Floor Plan Notebook

When I was in elementary school, I loved floor plan flyers.
Enter the front door, open the door on the right and it's the living room, the left is a western-style room, straight ahead is the toilet, go up the stairs and there are three western-style rooms—where should I make my room?
Tracing the flyer with my finger, I would daydream about such things.

I don't remember what grade I was in, but new houses started popping up on the street behind ours.
Houses with walls and roofs in different colors and bay windows, popping up one after another.
Lush green lawns and rose arches.
The living room must have hardwood floors, and the door knobs probably aren't round, but that kind you grab and tilt.
Thinking this, I would go out of my way to stare at other people's houses on my way home.

One time, I told my mother, "I want us to have a bay window too."
"I like the big window that lets me step right out into the garden, so I like it the way it is,"
she said, turning me down.
Well then, could we at least get hardwood floors?
And, not round door knobs, but that stylish kind you grab and tilt...
I said, but she rejected everything, saying "I like carpet" and "It's better if door knobs turn."

Since I had no choice, I played with the flyers.
I even tried drawing them myself.
When I went to friends' houses, I looked at the floors and door knobs before the toys.

What a strange child.

We had a picture book like this at home.

A picture book by Kako Satoshi, known for "Crow Bread Shop." He also wrote various science picture books, and this one is about what a house actually is.
It starts with building a roof to keep out the rain and sun, then walls are built, and floors are laid.
Then this and that are added, and a kitchen for eating is made.

My imagination runs wild.
No, no, we still need a toilet, a bath, and a place to sleep, right? And then, ta-da.

As a child, the lack of stairs bothered me strangely.
I wanted to trace the stairs with my finger to go up... maybe I should put a ladder in the living room.

Even now that I'm an adult, if a floor plan flyer comes, I trace it with my finger and daydream.
Also, books I read when I don't have the energy to read text are also about floor plans.

This one features all sorts of floor plans.
For example, this one...

1

Or something like this,

2

And then,

3

Like this one.

There are so many floor plans that make you want to blurt out a retort.

4

Actually, at the bottom of the book, there is a comment from the author, Wakako Sato.

I wonder if I'll get in trouble for posting so many images.
If anyone knowledgeable is out there, please let me know.

This Monday, Potepota-san introduced me in this article.
I'm so happy.
Potepota-san always goes to check out the Noter I introduce right away.
They seem to like solving mysteries and analysis, so I often see them in Renzu-san's comment section.
I find myself competing with them in a way, thinking, 'I have to solve the mystery before Potepota-chan!!' (personally).
It's fun.
What's more, they even wrote in this article that they read the picture book I previously introduced in Kinokoro-san's [Childlike Reading].
I'm incredibly happy.

I couldn't help but want to introduce this book to Potepota-san, saying, 'This is interesting too.'

Lots of images.
I might have to delete it if it violates something.
If that happens, I'll write an introduction article for Potepota-san again 😂

By the way, one more thing.
Potepota-san.
Recently, I found an interesting person in Kaonashi-san's article.

It's Eri Nagano-san, a Kōbunshūsha calligraphy teacher.
With her writing style that really shines and hiragana problems that captivate children, I found myself staring at the screen during my lunch break at work, trying to solve them too.
The 'o's that looked the same at first started to show differences as I stared at them.
Oh, oh, I see.
This is it!!
I thought, and went for the answer.

I was wrong.
Ugh...
I wonder if Potepota-san can get it right.

I liked this article too.
The analogies were so funny that I copied them and even went to the comment section.
And, moral lessons are casually woven into the talk about calligraphy.
What a wonderful teacher.
I'm enjoying reading her posts while thinking that.

***

It was around the time I was becoming a junior high student.
My family decided to turn our living room into a hardwood floor.
My father's older brother, who lives nearby, is a carpenter, so they said they would ask him to do it.
When the day came and I returned home, I expected my dream hardwood floor 🎵
It's not a traditional living room anymore.
It's a living room now~ 🎵
I returned home feeling excited.
What I saw was,
a living room with a square hole in it.
The area that could be called hardwood was just a tiny bit around the edges.
When I asked my mother what this was, she said that if you fit a floor heating mat in there, it would be flat, and the cost of the hardwood would be cheaper. Besides, you wouldn't see it anyway if you laid down a carpet.

Something is wrong.
Something is just not right.
Mother.

That is not what flooring is supposed to be.
Mother.

Also, when I said I wanted Kentucky Fried Chicken, you served me deep-fried chicken drumettes, but that is not Kentucky, Mother.

You put shiitake mushrooms, carrots, shirataki noodles, onions, and chicken in the chicken and egg bowl, but onions and chicken are enough, Mother.

I heard that when my brother had a cold, you made him wear heavy clothes and put him in the kotatsu, which caused him to have a seizure and be taken away by ambulance; that is going too far, Mother.

When the children went to stay over when they were small, the way you piled blankets and futons on them was just too heavy, Mother.

The children, who usually toss and turn, could not move a single millimeter, Mother.

The cocoa you served Taro-kun saying it might be lukewarm was way too hot, Mother.

Even though I said, "It's hot!!", I wish you wouldn't say, "See, it was cold, wasn't it?" and reheat it, Mother.

Taro-kun said, "Grandma was her usual self and doing well," Mother.

Flooring is not something where you just fill in the four corners, Mother.

Even now, there is flooring with holes in it at my parents' house.

If you peel back the carpet, there is a floor heating mat perfectly fitted into the holey flooring.

Something,

Something,

is always different.

Mother.

*Thumbnail image is from page 113 of "Floor Plan Notebook" by Wakako Sato

#ChildlikeReading
#FlippingThroughEssays