The polished boards were covered with plastic sheets and bound with tape, and the indoor bleachers were rolled back and secured. The hoops and backboards had been spirited away, and the neon home and away countdown clock was forlorn and dark. Desks and chairs were lined up in military precision down the length and breadth of the stadium court, and into this field of battle we marched, armed with laptops and grade-books, with a steely determination to negotiate this front line and emerge triumphant in 36 hours time!

Cass has weaved her way through these set two days on countless occasions, yet it was a new experience for me. The middle school's parent conferences are more like our community conferences of years gone by at Grammar, where a succession of nights after work were allocated to these meetings. We're gifted the luxury of two regular school days here, so I suppose anything after that is a bonus!

I was ensconced in my allocated section and meeting my first set of parents with student at 8.01 a.m on Thursday and we packed up our kit to depart at 4 p.m. on Friday afternoon. In between times Cass managed to see 75 sets of people for approximately 10 minutes each! As you can see from the photos up top, there were set desks for the immediate three, with a waiting bay of three straight behind these. It was a barrage of epic proportions and a truce was only called for a lunch hour and not again till the end of each day. It's exhausting, yet not really "hostilities": in fact the military analogy loses its firepower here, as the parents are almost without exception quite delightful and genuinely interested in the progress and improvement of their kids.

I was quite exhausted after just meeting 30 sets, so can hardly imagine how Cassy felt. Anyway, despite that big commitment, we were determined to get out and about just a little on the weekend, mainly to revel in the loosening grip of the heat stranglehold which has been upon the island for months. Why, we even wore light jackets on Saturday as we scootered hither and thither! After our regular shop for essentials at a variety of markets and shops, we decided that the best cinematic option for us would be something escapist, light and funny with a comfort dinner of favourite cuisine as a follow-up.

"Thor: Ragnarok" seemed to fulfill all our requirements on paper and it turned out just so. Have producers and directors invented a new genre? These latest superhero movies that combine teenager needed special effects and big sound and colour and movement, seem increasingly combined with a biting satire and a bunch of self-deprecating "in jokes". We're not sure if it's a deliberate new movement, but it's very entertaining!

We discovered our beloved "Spice Shop" was undergoing renovations and shut for a while, as we dodged and weaved among throngs of Halloween costumed families out and about in the streets and parks surrounding the theatre/restaurant district. Taiwan has really embraced this emblematic American custom and even though the kids are trick-or-treating, the mums and dads seem to be getting as much pleasure from the experience, all dressed up with few exceptions and pushing the boundaries of what might be considered respectable parent attire!

Owing to the ghoulish masses on the street at the witching hour, every eatery we checked out was bursting at the seams. In the end, we resorted to some takeaway Pizza Hut, as even our regular custom pizza joints were full and busy. It wasn't too bad in the end, although loaded with salt, and I managed to force down some leftovers for lunch the next day as well! We watched a ton of quality TV in some binge weekend viewing in the form of the latest series of "Better Call Saul": wow this is nothing other than art on screen, more visually splendid that most movies and far more subtle in exploring themes and characters....top shelf!

Photos: The upper gym, scene of the "battleground" of the great parent conferences, and a couple of shots of a busy Saturday night. I'm reading a great book sent by Gurecki in Japan: it's called "Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare" and Cass is reading "The Sellout" by Paul Beatty.

 

Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation, or RICE as an acronym, is a well known adage that has served sportspeople well for many decades and aided in their quick recovery. I wouldn't go far as to state that Cassy is a sportswoman (despite her fit and healthy lifestyle!), but she has benefited from adherence to this course of treatment for the last four days.

"What happened?!" you,the reader, may well ask. Well, on Thursday, Cass was juggling a tray of coffees on a staircase at school on the way to our one social get-together for the cycle, when she lost her balance momentarily and felt her foot roll on her ankle and "pop" a little. She managed to hobble downstairs where we began an immediate cycle of the aforementioned RICE and we're pleased to report that a solid programme of this has led to a quite remarkable recovery. Today, Monday, she has managed to hobble in to school and manage her classes with the help of her faithful walking stick and some strategically used elevators and helpers.

