元カレと東京のホテルでイタリアンのコースランチを堪能した二日後。

夫が「たまに昼飲みに行こうよ、安くていい店があるんだ」と誘ってきた。

↓元カレとのランチの話はこちら

そんなにお酒も好きじゃないし、旅の疲れもあって家でゆっくりしたいところだったけど、後ろめたい気持ちもあって無下に断るわけにもいかず、行ってみることにした。

2人で歩いて駅まで行って、電車に乗って、また少し歩いて繁華街へ。

一応、ホテルの1階にある居酒屋。

子育てもひと段落すると、夫婦で昼間に飲みたくなる人たちが一定数いるのか、14時オープンのその店内を見渡すと、お客さんは私たちより少し年齢層が上に見えるご夫婦ばかり。ビールで乾杯し、つまみを何品か注文した。

夫とふたりで飲みに来たのは、何年振りだろう。多分かれこれ、20年ぶりくらいだろうか。

それにしても、ホテルの1階とは思えない品のない店。デカデカと「コンビニより安い　生ビール190円」と書いてある紙が貼られている。

43階のイタリアンレストランとは雲泥の差、天と地、月とスッポン、提灯に釣鐘。

「振れ幅、激しすぎるでしょ」と心の中でつぶやく。

高級なイタリアンレストランは、確かに贅沢な気持ちにさせるけど、コース料理は私には少し重すぎた。使い慣れないカトラリーも、なんだか気疲れしたし。安い居酒屋の方が気楽で楽しい。お腹がいっぱいなら、デザートなんて注文しなければ済むんだし。私にはこっちの方が合ってる。そんな気がした。

夫は2年後にはまた単身赴任になるから、今のうちにふたりで出かけたいと思っていると話した。

Two days after enjoying an Italian course lunch with my ex-boyfriend at a hotel in Tokyo. My husband invited me out, saying, "Let's go for day drinking for a change. I know a great, cheap place." ↓ Read about the lunch with my ex here I'm not a big drinker, and with the fatigue from my trip, I really just wanted to relax at home. But feeling a twinge of guilt, I couldn't just flatly turn him down, so I decided to go. The two of us walked to the station, took the train, and walked a bit further into the downtown area. It was an izakaya, technically located on the first floor of a hotel. Perhaps there are plenty of couples who like to go drinking in the afternoon once they're done raising kids; looking around the place, which had just opened at 2:00 p.m., the customers were all couples who appeared slightly older than us. We toasted with beer and ordered a few appetizers. How many years had it been since my husband and I last went out drinking together? It had probably been about twenty years, give or take. Still, it was such an unrefined place, you’d never guess it was on the ground floor of a hotel. There was a sign plastered up in huge letters reading: "Cheaper than a convenience store! Draft beer: ¥190." It was like night and day compared to that 43rd-floor Italian restaurant—worlds apart, apples and oranges. "Talk about extreme whiplash," I muttered to myself. While a high-end Italian restaurant certainly makes you feel pampered, a full-course meal was a bit too heavy for me. All that unfamiliar cutlery was somewhat exhausting, too. A cheap izakaya was so much more relaxing and fun. After all, if you're full, you simply don't have to order dessert. This place suited me better. Or at least, that's how it felt. My husband told me that since he'd be transferred away on a solo assignment again in two years, he wanted to go out together as much as possible while he was still here.