Kenny G is leaving the house! I attended a rollickin' farewell party for Kenny and Suzanne down at the local basement bar, Green Door, last night. Kenny has been variously part of my Book Club for many years, the bass player in several incarnations of ex-pat bands playing all over Taipei and our occasional visitor at Uli's on his way home from a swim at the local pool! Suzanne is an awesomely talented musician who uses her skills professionally as one of the lower school's music teachers, while singing and playing in pop-up bands all round the place. These guys are a perfect match and one of my friends quipped as we watched them performing last night, "I'll bet they sing and play at the breakfast table as well!"
Kenny is from the deep south of the States, while Suzanne is a French speaking English rose. I've heard the story of their meeting and courtship from Kenny's perspective. He's a famously entertaining raconteur and the story has probably been embellished somewhat, yet, nonetheless, tales of boats on the Seine, mind-altering substances and a fairly determined chase are all part of it! They're from wildly different parts of the world, very different in age and background, yet their shared passions brought them together. Kenny's retiring and possibly Suzanne is too, but they are definitely moving to England to renovate their newly purchased cottage and get the kids settled in the local schools. Kenny is determined that we catch up sometime in France, and that is probably on the cards too.
Prior to this, Cass and I steeled ourselves for a final assault for this academic year on the formidable stone steps of Tienmu Gudao. I think we both felt the need for the challenge so that we're in good shape for our soon-to-be daily routine of the coastal walk from Merewether to Shepherd's Hill and (occasionally) beyond. The walk "back home" is not really in the same level of difficulty as this one here, but it does take longer!
We sequestered the scooter in a tiny illegal park at the end of a line of cars at the foot of the steps, secured our icy cold water bottles in the boot, and headed off up the mountain. The usual weekend "traffic" was evident and the term, "all the gear, but no idea" regularly sprang to mind. Many of the weekend warriors are fully kitted out in the latest Nike or other sporting brands, legs sheathed in those tight black leggings which are supposed to have some sort of restorative purpose, and armed with mountaineering style walking poles. They have little sport backpacks and the latest sunglasses matching their brand new designer joggers. Sometimes, we even encounter people resembling Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tensing with hiking boots, rugged pants tucked into knee high socks and what resembles an apiarist's headgear. Despite all the trappings, almost to exclusion, we manage to motor past them on the way up and the way down, partly as they stop at awkward moments and positions on the steps to "take a breather"!
It was another successful assault, yet the cloying heat of approaching summer was palpable. The monkey signs and insignia were everywhere on the ridgeline of course, but mercifully, our strolling simian sidekicks were not! In fact, for a change, there was very little evidence of creatures in the forests, as even the birds seem to have lost their voice. We dodged and weaved between the odd centipede or lizard on the steps but it wasn't till we reached the bottom that we had our first proper encounter: a giant snail was inching its way along the platform with impunity! Cass reckons she mainly goes just to experience the cooling draughts we enjoy at the bottom of the mountain: I retrieve the water bottles from the scooter and we sit and relax on the wooden bleachers at the bottom, all aflush and smug with our achievement!
We've got a few jobs to accomplish in the next few days as we shut up operations here in Taipei for a couple of months. The "girls" need various food and toiletry supplies and we need to clean up our own food and garbage. Flights are confirmed and drivers booked and my new parking arrangements have been made. I have to get some surfboards back home, and get the car settled snugly into its new underground carpark. Unusually this year, I also have to move rooms at work. I need to start packing boxes and arrange for my red couches to be transported as they're like seating gold: I scrounged them over a period of years from the basement furniture storage room! I have a massive supply of teaching materials purely suited to elementary school which are my own, many of them hand made. They're probably not much use for anyone else, so the recycling and garbage bins will be getting a workout too!
We'll be off before the next instalment of the blog is due, so thanks for reading this year and we'll be up and running again in August, hopefully with some tales and photographic evidence of a few Antipodean adventures!
Photos: a blast from the past (recognise someone?!), frozen Japanese beer (!), shots from the steps, a Taiwanese amputee traffic warden and a couple from Kenny's farewell. I've just finished re-reading Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" and have started Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" again. What a dedicated teacher I am(!) Cass has read a few since I've updated, but I think her current is Paul Auster's "4 3 2 1"
