フランスの年金改革案成立

10月31日（日）快晴

 

法定退職年齢は2018年までに段階的に60歳から62歳まで引き上げられ、年金を満額受け取れる年齢も現行の65歳から67歳に引き上げられます。反対する国民290万人がデモを展開。就職の機会が奪われることに危機感を抱く多くの大学生・高校生も学校をバリケード封鎖してデモに参加。

 

 立ち上がれ日本の若者

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Amendment of pension passed in France

Sun. October 31 : fine

 

The official retirement age will be gradually raised from 60 to 62 years old by 2018 and the age people can receive the full amount of pension will also be raised from 65 to 67. 2.9M citizens demonstrated against it. A lot of high school and college students participate in the demonstration by blocked their campuses with barricades expressing a sense of crisis of depriving their chances of employment. 

 

go for it , Japanese young generation 

 

動物虐待

10月30日（ 土）快晴

 

富山市で犬が胴体部分を土に埋められているのを通行人が発見。富山中央署は動物愛護法違反の容疑で調査中。豪州ＮＳＷ州でハリモグラが花火を使って殺害されているのが発見され、警察は動物虐待事件として捜査中。ＷＡ州沖でクジラに船で100ｍ以内に接近した男が罰金40万円を科せられました。(photo by Olympus)

 

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Animal abuse

Sat. October 30 : fine

In Toyama city a passerby found a dog having its trunk of the body being buried into ground. Toyama Central Police have been investigating the case under the suspicion of a violation against the Animal Protection Law. In NSW of Australia a spiny ant eater was found killed by firework and the police have been investigating it as an animal abuse case. A man who approached closer than 100m to the whale on a boat on offshore of WA has been sentenced $5000 fine.

 

put whale to sleep

 
クジラの安楽死

木登りカンガルー

10月29日（金）快晴

ニューギニアと豪州ケアンズ周辺の熱帯雨林にに生息する絶滅危惧種。体長1m前後。他のカンガルーと違って後脚の代わりに前脚の力やその爪が発達して樹上生活に適応。尾は長い。木の実や果実や木の葉などを採食。夜行性。寝るときは樹上で背中を上にして丸くなって、雨は毛を伝って流れ落ちます。

木登り

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Tree kangaroo

Fri. October 29 : fine

It is one of endangered species that lives in tropical rain forest in New Guinea and around Cairns in Australia. It has a length of around 1m. Being different from other kinds of kangaroos the strength of its front legs and nails are well developed to adapt itself to tree-dwelling. Its tail is quite long. It collects and eats seeds, fruits and leaves. It’s nocturnal. When it sleeps it curls itself up on its stomach in a tree so that the rain drips down along the hair on its back. 

tree climbing

灰色カンガルー

10月28日（木）快晴

赤カンガルーに次ぐ大型種。体長1m、尾長1m、体重60kg。最高時速70kmで跳躍。時速40kmで2km跳び続けることができ、1日100km移動することもあります。カンガルーは豪州固有種で草食性。新生児は1g以下。親離れまで40週を要します。ちなみにOZは18年、日本人は30年？

ロック・ワラビー

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Grey kangaroo

Thu. October 28 : fine

It’s the second biggest kangaroo ranked after the red kangaroo. It has a body length of 1m, a tail length of 1m and a weight of 60kg. It can run at full speed of 70km/hour. It runs 2km with 40km/hour speed and that allows it move 100km a day. A kangaroo is Australian original species and herbivorous. A new born baby weighs less than 1g. It takes 40 weeks for a baby to be independent of parents. By the way, it takes 18 years for a OZ and 30 years for a Japanese.

 

rock wallaby

コウノトリの巣

10月27日（水）快晴

セイタカコウ（背高鸛）。インド、東南アジア、豪州北部に生息。　全長２ｍ、体重10kg前後、翼開長は2.5m。頭、首、肩、羽根の付け根、くちばしは黒色。目は黄色。目の周囲は紫色。脚は赤色。水辺に生息する留鳥で群生はしません。水辺の動物を摂取。樹上や岩の上に木の枝や草をを積み上げて直径2mの巣を作ります。

コウノトリ

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Nest of storks

Wed. October 27 : fine

 

The black necked stork; it lives in India, South East Asia and north Australia. It has a length of 2m, a weight of around 10kg and a wing length of 2.5m. It has black head, neck, shoulder, shoulder joint and beaks and yellow eyes surrounded by purple rings around them, and red legs. It is a kind of nomadic bird living at the water edge and it does not bunch together. It eats the animals inhabits at the water edge. It builds a nest of a 2m diameter by piling the branches and grass in the tree or on the rock.

storks

 

