Happy New Year - 2015 Reflections
Well hello anybody who is reading this! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! In my part of the world, it is now summer, and both Christmas day (42 deg) and New Years Eve (40 deg) were very bloody hot! Christmas day brought some devastating bushfires not that far from me! It was about 50 mins drive, but flying over my house on both days were water bombing aircraft and the stench of smoke. Unfortunately, the area is dense bushland, and the fire is expected to burn for a while yet, unless we get some decent rain, which doesn't look likely!
So 2015, was it a good year? It wasn't too bad, buy it wasn't fantastic! Why? Well we'll start with the not so good! My work has been a struggle, get the feeling that someone is ready to put a knife in my back. Some close friends lost their parents, and one of my work collegues, whom I call my friend as well, only a few weeks ago, tragically lost her son in a car accident. I have known that kid for 12 years, seeing him grow up, so that was very hard.
Some friends have had major health problems, and my back hasn't been that flash also! Have been laid up with that more than once in the last 12 months! I seem to be a bit accident prone this year! Always finding bruises, cuts etc!
Now for the good parts! Many of my friends have become parents for the first time! So, so cute! Watching them change each time I see them is wonderful! I also managed to take a wonderful trip to Japan, which I managed to mark 4 items off my BUCKET LIST! These items were:
- Visit Himeji Castle
- Visit Miyajima
- Vist Hiroshima
- Attend an ARASHI concert!
TICK, TICK, TICK AND TICK!!!!!
Firstly Himeji Castle. You can see it from the train as you are coming into the town. The view from exiting the station, is truly amazing. I actually gasped at how beautiful it was! It's truly too hard to describe it, so I'll show some pictures
Miyajima, how beautiful is about all I can say! I arrived at low tide so you could walk out to the Torii gate quite a way and then when I left it was high tide, so the Torii gate looked as if it was swimming! There is so much to do there, I even caught the cable car up to the top of Mt Misen. The view of the inland sea is amazing! So here are some pictures....
Hiroshima, I absolutely loved it here! One of my favourite places. To see the A-Dome, the peace park, the museum, the replica castle, I can keep on going. I just wished I had more days there!
Lastly, I SAW ARASHI IN CONCERT!!!!!!! Truly unbelievable! I was lucky enough to go 3 times. The first concert in Nagoya, then in Osaka for Ohno's birthday and the next night! Each time I kept getting closer to the stage, with the last concert being on the floor and 8 rows from the start! I swear Sho and Ohno waved at me! Mind you, I was about 20cm taller than everyone else, blonde and a westerner! I literally stopped breathing when this happened. I thought I was imagining it, but the obachan next to me grabbed my arm, pointed at me, saying something I didn't understand, but she then gave me a thumbs up and continued to smile at me for the rest of the night! And I caught tape!!!!
So that is a brief trip review! Will more than likely do a proper one in the new future! If anyone is interested.
So goodbye 2015, Hello 2016. May you all be safe, healthy and happy!
Ciao
So 2015, was it a good year? It wasn't too bad, buy it wasn't fantastic! Why? Well we'll start with the not so good! My work has been a struggle, get the feeling that someone is ready to put a knife in my back. Some close friends lost their parents, and one of my work collegues, whom I call my friend as well, only a few weeks ago, tragically lost her son in a car accident. I have known that kid for 12 years, seeing him grow up, so that was very hard.
Some friends have had major health problems, and my back hasn't been that flash also! Have been laid up with that more than once in the last 12 months! I seem to be a bit accident prone this year! Always finding bruises, cuts etc!
Now for the good parts! Many of my friends have become parents for the first time! So, so cute! Watching them change each time I see them is wonderful! I also managed to take a wonderful trip to Japan, which I managed to mark 4 items off my BUCKET LIST! These items were:
- Visit Himeji Castle
- Visit Miyajima
- Vist Hiroshima
- Attend an ARASHI concert!
TICK, TICK, TICK AND TICK!!!!!
Firstly Himeji Castle. You can see it from the train as you are coming into the town. The view from exiting the station, is truly amazing. I actually gasped at how beautiful it was! It's truly too hard to describe it, so I'll show some pictures
Miyajima, how beautiful is about all I can say! I arrived at low tide so you could walk out to the Torii gate quite a way and then when I left it was high tide, so the Torii gate looked as if it was swimming! There is so much to do there, I even caught the cable car up to the top of Mt Misen. The view of the inland sea is amazing! So here are some pictures....
Hiroshima, I absolutely loved it here! One of my favourite places. To see the A-Dome, the peace park, the museum, the replica castle, I can keep on going. I just wished I had more days there!
Lastly, I SAW ARASHI IN CONCERT!!!!!!! Truly unbelievable! I was lucky enough to go 3 times. The first concert in Nagoya, then in Osaka for Ohno's birthday and the next night! Each time I kept getting closer to the stage, with the last concert being on the floor and 8 rows from the start! I swear Sho and Ohno waved at me! Mind you, I was about 20cm taller than everyone else, blonde and a westerner! I literally stopped breathing when this happened. I thought I was imagining it, but the obachan next to me grabbed my arm, pointed at me, saying something I didn't understand, but she then gave me a thumbs up and continued to smile at me for the rest of the night! And I caught tape!!!!
So that is a brief trip review! Will more than likely do a proper one in the new future! If anyone is interested.
So goodbye 2015, Hello 2016. May you all be safe, healthy and happy!
Ciao