Big In Japan

June 2nd, 2025

The flight was tiring and uncomfortable, but the most notable was that ANA now uses Pokémon for their safety videos 🙂

The fruit meals were up to their usual standards, especially the super fresh watermelon and strawberries. I was given two on the flight, each more or less the same.

And then I was in Japan! The above is my hotel room view of Ueno station. I’ve stayed in this hotel before, albeit not since Covid. The entire room is smaller than my bathroom at the Sheraton but I’ll be comfortable here.

I went and ate my favourite meal at an ungodly hour, then spent a bit of time unpacking. I didn’t get to sleep until after 1 am.

But now I’m up heading out to see what’s going on in Tokyo (I’m sitting on a Yamanote line train as I write this). I look tired don’t I? Maybe that’s because I am 🙂

I’m Drifting North To Check Things Out Again

June 1st, 2025

In a few minutes I’ll board that plane and fly to Japan. I’m very exhausted after this past fortnight but I’ve got 10 flying hours to relax and that should be enough to raise my stamina to 200%!

What will I see and do in Japan? Watch this space to find out…

Vivid 2025

June 1st, 2025

I walked down to Circular Quay and arrived about 15 minutes before the lights went on. Finally I could see some stars! The above shows the bridge before the lights…

And there it is after they flipped the switch. The lights were very bright and vibrant this year, and the bridge looked magnificent.

The crowds were thick and very excited, but my limiters are half-removed and I weaved through the throng effortlessly. I quickly ducked around the quay to see the Opera House from the other side:

You can see the projector beam, which seemed to originate from next to the bridge. The spotlights are cool as they scan the sky and I overheard a woman saying when she flew into Sydney a few days ago they could see them from above the clouds.

The rest of this post will just be a gallery of various installations, at Martin Place and Darling Harbour. This isn’t all I saw, and most of these are animated or interactive as well. There was a lot to see, and I believe this may be the biggest Vivid I’ve seen yet.

On this last pic, fire was clearly a theme this year. I saw several fire installations, and places where you could cook over open fires. I believe there was a fire juggler as well in Darling Harbour, but the crowds were very dense and I was tired so I went back to the hotel.

All told I spent about three hours running around and estimate I only saw half the installations. It’s a great Vivid, much better than last year and possibly the best I’ve seen. I’m glad I was here to experience it.

The Longest Breakwater

June 1st, 2025

Sue and I walked Stockton breakwater yesterday, on the north side of Newcastle harbour. This is the longer of the two by about 250 m, although some may suggest otherwise!

That’s the view across the harbour to Nobby’s. The brown water is runoff from the floods of last week, and debris is still washing down the Hunter. We’d been inland earlier in the day to visit an antique store and evidence on the floods was still very apparent, with fields resembling lakes near Morpeth!

I’ve walked Nobby’s breakwater countless times but the Stockton one much less and not for several years. It was very popular yesterday since the weather was nice and many fisherman lined the northern side casting into the ocean.

Many rocks bear memorials, some simple and some elaborate like this one which is engraved onto metal. I remember seeing them in the past, but there’s many more now. I suppose this is a Novocastrian tradition?

Mum and I said our goodbyes (for the 21st time I believe) and I’m now in Sydney preparing for a longish flight tomorrow. Vivid is on, and you can bet I’ll go take a gander after dark. If it’s good, I’ll blog it later tonight!

Another Op-Shop Puzzle

May 31st, 2025

I purchased another op-shop jigsaw puzzle:

It only cost $2, and as best I can tell was manufactured in the 1980s. The op-shop had identified puzzles that had all the pieces and this one was not included. This didn’t necessarily mean pieces were missing; just that they weren’t sure. There was only one way to find out!

So far so good, with all the border pieces intact. This is a 600 piece puzzle, twice as big as the one from last year, and a bit bigger than the size I prefer. The box was a bit beaten up, and some of the pieces showed signs of use. I’ll say it’s well-loved.

As kids we didn’t own many puzzles, but those we did own I made up many times. I wonder how many times this one has been assembled?

I worked on this in the evenings and mornings over two days. In total I’d say it took me about 4 hours, although I wasn’t as focused as I usually am when I make puzzles.

The subject of the puzzle is a medieval town in Italy named Grazzano Visconti. The clock tower is part of a 14th century castle which is rumoured to be haunted (aren’t they all?) and a popular tourist destination to this day.

And here we have the finished puzzle! In the end it was actually a 598 piece puzzle since two pieces were missing (I’ve circled them above), but perhaps the biggest mystery was that it came with an extra piece from another puzzle:

So an incomplete puzzle but it was still fun to assemble and absolutely worth the single coin I paid for it.

And if I had more time I probably would have purchased this one I saw today in an antique shop: