Suffice to say, we celebrated the start of the holidays in our own unique styles! While I was watching football, drinking beers and eating a pie and mashed at patio 84 with Wal et al, Cass was enjoying her 7/11 salad and watching "question pour le champion" on the lounge with two hot balls of fur!
I had the alarm set for an early hour to get across to the beach to meet up with a mate, Simon, another Aussie I've met in my travels here. He hasn't had a surf for months and I said we'd be a good match as I've been pretty slack too. Anyway, after the dramas of the week before when the car wouldn't start (flat battery), I was relieved when it fired up and made the trip in fine style. The day was sensational and the water glittered on arrival. The only trouble was the lack of swell! I met up with Simon and soon enough Dan and his family arrived so we had a good time bobbing around in the very cold water (cold current), soaking up some beams and having a lot of fun. The trip back was fantastic, scenery wise as it's rare to crest the top of the mountain without a shroud of mist and rain spoiling the endless views. Saturday was an exception, and you could see forever: beautiful views to the point I nearly ran off the road a couple of times trying to take them in as I drove through the endless curves!
On Saturday afternoon, we planned to go downtown to the Chungshan area to pick up Cassy's bag from the infamous "bag shop". On the way, we thought we'd enjoy the magnificent spring weather and have a bit of a stroll around. We poked our heads into various new high end "home living" shops that have mushroomed around our little pocket of section 6 and marveled at the beautiful things. As we have half an eye on continuing to furnish our place back home, these forays are always a little interesting (as long as they don't last too long, I always reckon!). We then wandered through the SOGO forecourt, past their impressively huge and plentiful black granite garden seating and garden surrounds out the back to the little alley near Zhishan station. "Eat Burger" is a favourite occasional eating stop for us. We'd be there way more often if we let ourselves go crazy, but feel we can only justify the calorie overload every now and then! The food here is so good: piping fresh and served in a cool atmosphere, always with great English speaking staff, which just takes that extra little bit of pressure off sometimes.
Very full, we again strolled in the sunshine to train and whizzed through the northern reaches of the big city down to the heart. Cass picked up her bag which had been custom designed and lengthened just a tad to accommodate her new wallet. I was even quite impressed with the end result. We babbled away with the craftsman about another one she might get made, talked about the size and materials then went away to think! On the way back we had a cup of coffee on the mezzanine level overlooking some fancy makeup counters. The chandeliers in this place had to be seen to be believed: Cassy was most perplexed as to how they could possibly clean them! After our heart starter, we caught the train back home, watched a little football then had a nice quiet night in...we were a bit exhausted!
Well, Saturday kind of caught up with us today and the most excitement I've had was watching a heart-stopping NRL game live between the Knights and the Dragons, where the newly privately owned Knights nearly pulled off a huge upset. Although I did jump around the room quite a bit, I'd hardly deem it as exercise! Cass was very good and did her river circuit in double quick time, but she was huffing and puffing a bit when she got back. She'd set off in jeans, but about halfway around she realised that the heat meant shorts would have been a much better option!
We've got a week stretching before us with no work, no plans, just lots of leisure. Cass has a birthday on Tuesday, we're probably off to the flower festival on Wednesday or Thursday, but apart from that, we're free as birds.Good times. Cass is reading, "Family History" by Dani Shapiro and I'm trying a touch of fantasy with "The Magician" by Raymond Feist. Photos: a weird mix today, Cass threatening me with an iron for trying to take her photo in sepia tones while doing housework in her house clothes!! (this will only last as long as I don't show her before I have to remove it!), a shot of a full burqa wearing woman on the street in Taipei...very unusual. Each of us at our swish cafe, waffles with tuna(!), a dead fish I liked at the beach, the small surf and Cassy at the very cool, "Eat Burger".
