The week started quite eventfully for us, which is rather unusual, as the weekdays at school roll around with great regularity and similarity, a necessary by-product of a school system, where routines seem to be set and Pavlovian responses expected at all times to schedules and “bell times”! Cass was due to go off to MS camp, but as I mentioned last week, she was feeling very unfit. The sickness just got worse and her weakness didn’t improve, so she resolved to do her best at resting on Monday with the plan we would drive up to Fulong early on Tuesday morning.Cass did feel just a little better on Tuesday, so we drove up. The trip there was relatively uneventful, sluicing along freeways and diving off at the coast to follow the ocean road all the way to Fulong. Hitting the nuclear power plant at peak hour was an experience as in and around the area was teeming with hard hat wearing, betel nut chewing workers, all of whom looked like they hadn’t had a shower for 2 weeks! Maybe they were just knocking off after a double? Anyway, Cass was safely deposited into the welcoming arms of the Grade 8 camp support faculty and I turned and headed for Tienmu about 7.45 am. Hhhmmm…about one hour to get there and about 2 and a half to get back! It was kind of wild to experience driving in rush hour in such a big city. The drop off ramp at Tiding Interchange at Neihu had a line up of about 1 kilometre and cops controlling the turn. Once off the freeway, things got even worse: all I can say is I’m often thankful that the “auborgino’s” paintwork is less than pristine, as I charge straight into gaps with the sure realization that my car is worse than everyone else’s and surely (?) they’ll stop…
Cass did survive the week, but didn’t fully recover till about now and she still has a niggling cough. While she was away, I did my annual purging of unwanted stuff and massive cleanup campaign. Little stuff that builds up was my target and I took all the books from my bedside table (27 of them!) and transported them into the study. Then I realized that I’d have to rearrange all those books, so I undertook a big sort out and cleaned up the whole bookshelf. I then got rid of all the accumulated rubbish, old cardboard boxes that the cats played in, and gave the house a thorough clean so Cass wouldn’t feel the need when she got home. She was able to have a very relaxing weekend because of that, so the plan worked!
We went on the MRT to Fushing South to visit Pie Boy for a late lunch, where we ran into Aaron and Rachel (Cass worked with her at Tiger Tot’s years ago) and their kids, just as they were leaving. After a very tasty lunch (pictured) and loading up with a bit of takeaway, we went to the computer market area. I was after a SanDisk “Sansa Clip”, for an extra MP3 player to augment my iPod Touch. I wanted something tiny and practical to read some Chinese to me as I do the steps and the trails (and maybe some music too!), and had researched them a fair bit and this one was the go. Well, I could have been knocked down with a feather when no one had one! This is Taiwan….come on, please! They had everything else known to man, but I figured out that Taiwan based makers were dominating and SanDisk is made in China…that cross strait war continues on a different front! Even though the tech wizardry was impressive, I had my heart set on this little player, so in a definite case of “shipping coals to Newcastle”, I went and bought one online: to be delivered soon!
We had a very relaxed day today and slipped into our Sunday zone of sleeping in and having a leisurely brekky reading Herald clippings supplied by Mum, eating raison toast and drinking coffee…great! We wandered down the road to have some foccacia (new for around here) at a place creatively named “Bread and Soup” for a late lunch. It was good and Cass bought a black silk ¾ sleeve top at a shop on the way home. It had another interesting name: “Skin Joy”! Home to watch the slick South Sydney Rabbitohs beat the Roosters, Cass went and did some grocery shopping and I wrote this. Have you noticed we are adding a pic of what books we’re reading now? KP, thanks for the email, I followed your suggestion! I have also put a list of my 3 (yes, 3!) other blogs, which should update automatically. Photos: New re-vamped bookshelf, Pie Boy feast and “Bread and Soup”.