Back home with a bang

So I have to say that this has been the worst jetlag I've had after a trip. It must be something to do with crossing the international date line. Anyway the other night I'm walking round the house at 4am like a zombie out of the "Night of the Living Dead" when all of sudden the room starts shaking. At first I thought it was a minor earthquake but then the shaking continued. It was a very loud and insistent base beat. I looked out of the front window and there was a very large truck-limo parked outside our house. There were two occupants in the front who were definitely not playing a game of chess, and to be honest, I'd never seen a couple of those positions before.

This was ridiculous. It was after four in the morning and the stereo was going full blast. I turned on some lights to see if that would have any impact. No deal. They were so self absorbed - as it were - that they did not even notice, or if they did, they did not care. I shut off the lights and went back to bed. The music was so loud it was shaking the room. Gregoire woke up and the two of us went downstairs. We put more lights on. After a few minutes I couldn't stand it any longer, donned my dressing gown, flung open the door and strode towards the truck. Immediately the driver gunned it and sped at high speed down the street, luckily missing some parked cars. Peace at last. I was a little concerned that we would have a brick through the window as a result, but so far so good.

A couple of days later, the next door neighbour approached me over the laurel hedge and said they had seen me go near the vehicle and decided I must be nuts. They had already called the police to report the noise violation. The whole street had been woken up by the Truck From Hell. "Never go out on the street." she said, "They might have had a gun." I was so exhausted from the jetlag, I was oblivious to the danger. Next time, I'll think twice about taking people on myself. Still, I think having a powerful hose handy might be a darn good idea, to dampen some people's enthusiasm at four in the morning.

Fukuoka : from bathrooms to bicycles...

Here are some pictures from my recent trip to southern Japan. Well let's start with the basics : the washroom. When I first got to see this I wondered what the heck you're supposed to do but then memories of a camping trip to France came back and I was away to the races.

Here's a pachinko parlour. Row upon row of slot machines. They were noisy places, smoky. I was actively discouraged from taking pictures. One visit was enough for me.

Here's the view from our apartment. No great fancy place, but it was great to live in a real place as opposed to a hotel. We could cook for ourselves, try and get the vaccuum contraption working and very easily get lost in the endless alleyways surrounding the apartment.

These are the green tea fields above Saga City. When we first arrived here, everything was concealed by swirling mist but then it cleared and we had a great view of the fields.

This was a slightly decrepit, but very interesting old temple outside of Saga City a couple of hours away from Fukuoka. Someone said there are at least 100,000 temples and shrines in Japan and I can believe it. They were absolutely everywhere, some of the ones we saw were very much off the beaten track and I suspect not visited very often by tourists.

I can't read the sign but notice the dead umbrella at the base....

A view from a bridge in downtown Fukuoka. Lovely hot weather over there.

Bicycles were everywhere in Fukuoka, many were left unlocked. I understand there was a very high chance that your bike would be there when you returned from work eight hours later. In this town I live, you'd be lucky if you left it unlocked for eight minutes.

Narita Airport

We're at Narita airport in Tokyo waiting for our flight and Yahoo are kindly providing free internet service so here I an for a few minutes.

We`ve had a great trip and seen many sights and met so many friendly people. We had a rather terrifying hour or so the other day when we failed to find a meeting point.　There we were　と他llyぉst　うぃｔｈ

We were totally lost, not knowing where to go next.

And the keyboard has gone up the creek without any sign of a paddle so I'll have to stop here.

Ye bonny bonny boat in Yanagawa

Yesterday we went along the canals in Yanagawa, in the safe hands of our punt captain. There's a proper term for his title but I haven't a prayer of spelling it here. Beautiful irises grew beside the canal. A lot of older houses had their garden on the other side of the water, so I guess they could observe their pride and joy from the verandah, whilst sipping some very refreshing green tea. We passed by the house once lived in by Yoko Ono's grandfather. A snake swam by the boat - a good size, about three feet long and scared the bejesus out of me. We also saw turtles sunning themselves by the side of the canal. Yanagawa is famous for eel dishes, and we could smell it everywhere. Punt Captain sang some songs to us as he eased us along the waters, very restful. We were very glad of the bamboo hats they provided because I tell you the sun was beating down on us in the mid afternoon.

