The Times They Are A Changin’

After many years of stabliity, we got a shock to the system as the year started when our coordinating staff all quit as one, leaving us completely undermanned. Our current manager asked me to take over, but I don’t ever want to work in management again, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

In better news, daily commuting my cycling has become a permanent part of my life now, providing a wonderful source of stabilty amid the turmoil.

I wish all the best to T****, Y**** and R***, and thanks for everything you’ve done.

Cop A Gander At These Rippers Too...

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    No Making A Blue When It Comes To Big Red

    As anyone who knows Australian slang could tell you, anything with a hue as azure as the latest bike in my fleet could only possibly be given a name like Big Red. So that’s exactly what it got, and that’s not making a blue in the slightest. Big Red came to us in a bit of an accident. Someone stole the all-terrain, all-weather bike I’d built up to trek across the country (and then it returned four months later in the exact place it had been taken from). Mrs. Kangaeroo felt pity for me that my efforts (and money) had gone to waste and let me buy Big Red secondhand…

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    Panasonic Super Kangaroos Pouched A History With Plenty Of Bounce

    For decades, Japan had a professional basketball team called the Super Kangaroos, and true to the team’s name, it made great leaps at times. The Matsushita Electric Super Kangaroos, which would later be renamed the Panasonic Super Kangaroos, were founded in 1951 and competed in Japan’s top company and professional leagues, the old company-based national competitions, JBL Super League from 2000 to 2007 and then the successor Japan Basketball League where it would eventually relocate and change its name to the Wakayama Panasonic Trians. The Super Kangaroos would win 13 league championships throughout its existence in various top flight competitions. Sadly, the team never made it to the bj league,…

  • Rip-snorter, ripper/最高

    Rip-snorter, ripper Australian English A superlative used to mean something is great, fantastic or wonderful. 日本語 最高や素晴らしいものまたはこと。気持ちを強調する表現。日本語の「立派」をそのままオージー英語（豪語）で使ってもおかしくない！ちなみに、rip-snorterとripperは、同意味であるが、rip-snorterのほうがさらに強調の気持ちを込める。 Plain English Awesome, brilliant. Strine Dictionary

  • Summertime Blues….er, Browns?

    Summer in Tokyo this year was just how I like it: boiling hot and dry, probably the driest I have experienced in 35 years of living in the Japanese capital. But while I loved the heat, my garden in Kangaeroo Corner had mixed feelings, especially the lawn that went from vibrant green to burned brown. Trees thrived! Most delightedly, the jacaranda we had written off as dead in the spring powered back into life and is now one of the tallest growths on the block. The “branch” silver wattle goes from strength to strength and the golden wattle beside it is flourishing. All the grevilleas, bottle brush and myrtles grew…