11pm was kickoff time for the Knights on Friday night after the Australianetwork, in their wisdom, decided to delay the NRL telecast in favour of the AFL one. We were excited, dispirited, hopeful then ecstatic in turns as we rode the emotion of the game as fortunes ebbed and flowed. I found myself jumping around the loungeroom at 1 in the morning as the Knights ground out a very gutsy win.
Incessant rain has pounded Taipei city for days and days. In the short windows between the dumps, people scurry out getting their business done as quickly as possible. Even the short breaks have disappeared now: it has been raining torrentially for nearly 24 hours and the 7 day forecast indicates rain, storms, downpours and wind will continue to lash the city.
Josh and I did some boxing training at the school gym on Saturday morning and ran into Aaron and Johnsy, who were there in their official capacities as officials at a volleyball tournament. The upper and lower gyms were abuzz with kids and coaches from lots of Asian schools visiting for the tournament. Shouts of encouragement, whistles and cheers provided a different background to the one we’re used to: usually we’re the only ones in there! Today, I’m nursing a severely bruised arm from an errant punch delivered by mistake yesterday…oh well, can’t expect to escape completely free of injury practicing such pursuits. I’d booked some tickets to the pictures online and picked them up before we boxed and subsequently dashed home to pick Cassy up so we could get there on time. Mercifully, the rain held off long enough for us to get there. “The Wicker Man” was quite a silly film really, but Nicholas Cage is always pretty good, so it kept us vaguely entertained. We had a late lunch at Chili’s before making it home to watch the football; languid, fat drops of rain plopping on our heads ominously as we got close to home. The rain started then and, well, it’s still going now!!
Lewy and Marcus and Gerry formed a southern Australian connection to watch the AFL semi at Josh’s place and I puttered the scooter through the rain up there last night. We had a few beers, pies, KFC and enjoyed some good banter, although I felt slightly left out: the AFL talk was a bit beyond my comprehension, especially when they started talking about stars of the 70s and so and so’s father’s cousin etc. Still, it was a good night and we stuck around to watch the rugby with Australia and South Africa and then the NRL semi featuring the Bulldogs and Canberra…whew: too much football is never enough.
Sunday has been a wet, miserable day, but we’ve stayed safe in our little cocoon here. Cassy discovered we had just enough to eat so we didn’t need to brave the outside to visit the shops, so we’ve just hunkered down. We’ve read and marked papers (Cassy) and watched football and videos (David)! The surf was blown today and yesterday, the Pillbox beckoned, but the wind was just too strong for it to produce anything rideable. I’ve designed a new “pointyhat” logo on Publisher and intend to order a new board this week to replace the fish that I took home in June. I’ve managed to insert a little pointyhat into the logo, and it even features some cross hatched yellow lines, so it looks pretty authentic.
I asked Cassy if she wanted to report anything and she said, “Go the Knights!” and “If it doesn’t stop raining soon I’m going to go insane!” I couldn’t agree more. Photos: an attempt to capture the teeming rain from our balcony, Virg yawns, Mary looks very wary!