Today there is a festival in Fukuoka - many paper fish blowing in the breeze. Its beautiful weather again, but I'm careful not to get burned. We`re going for a special lunch with a friend followed by a trip to a sacred temple, then off in search of art and wall hangings.

The buses are fun. You pay when you get off and how much depends on how many stops travelled. There is something akin to a scoreboard next to the driver indicating how much to pay. You can only get change for 1000 or 500 yen, and from that you need to pony up the right amount. So far so good except its tense when you are holding up the whole line whilst trying to determine what coins to put in the slot.

I haven:t time to write much about pachenko (slot machines) but they strike me as very sad places. People gamble a lot there, some for a living. We met a friend who spends 200 bucks three times a week. He seemed very happy about it. The places are very noise and smokey. I took a photograph but was quickly told to desist by our good friend as she said there are likely gangsters in there who dont want their picture taken.

Tomorrow off to Saga city, so probably will be offline for a couple of days. Really enjoying my stay, there is so much to see and learn. Sayona.

Fukuoka again

Today we went to some hotsprings near the mountains on the edge of the city. Men and women go to separate pools and there are no bathing suits required. I had a very enjoyable dip in the 40 degree springs; it felt very relaxing and I wanted to go straight to sleep afterwards.

Litter in Fukuoka - well hardly seen any at all. Its a very clean city.

As for homeless, there have been a couple so far. Today there was a demonstration in support of the homeless outside one of the main train stations. As we passed, the person with the mike switched momentarily to English to let us know what was going on.

There have been moments where I have felt a little isolated due to lack of understanding of the language and being of different colour. Its a good thing. Makes me understand what a lot of foreigners feel like in my home city.

We visited a friend`s garden today - he had very healthy looking cabbages, onions and beans, and we came away loaded down with vegetables for supper.

that's all for now.

Dropping in from Fukuoka

It's your overseas correspondent here visiting southern Japan, the city of Fukuoka. Arrived in one piece a couple of days ago, we had a minor earthquake on the first night. I am on the loose whilst the rest of my party are getting some organized exercise. I am getting disorganized exercise in the form of getting lost very quickly. I have recently found my bearings again and here I am.

Fukuoka is a city heaving with people, very vibrant and a mixture of ancient and modern. We have visited some shrines from the 4th century on the outside of the city. The lilac blossom scent nearby filled the air. It is pretty hot here, well pushing 30 degrees I would say.

Of note - flag persons directing traffic, bow to the cars when they are being requested to drive forward. Very civilized I thought. At crosswalks, the tune Comin' through the Rye floats through the air.

We`re staying in a family apartment in the southern part of the city. For breakfast we have been eating rice, pickle, cherry tomatoes, sour plums and miso soup. Our beds are foutons on tatami mats. So far I`ve collapsed at the end of the day, exhausted from the days walking.

That's all for now - we get 10 minutes on these machines then some threatening messages announce the end of the allotted time. Sayonara.

Litter and Hunger

The natives are getting restless and I'm one of them. I'm still picking up litter, but the blogstation now has ridiculous amounts of newspaper on the ground each day, mainly from the three new free papers. I'm getting frustrated and annoyed. I'm thinking - I take some pictures and send a letter to each of the three newspaper owners and ask what the blazes are they going to do about it.

In our town there are increasing numbers of people on the street asking for change. I get asked at least a dozen times a day. Yesterday there was a forlorn unkempt looking man, holding an empty styrofoam cup with a simple sign that stated "Hungry." I'll call him Jerome. I've seen him many times before, panhandling in the downtown area. He's aged between 30 and 50, it's very hard to tell, as he's ravaged by illness, and not able to stand straight.

