I've always been a computer person. Ever since University, I have been using a computer for just about everything. My handwriting is terrible! I was almost unable to read it myself, which defeats the purpose.

So I decided to start writing a journal. In pen. Daily.

At first it was quite hard. My writing wasn't good and my hands hurt. But, day by day, things have improved and I'm quite happy I started.

The plus side of writing a journal is that it allows you to write down the things that you would normally just have flowing around in your head. Good and bad things, once put down on paper, seem to become less of a problem or issue. It's an amazing side effect of this.

Do you journal?

I’ve been in Japan long enough now to have experienced enough summers to have gained a fairly good understanding of what “normally” happens in summer to know that what we’ve seen this year is rather extraordinary. Record temperatures followed by record breaking typhoons. Maybe it’s time we looked at this differently and started looking for solutions rather than just blame. Ok, rant over.

My year on the bike is going well. I have just passed 26,000 kilometers. My goal im is reachable but still not going to be easy.