Daily Life

Forget Tiptoeing thru Tulips and Plod thru Paddies

Normally, we’d be smack-bang in the middle of the rainy season by now (and we are, officially), but the skies have held off for the past few days, providing great cycling weather which has made for some wonderful rides, including this morning’s through the rice paddies of outer suburban Tokyo.

May seemed a little cooler and damper than usual this year, and all sorts of appointments meant I wasn’t able to ride as much as I would have liked.

June is a hard month for cycling as there is so much rain.

I have pretty much given up on riding in the rain if possible, now, due to the rapid decline in my eyesight.

Rain is on the horizon from tomorrow onward, so I’m gonna try and get in as much riding before then as I can.

Without my regular morning meeting today, I could go the extra few kilometers involved in the old Noborito loop that used to be my morning staple until we moved a couple of years ago.

Glorious blue skies accompanied me on that trip.

And then I came home in time to prepare for the dreaded monthly trip to the dentist for periodontal treatment.

But I’d been looking forward to today’s ride, as I would get to go through a satoyama, a strip of untamed land, and knew the rice fields would be filled with water to grow the crop.

This is always a delightfully photogenic season and the best chance I would have to get out in the fields with a bike this season.

I regretted not taking a proper camera, but still got lots of decent shots.