the end I knew it was my own fault.  I also cringed as I rode by 800円 bicycle parking lots on the way home.  Despite all that being on the bicycle again was the best feeling in the world.  I love She-Ra, Princess of Power.  She and I have been through a lot together and I'm not ready to give her up just yet.

This marks the 2347665760027518th time I've cried in Japan.  Awesome.  Even though it was a hard patch it had a happy ending.  All's well that ends well.  I've definitely learned my lesson about bicycle parking.