• Daily Life

    Mist-ical

    Nature conjured up a mystical morning as the warm air over the icy Tama River created a fabulous world of mist. It’s common around this time of year to have mist over the river. The effect creates a surrealistic atmosphere. It’s difficult cycling as visibility is greatly reduced, and my eyesight is already too poor for pre-dawn riding. But the upside of that is being presented with the opportunity to slowly pedal through the fantastic scenery. And the cold, dark early hour of my rides means that I pretty much get to have the sight to myself. Moments like this…

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    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…

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    Virtuous Cycle

    Today’s title is more than just a play on words to boast about the beautiful bicycle photos I have been able to take recently. It also refers to what’s going on in my life at the moment. I can’t stop pinching myself to check that I am really going through what’s happening. Essentially, it revolves around the various miracles that have occurred to get me into a great new company, where I am surrounded by extraordinarily talented people and working in an environment so supportive that it is difficult to believe. Hence the pinching. This has brought about such an…

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    All in the Timing

    A long-time wish finally came true with a session around the Kawasaki Velodrome, and though I notched times that were the slowest of anyone on the day, my timing has been pretty fortunate over the past few months. All seemed lost and forlorn at the start of summer, but I was determined to hang on to my career for dear life to ensure that Mrs. Kangaeroo could fulfill one of her dreams. And the fates were on my side, with a new opening presenting itself at an absolutely perfect moment. And it has ushered in a halcyonic few weeks. On…

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    Flockin’ Wonderful Time

    All sorts of amazing things are happening at the moment, and I’m taking me time to let them settle in. Biggest is the new job, which is taking up most of my time at the moment and, naturally, has a huge impact on my life and that of those around me. We’ve had some pretty lousy weather recently, being humid, wet and dark, which has had an adverse impact on Kangaeroo Corner, effectively wiping out the kangaroo paw for this year, but also hurting most of the other Aussie plants, which generally like things to be dry and sunny, or…

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    Seeing the Light

    It’s getting darker in the mornings, already much more noticeably than before the equinox, which was still less than a month ago. But there is some sort of light on the horizon, literally and figuratively. Although we haven’t seen much of it this week, the sun shines over the horizon at certain photogenic points along the Tama River, enabling some pretty impressive photo opportunities. For an instant, too, it seemed like the long wait for new hope on the career front had finally arrived, too, but it doesn’t seem to have turned out how I had sought. But the rainy…

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    Practicing for Hades

    It’s been bloody hot the past few days, but I’ve been mostly stuck inside trying to keep up with the onerous demands being laid on me to try to get me to quit. I managed to slip in a couple of rides along the Tama River today, though, and it was totally worth it. Mrs. Kangaeroo also proved today that not only is she as hot af, which has nothing to do with the temperature, she is also as cool af, even if her choice in men is a little skew-whiff. I need salvation, but at the moment, all that’s…

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    Breaking The Banksia

    It’s becoming increasingly obvious that we’re finally going to get a banksia flower in the garden. We’ve had a banksia in the garden from the outset, but yet to get a flower some three years down the track. And we’ve had plenty of troubles along the way. In addition to the coastal banksia we started with, we also bought a hairpin banksia last year. It was a ripper and we grew it in a pot. It withstood the blistering heat of the summer of 2023, but I planted it too early into the autumn and it withered and died. We…

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    Not Getting Cocky

    Some years ago, I got too far ahead of myself and lost my humility with the upshot being daily humiliation now. Over the past 14 years or so, I’ve attended a 12-step group pretty much daily to make myself a better person, and to be more decent to others. As my character improved, I gained a little more self-confidence. But it turns out that I also lost a lot of humility and didn’t show enough respect for others. One of the things I learned in my early days of going to AA was the importance of being respectful to every…

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    Tea-ing Off for the Hot Stuff

    Yesterday gave me an absolutely delightful surprise that I am now hoping will be a tee off toward better things as our tea tree bloomed as we hit the heat of early summer, long after I had given up hope of it doing so this year. I was thrilled to see the tiny white flowers appear. As I’ve mentioned often previously, this year had a darker than normal winter, which is usually bright and sunny in Tokyo, and even though it has been warmer, it has had an impact on blossoming. But our tea tree has clearly joined the party…