Riding in the morning now is cold, dark and gloomy….kinda like the state of my mind for quite some time now. But, and I guess this is like my mentality, too, there’s also an exquisite beauty to the late autumn mornings. Mists over the Tama River are breathtaking (that could be weight and age, though!). And the gradation of the sky as the sun prepares to rise is a delight, glowing a reddish orange at the horizon and slowly darkening into a deep blue, almost black the higher it goes. The pampas grass looks like a pink blanket over the…
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Not much is going well (except rude good health), but I got a lucky break today and feel pretty chuffed about it. Following the morning’s customary ride, I got home and discovered the kangaroo badge I had velcroed to my bike saddle bag just two days ago was gone. I kicked myself with the reminder of my incredible propensity for breaking, losing, damaging or otherwise rendering unusable just about anything I ever get my hands on. Then, I happened to look at Strava and noticed that a follower had posted a photo of the lost badge! “You bloody ripper,” I…
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This morning’s ride was like being on another planet. For a brief instant, it seemed like I was riding into one of those scenes of other worlds in outer space that used to be depicted on the covers of pulp sci-fi books. Unseasonal warmth continues and I still manage to wear a summer kit in the pre-dawn hours one third of the way through November: a time when I’m usually in full-fingered gloves and with at least a vest or long-sleeved summer jersey. Nice! Bring on the global warming (with apologies to the younger generations who’re gonna have to deal…
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My normal morning ride was rudely interrupted today when I had to stop at a set of traffic lights I usually only use for reference because there were dozens of cops loitering there. Japanese authorities have a tendency to over-react, so even though there were at least 30 officers, several patrol cars, an ambulance, paramedics and firefighters hanging around the Hino Bridge area, I didn’t think too much of it. I did think it a little strange that the bike path was roped off and cops mounting guard and patrolling on foot. It was only after discovering news on Facebook…
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Today is Dino (the dinosaur)’s third birthday. Our little rosy-faced lovebird has been with us for three years, and has been pretty much a constant companion since the early days of the pandemic. She is my best mate, but at the same time, the bane of my life. She demands ceaseless attention, unless she’s laid a few eggs or found herself some paper. If she has laid, as she did to mark her third birthday, she tends to sit on the eggs in a corner of her cage. If she’s about to lay, the preceding couple of weeks are nearly…
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So, I pledged to myself to revert this blog to it’s original role of telling funny and interesting tales related to either Japan or Australia, I wasn’t totally honest to myself, which is always the case when convenient to do so. Not that it’s a despicable or harmful lie, but the morning was too wonderful to let go undocumented this morning, so it’s another set of cycling sunrises. My colleague similarly subjected to an unjustifiably huge pay cut announced his imminent departure yesterday with no word of a replacement, which I am assuming means a drastic increase in workload. In…
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After a few months of being jealous of my neighbors for enabling their lawns to evade the effects of the blistering hot summer, I woke this morning to find myself transforming from being green with envy to being verdant with chlorophyll! Kangaeroo Corner’s lawn, which started May in a generally strong state albeit being slightly patchy, took a drastic turn for the worst in early June. At what should have been the onset of the rainy season, I made the mistake of heavily fertilizing the warn to boost its strength for what I expected would be a hot and wet…
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I’ve struggled to adjust to the realities of life over the past few weeks, but waking on this holiday morning and seeing tiny spots of green sprouting up where my lawn used to be has raised my spirits infinitely, even if not leaving me quite as chilled out as a kangaroo playing air guitar. While on the topic, I’ll stick with the good news. The onerous (and highly costly) process of getting an Australian passport for my daughter was finally completed. Even then it had been a bumpy ride, fighting with my daughter over instructions to fulfill the extremely demanding…
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I’d love to be able to create a bike naturally, and would even be willing to go to term with it inside a womb if need be. (I would need to get a womb first, of course). But it ain’t gonna happen. And like a lot in life, being able to give birth to bicycles is just one of the many things that don’t turn out how I want them to be. Expectations are never kind, particularly so when they are unfulfilled. I guess I have failed to meet expectations of me, and am even guiltier of expecting more of…
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Lots of life stuff is going on and even though I have a lot of “free” time, there’s not enough to allow for writing up a blog entry. Got a gorgeous sunrise today, though, and it couldn’t be missed.