Riding High Thanks To The Bikes

It was another good year in 2018, largely thanks to Mrs. Kangaeroo, my bikes, my re-emerging ties with daughters and my mates.

I’ve settled into a good rhythm for living and starting to feel good about myself, so things can only get better.

Cop A Gander At These Rippers Too...

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    豪キャブラリー： Bikie

    1970・80年代のオーストラリア製「Mad Max」映画シリーズの影響によって一時外国ではオーストラリアと言えばワイルドなオートバイ・ギャングの印象が深かったと思う。 　しかし、本当はかなり違って、映画に出るようなギャングがなく警察の取り締まりが極力に厳しくそもそもバイク乗る人口が車に比べて極めて少ない。 　でも、存在するのは違いない。そして、アメリカなどと同じようなバイカーがいるが、独特オージー英語らしくバイカー(biker)と呼ばれるではなくバイキー(bikie)と言う。

  • Crapper Crisis

    We’re facing possibly one of the greatest calamities imaginable in a modern society outside of a natural disaster: our washlet is broken! On a bleak, cold and dark morning, I struggled to drag myself out of bed, but my rumbling bowels made it easier. I was horrified, though, to find that I couldn’t get the comforting spray between my cheeks that I have become accustomed to after bombing the bowl following decades of life in Japan. Hoping that it was nothing more than a mere glitch, I removed the washlet’s power plug and headed out on a ride, praying that the toilet seat would magically repair itself while I was…

  • 恐怖な国！蛇がワニを、クモがポッサムを食べちゃった！

    　オーストラリアって、怖い動物がたくさんいる国だ！ 　そして、この頃、その恐怖な状態の証になるような衝撃的な写真が出てきた。 　まずは、オーストラリア北部にオリーブ・パイソンという蛇が最も怖い動物のひとつであるワニを丸ごと食べている写真が撮られた！ 　そして、それだけじゃない！ 　今度は、豪州の真上から真下のタスマニア島へ移ろう。 　ある夫婦が旅行から帰ってきたら、まず見たのがこれだ！ 　でかいクモがなん夜行性動物であるポッサムを食べていた！信じられる？ 　オーストラリアにいると気をつけようね。 The stuff of nightmares! Husband and wife stumble across a spider eating an entire POSSUM Amazing photographs show the moment a python devours an entire crocodile in a murky swamp

  • Many Happy Returns

    Don’t be fooled: This post has absolutely nothing to do with birthdays. It’s about doing things again for the first time in a while. The whole day was a series of events reminding me of the past. We started by cleaning the estate garden. We live in what is basically a retirement village that has cheap management fees, and they’re cheap because residents have to keep the common gardens and grounds maintained. When the cleaning was over, it was back on the bike. And I was back with a camera bag on my back for the first time in many years. I had a delightful ride up to the end…

  • Far Canal! Had No Idea Boating Is This Much Fun!

    Tokyo is a city built on rivers and streams, and much of its history is built around waterways, yet it took until last weekend to finally enjoy a really decent yakatabune boat ride. I’ve been here for decades and been on cruises and even ridden in yakatabune, which are long, flat boats with tatami mat rooms used mostly for sightseeing cruises, but I hadn’t really cruised on one. I’d always associated them with geisha asobi, parties with geisha, and raucous, bawdy boat trips (and a look at the cruise options available will show that I’m not wrong), but that’s not really my thing these days. But I shouldn’t have put…

  • Winter is Here

    Although it was a glorious morning with clear, starry skies and then a wonderful sunrise, it was bloody freezing, confirming that the long-dreaded winter has arrived. Until now we have been blessed with unseasonal warmth: I wore shorts all weekend and the temperature topped 20 degrees on Saturday. I still wore shorts this morning, but my head and extremities were cold, and more core chilled by the time I arrived home. Time to rug up for the next few months.