Rainy Season Strategies

Avoiding humidity…
Hiroshi: You sleep like a cat, curled up, 
Hiroko: I nap a lot in the rainy season.
Hiroshi: I don’t sleep. 
Hiroko: And you don’t drink enough water.
Hiroshi: It’s rainy season. I osmose. Take in water through my skin.
Hiroko: How about summer in Hokkaido. Dry air, clean breezes.
Hiroshi: Ah, Hokkaido, I would reinvent myself. Drinking milk instead of water. Staying at a farm, where kind farmers give me miso ramen and a wool sweater.
Hiroko: Sweaters in summer?
Hiroshi: Hokkaido summers are mild. Perfect for light wool. Functional. Cozy. And you will have less need for napping.
Hiroko: But who will take care of the cat?
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Voice-over
Hokkaido being further north than Honshu with its hot humid summers, does have a cooler, more temperate climate, and no distinct rainy season. Might be worth trying for a summer. (Nemuri Neko by Hidari Jingorō).

Kick starting a BSA 250

Rethinking two-wheel A to B

Marshall: It makes sense to travel on two wheels in times of global warming.

Craig: Saves some energy, yes. Cheaper, yes.

Marshall: And motorcycles are more docile now. My first motorcycle, a 1939 BSA 250 side valve, had a complicated starting procedure: pump the plunger on the carb, set ignition to retard, raise piston to TDC, pull the decompressor and kick, then release the decompressor. After half a dozen or ten kicks you might get lucky and it would chug into life. 

Craig: My student days were like that, too. Wherever possible park on a rise for a downhill start.

Marshall: And the prayers you sent up trying to coax the thing into life. Please, I beg you, I beseech you, fire up and keep running,

Craig: Finally I gave up on British and bought a Japanese Honda 50.

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Voice-over

Now that fossil fuels are being legislated against, electric bicycles seem a logical progression. Once again, Japan may offer pedestrian products but they are robust and you meet the nicest people on them.

Antarctica Experience: Technique outdoes narration

After viewing a VR immersive film...

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Robert: It certainly felt as if you were there, right there, in Antarctica.

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Roald: And moving your head around, seeing a penguin come up behind you.

Come here often?

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Robert: A stunning film. But what impression did it leave you with?

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Roald: Um, well, like I had actually been there.

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Robert: Yes, aside from flying by helicopter and hearing people who work there telling us this is the cafeteria and the meals are great, and I can’t talk loudly or I’ll disturb the penguins. Was there a theme?

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Roald: Research into climate change by drilling down into the ice for core samples.

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Robert: But was there a story?

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Roald: Well, in a 22 minute film you can’t do much more than say CO2 levels have risen to double the amount they have ever been in recorded history. Maybe Al Gore’s use of a ladder was more dramatic, even if it lead to climategate.

____________

Voice-over

Some films get carried away with technology, like 3D or VR. Maybe there aren’t enough human resources or budget left to hire a scriptwriter. You could almost hear the director saying to the people, “Look at the camera and when the light comes on, say something. Like what is your job about.” Or “Here comes a penguin.” How about, “What hours do you work when the sun is up all day?” Or “Do you name any of the penguins?”

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