Yesterday Jerome was in the underground mall where the security guards usually stop the likes of him from entering. I reckoned he had five minutes before they'd come along, sweep him out of the mall and shut the door. I walked past him, feeling very uncomfortable. I got about 30 yards, and could not go on without doing something. I bought a couple of muffins and went back to him. As I approached, another woman was giving him a sandwich. I gave him the muffins. At least he would get a meal today. He did not look me in the eye, but smiled, head bowed and thanked me. I walked on again, feeling like crying. Jerome has made some bad choices in his life, and he's probably still making bad choices. I wondered why I acted today and not the other times I had seen him. It had to do with hunger and desperation staring me in the face. And the fact that I could give him what he was asking for rather than some loose change that would probably be spent on something other than muffins.

Google gives us satellite photography

Well you can't see the birdfeeder or litter on the ground near our house, but there is aerial photography of our humble abode. Check if your house is on Google Maps. Put in an address and on the right hand side click on satellite. Once the photograph appears you can zoom in. After checking our street, I can't whether Doris has anything on her HedgeRow, but I'm on to it. For the heck of it, I searched for "Litter OK" and it gave me Great River Dam Authority in Vinata, Oklahoma. Looks dam pretty on the photograph. Of course this gets me to wondering if there are some privacy issues that Google is trespassing over here.

I would not do it for a million bucks

This morning as I walked to the office I came across the common sign that men were working above. In this case they were thirty floors above. It makes me shudder just to think of someone on a narrow platform with a bucket, hundreds of feet above the ground. Sometimes I am working at my desk and Spiderman appears right next to me at the window with a goofy grin and a sponge. Only he's on the outside and I'm safe and sound on the inside.

He swings across the huge plate glass, washing the window with soapy water, giving someone below a free shower. Then he wipes it all clean. Then as soon as he arrives, he leaps on to the next window. It must takes hours to do some of these enormous skyscrapers. I must admit I've never seen any women do this but I am sure there must be some. I hope they all get paid as much as stockbrokers. But you could not pay me enough to do it.

More Newspapers, Small Cars and even Smaller Cameras

As I got off the blogtrain this evening and left the station, I counted 19 newspaper and magazine boxes lined up outside the entrance. I'm sure that only a couple of weeks ago, there were five or six. Its getting ridiculous, most of the papers are free hence the area surrounding the station is constantly littered. There is no use gnashing teeth. I am calm, if not serene. The DozyBlog paper came out today. Sorry, mere mention of it is making me descend into a coma. I'll do a review of all three when I've had ten cups of coffee.

HedgeRow House has lots of stuff on it again. I suspect Doris scurried out when the rains came last Friday and put the same clothes and shoes out again today. I expect her to be busy again tonight as the clouds look a tad threatening.

There are these wonderful little cars round town the last few months. Some of them park perpendicular to the curb, which in some instances makes them stick out a tad. But I give them a break and a smile. They are half the size of most cars and way more energy efficient. I'd be a little perturbed driving on the highway in one, as it wouldn't come off so well in any argument with any other vehicle. Anyway, thumbs up from me.

This is the toy camera I've been using previously for some of pictures. Its two inches by about one inch. Anyway I've purchased an inexpensive but hopefully better camera for future images; but for $20 the cheapo keyring camera was a lark. I may use it again. It can act as a webcam and folks look at it curiously when I bring it out, which is half the fun.

Interview with Doris from HedgeRow House

Imagine my excitement on Friday morning as I set off for work. There outside HedgeRowHouse, was Doris, a sprightly grey-haired woman in her late seventies, putting a wack of clothes on the hedge. I've been wondering for a while about the occupants of HRH. I took the opportunity to introduce myself and the following exchange ensued.

Me: So..
Doris: YES! These items are FREE. Look at the label.
Doris pointed at the piece of paper attached to a sweater. I detected an accent, and with a wild guess, placed Doris somewhere in Europe, likely Yugoslavia. But Doris is the selected name, so that's staying.
Me: Where do these clothes come from?
Doris: Well my friend out in Blogsville is getting rid of stuff and she always brings things to me. People give me lots of stuff.
Me: So people expect you to put your give-away items on the hedge?
Doris: Oh yes, they do. Some folks ask me when I'm going to put more stuff. It always goes very fast.
Doris is obviously very proud of her hedge giveaways.
Me: I liked the red tent you put up there the other week?
Doris: Me too, people liked that.
Me: How long have you been doing this? The hedge dressing?
Doris: Since 1974. They all know me in this neighbourhood.
I looked at the blue sky - not a cloud in the sky.
Me: So you reckon it won't rain on your hedge today?
Doris: Oh no. Beautiful day.
After a few more minutes, I left Doris and walked to the blogtrain. As I ascended the steps to the platform, I could see her spreading multi-coloured clothes all over the rest of the hedge. Later that day as the rain clouds drenched the city, I wondered about the hedge. It was one of the wettest days last week. When I returned home later that evening, clearly Doris's fan club had been out, as all the items on the hedge had disappeared.

