Fabulously Fulfilling But Frenetically Flat Out

31 October 2025

We’ve had an amazingly busy past few weeks packing in all sorts of activities in very little time. It has been frenetic, but fun.

Probably the highlight was heading into Odaiba to see a show by Damiano David, the lead singer of Maneskin on a solo tour of Japan. I wasn’t keen on going, but Mrs. Kangaeroo dragged me there and I’m glad she did. David put on a good show and I was up and dancing by the end of the night.

We also got a visit from Uyu, the border collie, who stayed a few days and was her typically snarly self. She melted my heart with her devotion to me that seemed to be total only for her to pretend I didn’t exist as soon as her mum and dad showed up to collect her. Bloody ingrate!

And I also got my first chance to head into the mountains on my bike for a while. It was a great time and the weather in the first two-thirds of October was sublime (after which the rains started). I made my fifth assault on Iriyama Pass this year but the first to get over it thanks to a combination of logger absence (and presence, which had blocked earlier attempts) and time constraints.