You’d think that having lived in Melbourne so long, my friends and I would know to check the weather forecast and plan accordingly, but despite knowing that there would be some bad weather associated with a low pressure system hitting the south of Japan today, we didn’t think to bail from the island yesterday… and this morning’s ferries are now all cancelled.
Luckily I was able to change our ticket to an afternoon ferry but it means I might get to my accommodation in Hiroshima rather late tonight - assuming the ferry even runs, because there’s every chance it might be cancelled too and we’ll have to stay here for an extra night… thank fuck I hadn’t booked my shinkansen ticket but hopefully I can still make it to a later leg of my travel where I’ve got accom and car rental booked. Time to just chill for now though
I’m on a Shinkansen to Kyoto at the moment. Yes I have wet feet. Off to Hiroshima next week, maybe we can swap tips, if you’re heading to Kyoto or Tokyo? But fair warning, all my tips will be bars and record stores. 😋
Ooh what a coincidence! Yep it’s looking wet all across south and east Japan. I’m only spending one night in Hiroshima unfortunately, and then tootling around Shikoku (mostly driving through amazing scenery, visiting some natural features and seeing some traditional villages). Won’t be going to the big cities aside from one night + day in Tokyo before I fly off. If there’s just one place you’d recommend checking out in Tokyo that’s a bit alternative or off the beaten track what would it be? I confess I don’t do big cities that well which is why I’m spending the least amount of time possible in Tokyo. How long will you be down in Hiroshima?
That sounds great! Good luck with your ferry, too! We’re in Kyoto for most of this week, but just spending two nights in Hiroshima after. We had hoped to get further into the countryside, but didn’t plan ahead well enough. I was fairly apprehensive about giant, bustling Tokyo too, but we stayed in Akasaka which was actually really manageable in terms of crowds etc. (but still has loads of bars, restaurants, shops) Its a bit of a business-ier district, so Friday night was busy, but the rest not so bad. Bar Luther in Akasaka seats about 10 people, plays 70’s/80’s RnB & Soul - all on vinyl and all done in between mixing (great and cheap) drinks! But we couldn’t get in on Friday. Harajuku was pretty good for vintage (sometimes $$$) clothes shopping, but was cuter and quieter than Shibuya proper. In writing this, I realise we havent really departed from the well beaten track yet.
There are some really unexpectedly neat/chill pockets of Tokyo that make it absolutely worth spending more time at! That bar sounds grouse. I’ll have to see what my last few days are like, I was planning to have a go at the Shimanami Kaido from Imabari to Onomichi, spend a day in Onomichi then take a late train to Tokyo and do a wee bit of targeted shopping on my last day before flying off in the afternoon. But depending of how much energy I have, I might be tempted to be more of an urbanite and head from Takamatsu to do 3 nights in a cute part of Tokyo like Musashino or something hmmm
Well you sound more researched and prepared than I do, so don’t let me influence you! I think I was just happy that I could actually stand being out and about in Tokyo, and not constantly swarmed. I don’t really understand the attraction of Shibuya crossing, apart from to get the fuck away from there, it was a sensory nightmare!
I needed to cancel on seeing a friend so I can see a doctor tonight but I can’t or he’ll get really pissed off at me.
I don’t have many friends to begin with and can’t afford to lose any.
Yay.
If your mate cant understand the need to see a doctor over a prearranged meet up then they aint your friend to begin with. With that said, a “Sorry, I cant make X, can we do Y instead?” goes over better than “sorry I cant make it”
Gees I need a haircut. It’s just a mess.
Goodnight everyone. I hope you have a great day ❤️
Good night . 💖
Up late playing Sekiro again. Just got up to Sword Saint Isshin
pain , can’t sleep, panadol has been taken, will try sleep sitting up
Can you get a recliner or does that put more pressure on your back?
sofa will do
I figured why the stars during the aurora were extra sparkly/coloured.
I have astigmatism. 😃
Name something that made you smile today!
I helped a customer today and she was very cheerful about it :)
The blue sky. I combed Ted Cat’s head, he liked it and he didn’t bite me. Mr Seagoon. 😊
Listening to some old fave music and I;m thinking how I live so quietly now, I used to be at bars and nightclubs and music venues nearly every day.
