The weather changed from wet to sweltering so quickly.
Please take care if you are outside, or even if you are not. Hydrate. Hydrate and hydrate some more.

It's also this time of year I try to head into the mountains as much as possible. It's a lot cooler up high. The only difference is this year, there are more snakes running around than I've ever seen before. Maybe due to the longer wet season?

As for now, it's Obon but there are not festivals going on. It's an odd feeling.

I've been in Japan for quite a while now, and I can never remember a rainy season that has lasted this long. Not ever.
It was always a bit of a joke for me and those close to me how they always declare the rainy season started and ended and somehow, in the middle there was very little rain. Maybe a few days at most.
This year has been almost 6 weeks of constant rain. I don't think there's been more than a day, certainly not 2 in a row where it hasn't rained.
I've only managed to get 2 days in a row of commuting by bike because I'd had enough and decided getting wet was better than nothing at all.
To be honest, it's gotten me down more than most of the other issues that are floating around at the moment. Just a few days of fine weather isn't too much to ask for is it?

Well, it looks like this weekend might just be the last of the rainy season for this year. It has been an extremely long season in 2020. Seems to be the makings of what this year has been about.
I did manage to get into the mountains in between showers the other morning and it made all the different. You can't buy this kind of experience, you just need to get out and do it. Once you have a bike, the rest is up to you.
Have a good one.

Please stay safe in these times.
Please stay home in these times, it's the only way this will end sooner.

To be blunt, I'm not happy seeing the photos coming out of Australia with people panic buying things for absolutely no reason other than an internet rumour.
We used to be kind.
We used to look out for each other.
We seem to have lost what it was to be Australian.

And, that makes me sad.