With the help of some strapped on ice packs, the elevators and some crutches and a taxi, we managed to get home and get ensconced on Thursday evening, whereupon Cass took the night off her feet in any way. She arranged a sick day for Friday and similarly laid low for the entire day and night. With some regular icing, strapping and elevation as well as staying off her feet as much as possible on the weekend, she's managed a quite brilliant recovery: it's still quite tender and weak, but on the way to mending.

Virg'nMary reveled in the extra time lazing around and took advantage of the dozing spells in and around fluffy beds and relaxing lounges! I took on some of our regular weekend tasks solo this time and managed to get the groceries and bread supplies as well as the get the washing done and hung out as well as get some takeaway and fluff around the kitchen a bit. Because of the lack of perambulation in the house, I was inspired to get myself up the Tienmu Gudao steps for the first time since we'd arrived back from camp by the time Sunday morning rolled around.

After filling up with petrol anticipating a heavy use week for "Blackie", I scootered up to the section 7 trail-head in a misting drizzle and actually donned a football jumper to ward against the burgeoning chill. This country never ceases to surprise in the weather stakes: literally one day passes from scorching humidity that has lasted for never-ending months, to cool breezes and shivery wafts: does someone flick a switch overnight?!

The cooler temperatures eased the pain of the steps somewhat: the knees still shrieked, the shins complained and the illiotibial band tightened, but at least I wasn't pouring with sweat and dodging direct sunlight. It was a pleasant challenge which was quite invigorating: the foliage was bursting with verdant succulence and the little river gushed and gurgled beside the path, while knots of walkers were relatively sparse owing to the slightly annoying rain spurts. I "summited" in due course (slowly!), then wandered along the path a bit as is our custom, before tracing my way back down. About 2/3 of the way down my ITB started worrying my outer knee, which is annoying, because it signals that I may have to wear my orthotics even on short hikes from now on. Anyway, despite my whinging about minor aches and pains, at least I was out and about, unlike my housebound darling! My cooling draught at the bottom was the sweetest elixir ever (or at least since the equivalent drink last time I did the steps)

Photos: a few different shots of the steps, including the first few stages which run beside houses creeping up the lower slopes. There's a shot of our new dryer with its relatively new companions, the water heater and the washing machine...surely something else can't break down? Finally, the walking stick warrior in her class this afternoon...

P.S. You might have missed my tiny post in-between this one and last week's......check it out below: it's an interesting follow-up to last week's comment about the internet.

A quick segue from last week's post about internet speeds/bandwidth. Here is an excerpt from an email we received at school about our internet. Staggering!

...Here's the good news - because on the afternoon of October 31, we will get a 35% increase in our internet bandwidth. We will be increasing from our current 740 megabytes per second to 1,000 megabytes per second. (In geek speak that's from 740 megs to a Gig.)

This is Terry Chang standing next to the location in our server room where our internet access is connected. Terry negotiated this 35% increase in bandwidth without adding any expense to the school. 

So on October 31, or any time you see him. Thank Terry Chang! And it's no longer Halloween - it's Terry Chang day!

I'm often waffling on about the breakneck internet speeds here in Taiwan and the fact that my ISP seems to think my connection speed is inadequate: not a week goes by without some further entreaty to upgrade. The facts of the matter are that we have more than enough speed and bandwidth to operate our not inconsiderable needs at present and I can't envisage that changing anytime soon. I tend to have lots of stuff downloading while streaming live programming in HD on at least one device, sometimes I'm even streaming two live sports events in HD while downloading and nothing ever stops or slows down.

I lament the debacle happening back in Australia at the moment. As far as I can tell, with my limited or rudimentary knowledge, the system that is in place there will never achieve the speeds that we're enjoying here now, and have been for the past 5 years or so. To make this point even more clearly, I'm being offered standard home packages at virtually the same price we are paying now which are three times faster! I don't know if a solution is possible: to get a system similar to most that operate in Asia, they'd have to rip everything out and start again from scratch. That's obviously not going to happen.

