I tore down the main road of Tienmu on “Blacky” the scooter, wildly grasping at a plastic bag full of bottles in one hand and desperately trying to navigate, accelerate and brake with the other, dodging in and out of traffic, relentlessly gaining on my elusive foe, the recycling truck. What on earth was I doing? Was my life reduced to chasing a garbage truck through the streets of Taipei in the evenings? Did it really matter if those bottles stayed on our back verandah for another few days? The answers to these questions were far from my mind as I determined the truck coming at odd times would not beat me!
A calm opening to the week like this certainly set the tone for what was to come, culminating in our semi destruction of a brand new Mercedes yesterday (slight exaggeration…hook for reader to continue). I went to B&Q on Tuesday to purchase all the requisite materials to build the “Great Cat Shelving/Resting Unit” (hereafter referred to as GCSU) on the weekend. We’d decided to use the cat gym as the first launching pad for an intermediate shelf as a step, then a wide shelf for resting and looking out a new window which I installed in the spot reserved for an air conditioner in the back bedroom’s wall. The cats could then enjoy a high seat with a direct view to outside. The GCSU had been planned for some time, so I was pretty confident I knew what to get, although the Chinese labels and Chinese speaking staff proved a little problematic. Still, with a concrete project easily explained with drawings and figures, I managed to arrive home with the shelves, brackets, screws, mouldings, nails etc necessary. I “borrowed” some cushiony felt from the school’s art department and a staple gun, so Cass and I could cushion and cover the big shelf. We got the pane of glass in and nailed the moulding on the fitted the brackets with the help of Chad’s hammer drill. The GCSU has proved to be a great success, the cats not even coming down to say hello to us sometimes! Cass sewed some elastic rings on each corner of a few towels and we screwed some cup hooks in under for them to attach to. It works very well indeed and even the destructo kitties have been unable to rip the towel off!
Ross and I braved the six-inch surf on Friday afternoon, only to arrive home to the news that our new (2 years old) Grundig multi system TV had “blown up”! Cass just turned it on and there was a puff and a smell and no picture. The salesman at Takashimaya where we bought it said they don’t stock Grundig anymore, but he’ll ring their rep on Monday. We’re really hoping it is not major, but it doesn’t sound good. We lasted about a day and a half without a TV before I went round and borrowed Ross and Ains’ spare that they haven’t been using. The DVD and video isn’t hooked up, but at least we can watch our beloved ABC Asiapacific. We spent most of Saturday building the GCSU, so it worked out fairly well after all.
Sunday’s beach trek started at 7 am and a light offshore breeze was tempting us into wonderful images of glassy swell and plentiful waves for all. It was certainly glassy and the waves were a beautiful shape, but no one had told the god of swell to visit. We got a few small waves early on till the wind picked up, the tide came in a bit and I decided to head in for a drink and a sandwich. Ross persevered for a ½ an hour or so longer and then finally gave up. By this time the local boys were just starting to turn up in numbers, (a curious thing here: unlike other parts of the world, the local boys seem to have a great aversion to going for an early surf when the conditions tend to be at their best. We’re not concerned of course: we generally get at least a couple of hours in before anyone joins us!) and the surf was offering nothing more than the occasional shore dump on the set. Quite violent wind squalls were whipping up by now and we had taken the precaution of bagging our boards and putting them at the back of the car to protect them from the wind. As we sat on the bonnet looking out and discussing the merits of the various surfers, a terrible gust picked up one of our boards and cart wheeled it through the air till it thumped quite resoundingly against the brand new black Merc parked beside us! The girlfriend of the owner (who was in the water) jumped out and preceded to shout, cry and perform assorted histrionics, while pointing to the fairly significant dent the board had made on the otherwise pristine bodywork and duco. She yelled for the guy to come in and by this stage, quite the event was happening. Every guy at the beach came up and offered their opinion to the owner, who was ringing body shops all over Taipei to get quotes. Ross and I were very apologetic, repeating it was an accident, and a couple of guys, including the ubiquitous Johnny Rose, of surf shop fame, came to the rescue with some translating. After we laughed down the first quote of NT$30,000 we eventually settled on NT$5,000 and Ross (luckily he had his wallet and card with him) headed off to Jinshan town to get some money out of the bank. I stayed with the boards as a “security” and although I felt a bit like Typhoid Mary, relations were cordial. I think we covered ourselves and all foreigners in glory by being reasonable and not arguing that we weren’t liable, so I imagine our presence at the beach will be even more welcome in the future. So, some good does come from all that bad luck!
Ross was particularly cautious on the drive home and we promised each other to be careful for the rest of the day after that bit of bad luck! Poor old Carl had to go to Hong Kong for the weekend, and no, I’m not being facetious: he had a nightmare schedule where nearly every minute was accounted for poolside looking after the swimming team.
Finally, how good are those KNIGHTS??????!!!!!!!!!
