• Daily Life

    Lots. And Nothing

    All sorts of things have been happening, but also nothing at all. I hope that doesn’t seem too strange? The “all sorts of things” are just day-to-day events that keep me busy. And there was yet another clash with my boss, this time leading to her humiliation. I could have made it worse for her, but have decided to quit while ahead. I’m sure that will have repercussions down the track. I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it, though. For the time being, I have another five months’ work, so I can hopefully make the most of it.…

  • Strine - Strine Scribes - Unknown Nichigo

    Goodbye Possums…

    Barry Humphries, the creator of characters such as Dame Edna Everage – the Moonee Ponds housewife famous for her flamboyance and shouted greeting of “Hello Possums” – Sir Les Patterson and Sandy Stone, and himself an entertainer and icon of Straya in many parts of the world, has passed away. Humphries died aged 89 on Saturday following complications from a recent hip surgery. Personally, I wasn’t a great fan of the Moonee Ponds housewife — Dame Edna Average is my name for her — but she had her moments and was a wonderful example of Humphries’ acerbic, anti-Establishment wit that…

  • Strine

    Wistful Wisteria

    There’ve been better times than the past week, and hopefully the climbing hardenbergia comptoniana planted today augurs a rise out of the doldrums. I couldn’t sleep, so as soon as it was light, I got out into the garden, moving the lawn, weeding and my efforts culminating in re-potting the hardenbergia comptoniana, better known as the Australian native wisteria, which had grown too much for the humidity pods. Most of the seedlings have failed, so hopefully the wisteria will be a shining light. There’s still the promise of kangaroo paw and dwarf wattle. Not much else promising going on. Work absolutely…

  • Strine

    Biking Beauty

    I’ve been alternating between busy and broken over the past few days, resulting in fewer posts and less cycling, but still lucky enough to catch some tremendous snapshots of the bike like the ones here. Work has been proceeding at a furious pace as we have not replaced people who have left and remain terribly understaffed. It’s hard to get motivated, too, as my employer tried to cut my wage just days after inking my current contract and doing nothing to reassure me that they will not try the same thing again this year: if, in fact, they even offer…

  • Daily Life

    Blowout! Even Fartilizer Couldn’t Help

    Well, strong winds have put paid to a lot of my experiment in growing seeds from Australian native plants, and even fartilizer couldn’t help. Gale-force winds daily for pretty much the past week made life tough for the little seedlings on the patio at Kangaeroo Corner. Watering, care, and even magical powders were not enough to save the golden everlastings, with one or two sickly looking seedlings barely hanging on and the rest returning to their organic origins. Two of the three desert peas that seeded were blown over and destroyed. They’ll get an Aussie garden burial anyway, in some…

  • Daily Life - Strine Sports

    Brommies More Than Just a Mere Bike

    Several years ago now, I was very fortunate to stumble into buying a Brompton folding bicycle that has fundamentally changed my life and continues to have countless unimaginable effects. I’d already shown signs of developing into an avid cyclist and was using a Dahon foldup bike to slice my then two-hour each way commute into thirds when a Brompton-riding co-worker inspired me to get a Brommie of my own. I didn’t realize that I should be caring for it and putting effort into maintenance, which is really dumb and naïve, but totally on brand. So, after finally getting gainful, permanent…

  • Strine

    Golden Girl

    La Cangura is the name of my bike, a beautiful gunmetal and gold-trimmed machine from Orbea, a manufacturer from Spain, hence the name (which means The Kangaroo in English). She looks delightful in among the canola, the yellow hues of the bike and the flowers a wonderful match. Just wish I was having as much luck with my flowers and other plants in the Kangaeroo Corner garden. I’m relatively new to the gardening caper, only having really taken a great interest in it since Amazing Alex made the Aussie garden for us in March 2022. While the garden is, for…

  • Daily Life

    Blowin’ In The Wind

    Tokyo spring tends to be windy, and it is blowing up a gale in the suburbs of the Japanese capital right now. This morning I got to fly for a few kilometers, backed by a tremendous tailwind. Of course, barring a meteorological miracle, where there’s a tailwind, there’s almost always a headwind that needs to be addressed. So, while the first stage of the ride literally flew by in no time, the home straight was a much greater grind. Still, it did allow me the time to stop and take a look at the late-blooming cherry blossoms, with a stretch…

  • Daily Life

    Otherwordly!

    Strange things are at play today, starting with a sunrise that for a fleeting moment created a scene like the cover of a pulp science fiction book from the ’50s or ’60s. The sun was shaped like a perfect disc and rose above the horizon, turning the early morning sky into a hazy shade of pink. Gradation of light meant that this blended into the gray and specks of blue that were also evident and made for a spectacular sight. It was lovely to ride. The light is enormous, and being able to see from the get-go makes a huge…

  • Strine

    Crikey! What’s Going On Here?

    Crikey, Kangaeroo.com is colder than ever before and I’ve got no explanation for what is happening. Let’s get one thing straight, first: Kangaeroo.com has never been hot! This website started in March 2010 together with a sister site (now defunct) called Yutairui.com, which had a record of attracting more than 35,000 visits in a single day not long after it opened, but was shut down by a DDoS later that same year. Kangaeroo.com, to the best of my knowledge, has never had more than five visitors in a single day! This site, centered on the Strine Dictionary, was supposed to…