A reason for my spike in itntrest in this topic, which is no doubt terribly tedious to our readers (sorry!), is that I finally bought a new phone! The old Samsung Galaxy 3 was virtally grinding to a halt and all remedies and fixes were having no effect. I secured a pretty sweet deal on the latest Smasung Galaxy 8 and it's a pretty tidy bit of gear. It's taking me a while to learn to drive it and understand the myriad of bells and whistles hidden away behind each new swipe and widget. One of the first things I did was check the internet speed, and although not as fast as the stand alone computer, it's not too shabby. (see screen shot of the speedtest and my second screen above)

Harking back to our more Luddite practices on the weekend, Cass hosted her instalment of the Book Club on Friday night. As usual, it was a huge effort of organizing, cleaning and cooking and she spent many days preparing. The night was a triumph, of course, and she cooked her chicken pasta with olives dish with the signature dessert of pavlova. The Moet champagne was a winner as were the selection of cheeses and crackers and various other accouterments. The weather bothered and sprayed around, making it awkward for her guests to arrive and depart without getting drenched and whipped around, but apart from that, it was a highly successful evening.

I extited stage left just as the start time approached in the mid-evening and didn't dare venture back till the early hours, just to make sure all the guests had left! Wal and I had our own adventures trying to avoid the squally rains moving between various venues and the rest of the weekend was a shut-in. Luckily, Cass had cooked a huge pot of food so we managed to huddle indoors resisting the storms for the entire weekend without the necessity of going out to source food or supplies. We've cleaned the place out now though, so we'll need to scurry over to the supermarket after work today.

Cass has read about three or four books since I last updated our reading status, so I'll update you in turn soon. Photos are screen shots from my new phone, Halloween pumpkins appearing in the food stores and a plumped up super pavlova a'cookin' in our tiny toaster oven!

It's anathema to put fingers to keyboard on a day off, but I've decided to yield to the greater good, and despite being one day late, here is a truncated entry on the Ten Ten national holiday.

We've run through from August with nary a spare breath so everyone was hanging out for this national holiday extended weekend. We luxuriated in our usual Friday evening activities of leisure with the knowledge that four days with no timetable beckoned. We had a sleep-in on Saturday before pottering around, reading and watching some TV series' episodes. We decided to motor across to Shinkong Mitsukoshi mid-afternoon to see the long awaited sequel to Blade Runner after being fairly unimpressed by a dour dark and rain-filled original back in the 80s. This version was similarly dark and rain-soaked but was graced with slicker acting, modern CGI effects and a bigger budget, all of which made this version extremely enjoyable. We timed it well to make our booking at the ever reliable Spice Shop for an Indian feast. Our favourite grilled and spiced fish dish was missing but we tried a possible replacement which might do the trick in future. After promenading and scootering out in the nightlife for a few hours we felt a part of the big city on the holiday break!

On Sunday we embarked on a huge loop of the northern tip of the country starting along our Wenlin Road before cutting through the Guandu nature reserve towards the Red Bridge over the Damshui River. The car was purring along after we'd retrieved her from her new home in the bowels of the Taipei P.E. University building. As we traced the river along the MRT line, we realized that the MRT extensions to cater for the mass influx of apartments and people beyond Damshui had caused quite the traffic trauma along the Number 2 Coastal Highway. The elevated tracks need support of course, and the mammoth concrete legs of the track plonk themselves down right in the middle of the highway. All fenced off for endless kilometres the traffic crept, then jerked, then finally stalled in the seeping coastal rain, only occasionally starting up to edge just another few metres forward. When the opportunity arose, we cannily escaped onto a peripheral country road which wound through the mountains. We stopped for a quick 7/11 lunch before making it to Sanzhi and joining up again on a much smoother running coastal route through to Baishawan and Fugui Cape (more commonly known as Green Ball to us).

Housing a government run radar station (hence the giant "green balls"), Fugui Cape has a lighthouse destroyed in the war in 1945 and re-built in that same year. We parked, then hiked through some amazing "wind-cut" trees to an exposed trail near the beach and headland. When it started to rain we aborted our walk and made it back to the car, but it looks a fascinating area to return to on another occasion. We eventually made our way through to Jinshan then began the trip home via the Yangminshan switchbacks, whereupon the mist and fog was so pea soup, I half expected Heathcliff to come lumbering from the moors or Kate Bush in her red dress to come singing and dancing from the sodden shroud. As quickly as it descended, the fog lifted as soon as we dropped down the other side of the mountain towards home: a phenomenon we'd witnessed many times but never quite got used to.