黒鳥の巣

10月26日（火）快晴

豪州の固有種。季節や環境の変化により移動する漂鳥。全長130cm、体重は6kg前後、翼開長は2m。嘴は赤く、先端付近に白色の斑点。成鳥は全体が黒色ですが、幼鳥の羽毛は白色で嘴は黒色。草食性で主に水草を摂取。浅瀬や陸に草を積み上げた直径約1.5mの巣を作ります。

黒い鳥・白い鳥

 

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Nest of black swans

Tue. October 26 : fine

 

The black swan is the Australian original species. It is a kind of nomadic bird wanders according to seasonal and environmental changes. It has a length of 130cm, a weight of around 6kg and a wing length of 2m. It has red beaks with a white spot on top. The entire body of its adult bird is black but the feathers of an infant bird are white and the beaks are black. It is herbivorous and eats waterweeds mainly. It builds a 1.5 diameter nest by piling the grass on the shallows or land.

 

black bird and white bird

 

潮風からり

10月25日（月）快晴

 

日本では、潮風はべとつくものと相場が決まっています。寝具も衣類も湿気を帯び、金属は何でも錆び、車の寿命も極端に縮みます。しかし豪州の海辺はからりとした空気。どこの家でもテラスにソファを置いてくつろぎます。潮風が肌に心地よく、寝室の窓を全開にして昼寝をするのは至福の時です。

シエスタ

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Pleasant sea breeze

Mon. October 25 : fine

The sea breeze is defined as something sticky In Japan. Every bedding and clothes get damp, every iron rusts and expected life span of automobiles becomes extremely shorter. On the other hand, the breeze on Australian beaches is nice and dry. Every household sets the sofa on their terrace and people relax on it. The sea breeze blows pleasantly over your skin. It is one of the happiest moments of your life to take a nap with all the windows open. 

 

 siesta 

 

珊瑚海の満月

10月24日（日）快晴

南の国の珊瑚礁にはジュゴンという海獣が住んでいます。海が青く輝く満月の夜、ジュゴンは若い乙女に姿を変えて浜辺のヤシの木陰で歌います。そして家から誘い出されて来た人々の中で一番美しい少年を波間に導き入れて姿を消します。「これは本当の話だ」と、３年前に死んだ嘘つき兄貴が教えてくれました。

中秋の名月

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Full moon on Coral Sea

Sun. October 24 : fine

The Dugong, a kind of sea animals live in the coral of southern countries. At the night with a full moon the sea shines in blue and the dugong disguises herself as a young human girl and sing songs under the pine tree. Hearing the song people are invited to come out from their houses, and then the dugong lead the most beautiful boy into the waves and disappear under the sea. A storyteller, my brother who died 3years ago said to me,“This is a true story.”

 

the harvest moon 

マンゴの食害

10月23日（土）快晴

マンゴ農家の大敵はミバエ（実蠅）とフルーツ・バット。ミバエは薬剤散布で撃退できますが、フルーツ・バット駆除には木全体をネットで覆う以外に妙案はありません。近所のバス停のマンゴも御覧の通り。不妊剤や銃の使用に、環境保護団体が同意しません。ニンニクや十字架で撃退できないのかなあ？

 

フルーツ・バット 

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Vermin damage of mangos

Sat. October 23 : fine

 

The powerful enemies of mango farmers are fruit flies and fruit bats. They can drive off fruit flies by sprinkling chemicals but there is no bright idea how to repel fruit bats except for covering the whole tree with the net. The mango tree beside the bus stop in my neighborhood looks miserable as you can see. Pro-environmentalist groups never agree on using infertility agents or guns. Can garlic or the cross defeat them?

 

fruit bat

果物の買い出し

10月22日（金）雨後晴

 

ケアンズの青物市場は毎週金土日の3日間営業。安く買うなら日曜の午後の閉店間際の投げ売りが狙い目。でも僕たちは新鮮な野菜・果物が欲しいので金曜の午前中に買い物袋を6つ持って買い出し。写真は2人の1週間分の果物の一部。この他にマンゴが７個とポメロが2個。ぎっくり腰になりそうです。 

ポメロ

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Fruit shopping

Fri. October 22 : fine after rain

The green market in Cairns opens for three days a week from Friday to Sunday. If you want to get something cheaper you should try just before the closing time on a Sunday afternoon when they sell things at a sacrifice. Since we want to get vegetables and fruit fresh we go there on Friday mornings with our 6 shopping bags. This is a photo of a part of fruit we got for two of us for a week. Except this there are 7 mangos and 2 pomelos. I feel as I am having an acute back pain.

