So I was just thinking about the small column I used to write once a month for Matsuyama’s small newspaper The Ehime Weekly RIQ (never did find out what RIQ stood for). There were a few of us foreigners who took turns writing the column, which would be printed in English and translated into Japanese, a sort of Engurish Puraktis. I was thinking about how writing the 20-line (and later down to 16-line) micro-essays was good practice for blogging. Then I thought about my favorite topic, the New Haven Bed Race. Then I Googled the race only to find out that it had stopped running in 1990 but was now running again after 25-year hiatus, and this past Saturday made a comeback! Hoorah!

It is a cool way to make money for charity. Teams decorate their beds and uniforms according to a theme, so for example a hospital team might all be wearing scrubs and stethoscopes with the rider dressed as a patient. The registration this year is $300, which seems excessive to me, but it is for charity, so I guess an eight-person team can split it to make it less ridiculous. Then everybody lines up down on the New Have Common and race in heats.

Giggles all around.