Trainspotters in Japan, referred to somewhat derogatorily as Tetsuo (鉄男) or Tetsuko (鉄子)(a play on words forming a portmanteau from the words for “rail” and common suffixes used to indicate a man or woman <there are commonly still only two genders in Japanese>, as well as being typical <though slightly archaic>names) have a well-earned reputation for being rude. It’s a common perception that trainspotters crowd public thoroughfares and are pushy and ill-mannered as they await for the chance to get their photo of a train. I’d say the vast majority are just keen snappers and it’s only the antisocial behavior…
Magnificent people made 2023 a much better year than I thought it was
Mother Nature greeted me with a glorious sunrise yet again today as I biked the Tama River Cycling Road. Most of the ride was in the dark, as is the case at this time of the year just before the winter solstice. But just as I was leaving the path and preparing for the ride up Tama New Town-dori (avenue) and the way home, the skies turned on a huge smile for me. Clouds and color made for a great shot. And my ego got a boost, too, when I was able to casually run down another cyclist on a…
This morning was another gloriously beautiful late autumn morning with the full, beaver moon glowing until well after the sun had risen and mists floating up above the Tama River to create wonderfully serene scenes. Pity the mess in my head can’t turn in a similar direction. I’m a wreck. Over the past week, my boss has used her position of superiority to abuse me, sometimes publicly, for not using bold text, using the “wrong” font (in internal documents), directly addressing her in an email instead of just cc’ing her and blasted for not delivering work I was never supposed…
Monday is gloomy and depressing in my soul-sucking job, with today being particularly so because I am the sole native English speaker working and we are inundated with work and every effort I make berated for its shortcomings. I woke feeling painfully gloomy, was shortly greeted by a Zodiac reading forecasting an awful day, my Wahoo didn’t work, and I just can’t spark myself to get into action. Yet, I was blessed on the morning ride. The full beaver moon setting over the Tama River was simply breathtaking. I stopped before starting and went back to pick up a real…
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…
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…
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…
After having repeatedly vowed to myself that I would post content with substance that may be interesting for anybody who ever stumbled across it, I’ve gone ahead and posted more sunrise cycling pics because Mother Nature just keeps turning on the stunning starts to the day. After another near-sleepless night I was sorely tempted to take a real camera out with me on the morning’s ride, but I eventually talked myself out of it again as sweat began pouring out of me the more coffee I drank. Hurtling down the Kamakura Kaido and noticing the sky was bereft of the…
I’ve got nothing to write about, other than being extraordinarily lucky to get consecutive days of glorious sunrises over the Tama River. I’d take a decent camera to get better photos except it’s still hot and the sweat would destroy the DSLR’s parts as happened with my other cameras. So I have to be satisfied with just the mobile phone, which doesn’t take good shots, so what’s visible here is not a patch on what I get to see with my own eyes.