Day 39: Cleaning...

Day 39 (13 Jan) Sunday, OK my usual washing day but winter clothes on a hot day? Best get started early. One of the other jobs to do was sweep up the leaves. I love my trees but...the leaves, the leaves. Anyway, best way to beat them is to get out there early. So, there I was, 6.12am sweeping up the leaves and the first load of washing on. Feeling virtuous. 

Leaves, at 6.12am

All the while, thinking about the writing to be done. I'm reaching that stage career-wise where I have so much to write and so little time to do it. Yesterday's movie was set in a home for retired musicians. Got me wondering about a what a home for retired academics might look like...

Ah, I believe the washing machine finished its load just at that time, thankfully. The former proposition just doesn't bear thinking about really (with apologies to learned colleagues).

It's now five days since I arrived home and yet I have managed to survive without a serious grocery shop. At some point in the day I must pop down the road and replenish the fridge with more than just convenience store supplies. ... which I do, presently.

Some fruit, veges, cheese and bread from the local fruit shop/deli and some supplies from the supermarket...$100, just like that! Don't have a lot to show for it either. Got me thinking about relative costs of living between here in Brisbane and in Tokyo. (As you do.) 

The sheets looking foreboding, at 6.12pm

Japan has had for many years a reputation for a high cost of living and, for the last couple of decades, a sluggish economy. It is always interesting for me to be 'on the ground' in Tokyo observing the 'reality' and reading that against the 'informed' commentary. My various receipts and expenses from my trip were still to hand and I compared a couple of grocery buys in Tokyo with here. On a day-to-day basis, I reckon the cost of living is better in Tokyo as far as groceries and public transport are concerned. Fares on trains and buses haven't gone up to the extent they have here in Brisbane and when I looked at what I had just bought at the grocery shop, and what I paid, well, it was at least on a par, if not higher than its equivalent in Tokyo. Interesting. 

Someone always has to bring in the washing and so by 6.12pm, that's what I was doing...ah, routine.