 

pomelo

ジャカランダ

10月21日（木）雨

僕の生活規範は晴遊雨読。今年の春は雨が多く家に籠って読書三昧。ふと思い付いて雨の晴れ間にジャカランダ見物に出かけましたが、シティーは既に散った後。テーブルランドも花の盛りを過ぎていました。熱帯のケアンズは各種の派手な花木が溢れているのでジャカランダはあまり植栽されていません。

シドニーのジャカランダ

 

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Jacaranda

Thu. October 21 : rainy

 

My life norm is playing on fine day and reading on rainy day. There have been a lot of rainy days this spring so I have been staying home being absorbed in reading. On a sudden impulse I went to see jacaranda being waiting for a lull in the rain. The blooms had fallen in City by then and the full bloom season had also finished in Table Land as well. As there are so many kinds of colorful flower trees in tropical Cairns jacarandas are hardly planted.

 

シドニーjacaranda  in Sydney

 

大聖堂イチジク（cathedral fig tree）

10月20日（水）快晴

 

テーブルランドで観光客に公開されているもう1本の絞め殺しのイチジク。沖縄では「ガジュマル」と呼ばれますが、「絡まる」が訛ったもののようです。クワ科、イチジク属。英語の正式名はバンヤン。和名はベンガル菩提樹。ヒンズー教の聖木。カルカッタのバンヤンは周囲が450mあります。

世界一のバンヤン（音声あり）

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Cathedral Fig Tree

Wed. October 20 : fine

This is another strangle fig tree opened to public inspection in Table Land. In Okinawa fig trees are called “Gajumaru” and it seems to mean the wind. They are in the mulberry tree family and fig genus. The English formal name is Banyan, or “Bengal Sacred Fig” in Japanese. It’s a sacred tree of Hindu religion. A banyan grows in Calcutta has its circumference of 450m.

 

the world's biggest Banyan

 

イチジク大滝？(Curtain Fig Tree)

10月19日（火）快晴

 

熱帯雨林の巨木も雨が降ってこそ成長します。熱帯のイチジクは鳥に種が運ばれて他の木に着生すると次々と気根を伸ばして元の木を絞め殺します。「カーテン・イチジク」と名付けられたテーブルランドの巨木は樹齢500年。ケアンズから車で1時間半。駐車場から木道を歩いて3分。

カーテン・イチジク　

 

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Curtain Fig Tree

Yue. October 19 : fine

Giant trees in the tropical rain forest grow only in the rainfall. The seeds of tropical figs are brought by birds first, and then they insert to other trees, extend their aerial roots one by one and finally strangle the original tree to death. The giant tree named “Curtain Fig Tree” is 500 years old. It takes 1 and half hours from Cairns by car plus 3minutes from parking area on foot on the boardwalk.

 

Curtain Fig Tree　

 

 

バロン大滝

10月18日（月）快晴

 

例年今の時期は乾季。今年は雨が多く既に雨期に入ったような天候。雨は水不足を解消し、暑さを和らげてくれるので住民は大歓迎。雨が降っても傘をさしません。一方濡れるのが嫌いなアジア人観光客は渋い顔。しかしキュランダ鉄道の途中にあるバロン大滝は、雨が降ってこそ雄大な姿を見せてくれます。

 

冬枯れのバロン大滝

 

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Barron Falls

Mon. October 18 : fine

 

It’s usually the dry season now. We have a lot of rain this year and it seems that it has already been the rainy season. Residents welcome it because the rain improves the water shortage and soften the hotness. They never use umbrellas in the rain. On the other side, Asian tourists don’t like to get wet in the rain and they show frowns on their faces. However, Barron Falls you can see from the Kuranda railway shows great scenery only when there is a lot of rainfall.

 

Barron Falls in dry winter

 

 

冬枯れのバロン大滝

ヒメジャコウインコ；Little Lorikeet

10月17日（日）快晴

僕の住むVUEの空中回廊の植え込みに毎日夕方お喋りなインコの大群がねぐらを求めて飛んできます。日没までの1時間は話し声も聞こえないほどの井戸端会議。時々不注意な鳥がエレベーターホールの大きな窓ガラスに激突。目を閉じている鳥は大体助かりません。大きな透明のガラスは鳥の天敵。

虹色インコ

 

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Little Lorikeet

Sun. October 17 : fine

A flock of chatter lorikeets come to roost in the planting of air corridor of our VUE apartment building every evening. They gossip for an hour until the sunset: they speak so loudly that we cannot hear our conversation. Sometimes some careless birds crush into the big glass in the elevator hall. The bird with their eyes shut usually go to death. Big transparent glasses are one of the natural enemies for birds.

 

rainbow lorikeet