In our opinion, there is no more unsettling feeling than a gargantuan, five story edifice of steel, brick and concrete of unimaginable weight and substance, shaking and jolting with powerful violence for extended periods. Despite the fact that earthquakes shake the city many times nearly every day, they are at best imperceptible and just occasionally noticeable. On the more extreme occasions, such as mid week, mid lesson, they are no less than terrifying!
The school building has never sustained such a thorough and lengthy jolt such as this one in our long tenure in the building. Surprisingly, at the end of it, there was no obvious damage and only a few buildings downtown were affected. The metro system as well as the high speed rail shut down automatically but opened again within hours: there's a lot to be said for stronger building codes, infrastructure and automatic alarms that have been instituted in the last 20 years. The trouble is that one's equilibrium is upset for weeks following an experience like this and the slightest shake, bump or knock, even the slamming of a door, can re-activate that queasy feeling. Even Taipei 101's famous dampening ball got some sway up! (101 damper sways)
On a happier note, Cass again partied on with her Book Club on Friday night and despite a couple of apologies, they had an excellent night at relatively local French restaurant, Le Jardin. The food is always delectable and the ambiance couth and relaxed. The night itself was spitting with rain but that didn't seem to dampen any of the enthusiasm for appreciation of good wine, food and company. I had a rare night off from my beers with Marcus as he was occupied with his boys who had been staying mid-week with the grandparents so they were heavily present over the weekend!
After a medium length lull, I challenged the 1300 steps of the Tienmu Gudao old route again on Sunday before the Knights' game was due to begin. To say it was a challenge was an understatement! The atmosphere was steamy, 95% humidity and intermittent sun in the middle of the day in an increasingly changing Spring. I was a lather of sweat half way up the steps and my foothold was tenuous owing to sodden leaf litter carpeting the steps from a tropical downpour overnight. Alarmingly (to the maintenance crew), the "newer" steps are starting to crack and break away at the edges causing further chaos in selecting a firm foothold. The old sections of the path are still as solid and firm as ever and they even have a different, more sedimentary, stone that offers a firmer grip. I eventually negotiated my way up to the top, huffing and puffing, had a brief stroll along the ridge line, then headed back down to drink some sweet elixir (chilled water!) and headed home via Lutetia for a date with the football. I shouldn't have bothered, as the Knights turned in yet another dismal performance: all the stars, but no teamwork it seems...
All of a sudden our trip will be upon us next weekend! We booked some HSR tickets online so we'll take the bullet train down south to Taiwan's second largest city, Kaoshiung, next weekend. We're leaving on Saturday morning and have taken a day off work on Monday, so we'll return on Monday evening. We'll try to figure out a few sights to see, but I imagine we'll be playing it by ear when we get there to a large extent. Should be fun!