Dear furniture delivery peeps… when you say that you will tell me that the pakige is ready for dispatch and then again on the day of delivery…please don’t get the poor delivery driver to just call me from the truck with 40 mins notice…
What do they think people do all day?? Currently in an uber heading home from the office so I don’t get double charged for delivery 😡😡
Got the new MacBook Pro yesterday. Today the new iPad Air 13" and iPhone 15 arrived. What is the collective noun for Apple devices? Is it a hipster? I have a hipster of Apple devices now.
Apple turnovers.
A bushel of apples.
A walled garden of Apple devices.
Like the Garden of Eden? God commands you not to use Apple devices!
A small cut on my finger has been producing big blood. Freaked my boss out big time
I had the opposite happen last night. Big cut but barely any blood
What Aussie art or Australiana do you have at home? What makes your home Aussie and not just any place?
I have some cute 1960s Brownie Downing Native Australian pictures in the kitchen. Hans Heysen, those pictures of gum trees are just like where I grew up… Shearing the Rams. Even an Albert Namatjira. Guy Boyd pottery with flowers.
I have a place mat that has recipes on it such as damper and mutton stew. I have a budgie tin (I think it once had mini marshmallows in it). A Mark Murphy biscuit tin and a May Gibbs one. A Melbourne, Ballarat and Tasmanian tea towels. A small Australian flag in a vase. And numerous stubby holders.
Nice. 😊
A Guy Boyd tiled coffee table showing a map of Australia with pictures of various animals painted on the tiles before firing. Circa 1950 or thereabouts. Very MCM. Some gorgeous mid Victorian australian cedar furniture from my great grandmother’s house, the cedar came from Richmond/Grafton in NSW back before those trees were almost completely wiped out by commercial logging. A couple of dot paintings that I got in Alice Springs back in the 80s cos I really liked them. Quite a few of my mother’s paintings showing birds n animals n plants from along Merri Creek and down on Westernport - mostly done post 1980. Not much else that’s specifically ‘Australian’ as such.
Dad’s side of the family was nomadic - where they hung their hat was home and they went all over the world, so quite a lot of keepsakes from all over but very little from Aus. Which includes a rather charming little brass kangaroo, made by a smith somewhere in India who had clearly only ever seen a photo of the beast. Mum’s family had pretensions and, apart from Mum, rather despised ‘Australiana’ and placed a higher value on their imported Anglo culture - really only the furniture was passed down and that only because it was very very functional.A Guy Boyd tiled coffee table showing a map of Australia with pictures of various animals painted on the tiles before firing. Circa 1950 or thereabouts.
omg, I am so jelly 😭
( I had an ADRI BELGIQUE MCM table with lava tiles depicting a reef , it’s gone now 😒 , husband lost all my stuff )
Ex-husband I hope! Losing that - there is no place for him in the Kingdom of Heaven.
I have a whole bunch of gum nuts collected from across the country if that counts. And various Maxwell Williams cups and plates with native plants and animals (including a tea towel from the themed set). Also a poster with a stylised depiction of Melbourne intersections… Nothing traditionally Australiana.
The gumnuts definitely count. The poster sounds interesting!
the tea set sounds lovely 😊
The aquarium has the worst ticketing system I have ever used. You don’t just use a discount code. You need to search for a promo group, select the tickets in that group, then use your additional code from there to make the discount stick.
Also, the initial search for promo groups isn’t available on mobile. If you’re buying your tickets on the way you need to request the desktop site so you can find it.
It’s also the Commonwealth Bank’s fault. If they’re trying to push these Yello rewards so hard they should make sure everything works first
Is a flight to China from Melbourne really about 9 hours? I swear I thought it would be like 15 for some reason. Hell, I figure flying one side of China to another is like 7 hours.
China is a very big place, it depends where you want to go.
Flying from one side to the other of ACTUAL china, or just land China claim is theirs?
There may be some time zone jiggery pokery going on. I believe some China destinations are only 2 hours behind us, so the flight time would be reduced by that amount. Perth is in the same time zone as China.
Aaaand crisis averted, the weather cleared and we snagged that ferry, got to the train station with just enough time to wrangle a ticket and grab a bento, now on the shinkansen to Hiroshima. 3 more hours of sitting down… wish I had a little tablet for travelling. It’ll be laaate when I get to my accom and check in, not much time to unwind and do my hair and all that. Need to be up asap tomorrow to check out the Peace Museum and all that and then get my arse to the ferry by about noon, 2 hours of ferry then a mad rush to car rental place and 2-2.5 hrs driving.
Starting to think maybe my last few days should be chillaxing and not activity focused…
