Segue to my own scooter, Blackie, who has been suffering from what was first suspected to be a terminal illness, but now, miraculously, he has been raised from his death bed! After choking and puffing his way through the last 12 months, being increasingly difficult to start, and rattling and wheezing like a bronchial nonagenarian, old Blackie finally gave up the ghost a few weeks back. No matter of gentle coaxing or violent kick-starting was going to spark him back to life. The last time I'd got him started, I treated him to a new battery, spark plugs, an oil change, a new oil filter: the lot, but to no avail. I gave it one last shot and Mr. Lee's daughter and son-in-law helped me push and pull the old fella over to the repair shop on Mingde Road. The miracle mechanic cleaned out many engine parts and took apart the carburetor, but, most mysteriously replaced a vital part known as "the bladder"! The word was written in katakana and I could read it: despite being written in Japanese, the word must have originated in English.....anyway, whatever this bladder is, it's worked a small miracle and we're back on the road for a minimal cost!
To celebrate we went over in the spitting rain to the cinema on Sunday to see the much hyped megaflic, "Interstellar". We were pretty disappointed. Maybe it has something to do with the general theme: despite my rabid interest since I was a little kid in all things to do with spacecraft, the last few space blockbusters have left me wanting more. Is it perhaps that I expect such greatness, that the films can't deliver? Cass and I both agreed that we thought the beginning hour and a half (the film goes nearly three!) preamble needed a good edit down to about 1/2 an hour tops. There were numerous holes in the plot, some so big you could drive a lunar rover through, and Cass even noticed some continuity errors, unforgivable in such a big budget movie. Hokey, jingoistic script, clunky dialogue and wooden acting (especially from old mate, Michael Caine). In the end, we both could only muster a mild "B" for a grade, and if Matt Damon's cameo was cut, it would barely register a "C". Anyway, our two cents worth!
Rewind to Saturday afternoon and we made yet one more ill fated mission to find the ShangriLa of Japanese curry houses, another branch of Cassy's favourite, Aubergine. Thwarted in previous weeks downtown by its sudden disappearance, we looked up the website and found another outlet down south of the city, near Gongguan Station. A 25 minute ride on the peak hour train, spat out near the Shida Road National University, we wandered the block or two to the address. Plonk right where it should have been was the "Ponderosa Steakhouse", not a vegetable, let alone an aubergine to be seen!
Unwilling to venture further, we opted to check out the steakhouse. Australian beef on the menu, we opted for the fillet mignon, finding it mildly peculiar to be asked to pay up front. We realized why when we entered, as an all-you-can-eat buffet stood steaming in the side hall of the restaurant, all plastic plates and tongs and serving forks at ten paces. We served ourselves some hot and cold product from the very diverse selection and had pretty much finished eating before we saw a tiny girl drop the tongs on the floor, pick them up, select some more stuff then decide she didn't want it after all and calmly returned it all, piece by piece, by hand. I knew there was a reason we never went to these places!
Somehow surviving without a case of botulism, we wandered the busy University environs for a while before demurring on the charms of the mid-Saturday night MRT crush to get a cab home. We've realized that the company that runs "Aubergine" must have gone bust, so Cass has resigned herself to finding a new signature Japanese dish or restaurant.
Happy days in Taipei at the moment as the weather has flicked a switch over to autumn temperatures now (only 2 1/2 months late!), and we're enjoying a crisp touch in the morning and cooler evenings without air-cons and fans.
Photos:elections, Cassy with new necklace (pearls and diamonds), meat in the open air on the back of a "Bluey", the Ponderosa, a carpark with just one space left (!) and rain coated on the way back from the cinema.