Cass continued to feel washed out and lethargic through much of the Chinese New Year break, so we selected pastimes and outings that wouldn't wear her out too much. Of course, back to school today, she's beginning to feel marginally better: it's always the way isn't it?
I mentioned I whipped over to the massive hardware store(previously B&Q) to get a shelf for our shower recess to replace the rusting shower caddy that I think we brought from Australia! I managed to source one and get it installed when I got home, but in the meantime, I enjoyed the stroll around that part of town, taking in a pocket park with the most magnificent sakura blossoms and even spied a lady going real old-school with a peasant's hat, fixed gear bike trundling the main drags in search of cardboard
We took a trip to the coast mid-week and it was a bit of an effort just to get rallied and prepared, get the scooter up to school where we have the car garaged and get out on the mountain road. I packed all my surfing gear to take, mistakenly believing the wet-suit was already on board. The mountain road snakes its way through the maddening procession of flower viewers on their way to the Yangminshan flower clock and surrounding walks, yet once in the misty heights around the fumaroles, the traffic eases and the car can be put through it paces on some racy little sections and corners. It's always four seasons in a day up there and it didn't disappoint. The surf at Jinshan harbour was almost non-existent, so we drove round to check the fishing boats bobbing gently on a mirror like surface, just having a little break before being pressed into service at twilight for their daily exercise. Jinshan proper was a mess and although I was vaguely tempted to go out, my mind was made up when I discovered I was definitely sans wetsuit! We ventured around the area a little, held our breath negotiating some crazily narrow country lanes, saw some artists painting idyllic scenes and ate a crude lunch at the biggest 7/11 in the world.
We watched some great movies during the week, one of which was not "Kingsman", which we saw at the cinemas! It was another calm outing for the sicky and it was good to just be able to get out and about for a while. Cass bought some perfume at the department store opposite (remember all those empties from last week?!) and we had a pleasant little trip.
I went up to Yangminshan again during the week, this time to help Wal on his little plot of land as he extricated some juniper trees from their spots and assisted with a cutting back and re-planting strategy that he wanted to implement. Unfortunately after the 30 minute trip up there, we discovered that someone had pinched the shiny new shovel he'd left up there just two days previously. It was such a shock to us, that someone would steal something here that we valiantly scoured the countryside for the next half hour or so to see if someone had "borrowed" it. As we investigated, I was able to soak up the beautiful sun and bucolic scenes of these tiny plots, everything from semi-commercial trees and flowers to tiny market gardens and gentlemen farmers like Wal tending their hobbies. There were cute little temples set up on ridge lines, ingenious little irrigation and drainage systems trickling water around the fields and tiny paths dividing and connecting the various boutique garden beds. We ended giving up on our plans and retiring to a coffee shop just down the road to imagine what could have been!
Cass was able to rally a little later in the week to have a luncheon outing with her friend, Kristin. They haven't had a chance for a catch-up for quite some time, even missing out on the regular book club meeting last Friday. So with stories and chats to catch up on, they drifted their lunch into the late afternoon and didn't know where the time had gone!
I had a few beers with Wal on Saturday before seeing various incarnations of the bands that I go to see semi-regularly. I took a little video of their last couple of songs as they had already cleaned out the patrons and been told to keep the microphones either off, or really toned down. It was pretty good (if I don't say so myself!) for a one shot video, as I tried to keep a steady hand, not jump around too much and vary the angles. It helped that I know all the guys well, and they played along with the whole thing!
Oh, I mentioned we did a bit of movie and screen viewing? Apart from various cricket matches, we saw Nightcrawler and Whiplash before the academy awards (this morning) and rated both of them very highly. We've also nearly watched the entire latest series of Homeland....oh my, that stuff is a real heart starter and we've discovered that it is far too stimulating as a pre-sleep viewing option....it gave us both some tossing and turning nights!
Photos: guitar shop has a fun door handle, the huge hardware store, cherry blossoms and pointy hatted recycler. Jinshan shots, Yangminshan plot shots, and the last a familiar scene from the 1000 steps. Cassy and I are both reading the same book at the moment, both electronically, she on the Kindle and me on the iPad. It is The Secret Place by Tana French...it's great!