The decadence of not working on a regular working day cannot be overstated and it can be heightened considerably by doing something equally dissolute. How about going to one of Taipei's trendiest and newest hotels, whizzing up to the 31st floor and booking a glass-encased private corner of the building to drink gin and tonics, snack on finger food and while away the afternoon gazing upon the architectural marvels of Taipei 101 and other sights of the HsinYi district? Well, Cassy suggested just that, so even though the spot wasn't yet open when we arrived, we managed to book the prime spot successfully, then went to mess around for an hour or so till it opened. Yet another glittering shopping palace has opened in Hsin Yi, a new Breeze centre just a short stroll from another of its stores. High-end fashion brands are ubiquitous of course, but there were a few other interesting, new players. Japanese lifestyle store Muji has a gigantic presence as does a new American outfit, Crate and Barrel. We wandered around C&B yet couldn't quite place an equivalent we know: it's way more upmarket than many lifestyle stores as evident by the joinery, and finish (as well as price!) of some of the furniture, but it also seems to have "everything" as well. At the appointed time around 2 o'clock, we arrived back at the Zen Bar in the W to begin our blissful afternoon. We ended up staying for a couple of hours: it's the second time in the past couple of years we've managed to snag this spot, and it really is a little hidden gem. We'll be back!

After a lazy day at home today, doing a little food shopping, typing up blogs (!) and marking a couple of essays, we're ready to hit the rest of the week with some energy. We've almost decided our itinerary for Christmas: it's loose at this stage, but it does include The Netherlands and Belgium...more on this later! Photos: We've just started teaching our new novel Fahrenheit 451, Cass modelling her Brazilian bracelet (thanks C&V), ordering the Indian food, 7/11 in the mountains, wind cut trees, windy Fugui Cape, mural round the corner, turtle in the creek, Crate and Barrel, Tiffany and Zen Bar shots.

P.S. It's still crazy hot...check this out.

Cass and I had only just dipped our toes into Taiwan's culture in October 2001, yet we had winged our way back to witness the historic win of the Newcastle Knights in that year. It was also the last time I spoke to Dad in person. I have some very strong mixed emotions about that time.

Another watershed moment came in those few months as well. The crew of Aussies here were great fun, but comprised solely of Victorians and Tasmanians, strangely enamoured in that "other" form of Australian football, AFL. I tasked my mate, Coombsy, who had spent a little time in Newcastle growing up, to give me a team worthy of my support which mirrored the characteristics of the town and the Knights. He thought about it for a few days then came back with a definitive answer: "Blue-collar, hard, strugglers....Richmond is the team for you!"

I've supported them through thick and thin ever since, and I must tell you it's been almost exclusively "thin"! They've scrapped their way to a couple of semi-finals over the years, only to promptly lose in the first week and usually in a slightly embarrassing capitulation. I've become hardened by their performances and defensive (if not resigned) about their constant failure.

Until this year.

Saturday was the culmination of probably three years of re-building a team from the ground up. Players had matured like aged red wines, more subtle and mellow yet explosively good at times and dominating their opposition. They had become a team of champions and a champion team. Their at times dour scrapping for each tackle , each play, each contested contest, saw them streak away from teams in the latter part of the game all year and nothing was different in this grand final. Not only did they win a semi for once, but they kept winning and dominating all through the final series. Not to be denied, they rode an emotional wave to victory despite being pitted against a far superior team on paper and form: go the mighty Richmond Tigers.....it was all worth the wait!

The euphoria of the day and evening meant a rather quiet day on Sunday for me, as you can imagine! I had been around at Wal and Annie's new apartment for a little while on Friday night after attending the Middle School, back from camp celebration down at Eddie's Cantina. Cass declined on the party, mainly because she needed the time on Friday afternoon to recover from camp properly after another hectic week at the chalk-face (or should that be "data-projector"-face these days?!)

W&A have had a very hectic few weeks shifting all their stuff into their new digs: it's a beautifully fitted out apartment after all their renovations and I think they'll be very comfortable there. There is a very substantial rooftop apartment and space they can use as well, which was part of the attraction to buy where they did. It's not too far from our place and our usual haunts, so that's convenient too.

Photos: the new apartment before and after the move. Diadora joggers just $16 at a shop round the corner, Hello Kitty dominates every market, and an early shot of viewers settling in at Patio 84 for the big grand final.