We were getting a little stir crazy after successive days of dribbling rain, tossing winds and oppressive humidity so were determined to start the weekend off with an outing. We split up and went our separate ways on Friday night under the threat of the second typhoon's imminent landfall some time later in the night, possibly about midnight. Cass had her second bookclub meeting in short time owing to a delayed date from the last and I was succumbing to football finals fever once again after meeting up quite late with Wal to have a few beers before we went further afield.
Cass armed herself with an umbrella, sensible shoes, and ditched her fancy bag for the evening as we anticipated quite the onslaught. It never really eventuated, however, and despite some squalls and huffing and puffing, the big bad giant didn't really arrive until the next day. She had a great night with the "girls" and they had a feast of both food and drink as well as literary opinion. I, on the other hand, managed to forget my umbrella twice, but circled back to re-claim it as the rain threatened. We enjoyed a cameo from Tim, our neighbour, for a spot down at Uli's and we caught up with his latest and greatest.
On Saturday, determined that the typhoon (which had been squatting on the northern tip of the island overnight) had finally decamped, we found a movie worth watching and prepared ourselves to go over to the other side of Tienmu via scooter. Cass, in hindsight quite sensibly, suggested a cab, but I seemed sure that the wind and rain had moved on. By the time we'd got to the basement, the rain had started to tip down again, yet we decided to make the relatively short trip anyway. We got about 3/4 of the way there: the rain was beating down, we were getting saturated and the bike was being tossed like a twig in the heavy bursts of ferocious wind. We decided to turn back as we were only going to be very uncomfortable sitting in our soggy clothes for two hours anyway. See the aftermath of the adventure up top, or here later on!
After we dried off, we decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and postponed any further adventures until things had really settled down. We spent a pleasant evening in listening to the elements tearing and worrying, while we sat snugly dry inside. On Sunday, conditions were only slightly improved and we again tracked the typhoon hoping for a postponement of Cassy's camp for just one day. Unfortunately, the text came through around midday confirming that all camps would go ahead as planned on Monday morning....bad luck!
Cassy variously moped and moaned on Sunday evening and again on Monday morning. It really is her most dreaded time of year. The conditions at the camp are very rudimentary: the cabins rank with mold and ramshackle at best, the non-stop activities and feeding relentless and enervating, and the whole "on-duty" bit for 24/7 combined with associated privations quite disheartening. Anyway, she didn't succumb to the depressing reality for long, but instead expounded that, "It will all be over soon...."! I'll be looking forward to welcoming her back on Friday afternoon!
Photos: the Chinese version of "Punch and Judy" in our local park, Cass with pretty flowers and not in the best mood after our drenching!