Review : Battle of the Free Press

Shoot me down if there isn’t yet another free newspaper in town, with the first issue today. This is the second launch of a freebie within a month. I think this calls for a review. So here we go, pitting the established-at-least-a-month-ago YawnBlog vs the upstart JimmyBlog paper:

Colour
The front page of Jimmy’s is eyecatching, almost garish, with a fluorescent orange border. YawnBlog is a more subdued, environmentally friendly green, which tends not to jolt you awake in the morning on the blogtrain. On colour, YawnBlog wins it.

Texture
Both papers feel like, well, newspaper. When leafing through YawnBlog, it leaves black stains on your fingers, for heaven’s sake. Jimmy’s is slightly better quality in this regard, so wins this category.

Smell
I gave both papers a hefty sniff and both hit me with a slightly musty odour. Its even stevens on this one.

Taste
Don’t be ridiculous, sometimes I skip breakfast but I’m honestly not that hungry.

Staying Power
Both papers have adopted the tabloid approach to journalism. Stories are covered with little depth. Each paper uses source material seemingly grabbed from similiar global newsfeeds. I must admit to descending into an instant coma after reading page four in YawnBlog and getting only one page further in Jimmy's before nodding completely off and collapsing headfirst on to my fellow passenger.

Sex Appeal
Jimmy’s went straight for the babe dressed in pink on the front page, therefore wins hands down on this one.

Size
If size counts, YawnBlog is a third bigger per page than Jimmys paper. At this point I'm feeling a little sorry for YawnBlog so that wins on size.

Price
Well they are both ostensibly free, but if you calculate the additional garbage collections fees as a result of the paper being strewn around the city, they both get the thumbs down. Jimmy’s is marginally better as it is stapled together so each newspaper page doesn’t drift off in the wind, after being discarded in disgust by a commuter.

Creativity
Yawnblog wins hands down for its number puzzle, which is a poor man’s version of so doku , which has taken The Times readers in the UK by storm, but at least this version is quite challenging. Quick recap on the overall comparison - its about even, and there is the whole of the second half to play for.

Legal challenges
Jimmys has upset local bylaw enforcement as the distribution boxes are in all the wrong places. So the paper's owners are being fined on day one, and charged for the cost of moving all the boxes. Quite right too.

Content
In both editions, a lot of old stories are at least several days old, resulting in a lot of mildew there, and requiring that the paper be thrown out immediately.

Target audience
I don't think I'm the target audience, but that's probably not saying a lot. I think both papers are aimed at young employed folks with the attention span of a gnat. I'm hoping that folks are more intelligent and neither will have a sustainable readership.

Conclusion
Jimmy’s paper wins but only by a hair, for more local content, stapled together format and slightly better quality print and photographs. Both should be sent to the recycle depot instead of being delivered to the public.

Stop Press : Horror!
But it doesn’t end here. I understand there is a third free newspaper starting up shortly to further litter our streets. A three way review will appear here when the next contender arrives. Be assured that it will be a completely biased (sic) review; my readers depend upon that.

I'm researching mini cameras. This one does not cut the mustard. Its been fun though, because quite frankly you're not sure what the heck will come out next. But I need a better camera. So I'm on the lookout for a cheap mini camera with a built in flash that takes excellent pictures and is under a hundred bucks. Maybe a tall order but we'll see what we can find. Gregoire and I have a decent digital camera - its too heavy and far too valuable to be lugging around each day.
So I did a quick search on the internet and there's all sorts of stuff. Some of this looks like it is more suitable for a secret agent.