The view from my room

The view from my room in Japan is amazing... Here is the lake that I go down to every morning to do a couple of laps, there are birds chirping in the background, while bambi is frolicking on lawn. The place is deserted, and I often feel like breaking out into song - "The hills are alive... with the sound of music..."

Actually, this is of Cataract Gorge in Tasmania near where my parents used to live. The view from my room where I live now is not so picturesque... it's right next to some very busy train lines. So much so, they've had to add two sets of windows to my room to block out the sound. Thankfully, the last train runs at around midnight, so then I can get some sleep. Yeah, I went and spoke to the train company, explained to them that it was kinda noisy and I'm a very irritable gaijin if I don't get my sleep, and they were more than happy to rearrange their entire train schedule to suit my sleep patterns. They were very obliging.

Sometimes, when I'm on the balcony, and I'm hanging up my washing (I don't use the dryer because it's an expensive joke - 100 yen and 30 minutes later my clothes are just are damp as they were when I put them in there, but now they're slightly warmer), I like to wave at the people on the passing trains. One time, the train stopped right infront of my room, waiting for another train to leave the station, and I started waving at the bored looking people. I got some odd looks from the passengers - sadly, no one waved back... I'm going to keep on doing it until somebody does.

--------------The actual view from my room---------------

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