Lavish servings of pomp and splendour were delivered from the upper school gym this week as the school had a celebration of its 70th birthday. The end result for the kids in attendance was a remarkable tolerance for speeches that were tedious at best and interminable at worst: for the adults in attendance there was some vague amusement and relevance, but I admired the students patience. They were a captive audience for quite some time! What may have aided their determination was their reward in the end: a yellow or blue cupcake, or, if lucky, a piece of the over-sized super cake that was produced for the day. The highlight in the end was another gravity defying and mind-bending performance from a local Chinese acrobatic group and lion dance: these athletes really are something else and wowed the crowd in their usual show-stealing fashion. Another highlight was the video above: it\s quite slick and shows the amazing development that the school has made in the last 18 years we have been here in particular. Later on, it's here: 70th birthday video of TAS

Well, Wal and I had some pre-grand final celebrations while Cass attended Book Club on Friday night. They went to Kristin's place where nearly all the members eventually attended despite a quite ferocious downpour that saturated all who were out in public at that point. The extended tropical downpour saw Cass and Lisa get partly drenched on their way in and out of Ubers and Wal and I were inching ever closer to the windows of Uli's trying to escape the secondary splashes from the biblical dump. The girls had another great night and thoroughly discussed their book of the month, the superb Australian contemporary classic, Boy Swallows Universe.

The really big day was to follow on Saturday when before the sun crossed the yardarm, I was motoring off to the Patio with my envelopes full of money in hand. Grand Final day in the AFL means a meeting at Patio, a gathering of the clan and a half-time delivery of a short speech and handing out of brickbats and bouquets by me. Everything went well with the delivery despite a few absentees, but the most exciting aspect of all was that the Richmond Tigers won their second premiership in three years!

18 years ago, disappointed that all my new Aussie mates were AFL tragics with little or no interest in rugby league, I was determined to find a team in the AFL and stick with them. Coombsey sourced me a team just like Newcastle he said: the main similarity I could see in the intervening years was their parallel lack of success on the big stage! Anyway, I stuck with them and was finally rewarded two years ago, and again on Saturday when they absolutely annihilated their opponents, Greater Western Sydney, who were playing in their first grand final. We had a wonderful day and celebrated hard.

What a bonus when today, after the alarm went off at its usual shocking hour of 5.30 a.m., Cass checked the email and informed us it was a "Typhoon Day"! This sweetest of days is really a magic day all round. The carrot was dangled by the school's control late last night, but the typhoon looked like it was veering away: we went to bed with scant hope of wondrous news. It's a little silly in reality but do you remember that incredible thrill when school might have been cancelled for some momentous reason, or you were taken out of school for a special appointment? Teachers still get that thrill and we've been reveling in it all day with decadent sleep-ins, watching TV episodes etc. yet still grading our back-log of papers albeit without the pressure of teaching our 5 classes....happy days!!

Photos: snake (!) at camp, Mary and friend, Wal with his beloved pig knuckle and The Moop goes urban! Two last ones from the 70th birthday celebrations and I'm in the last one: can you spot me?!

An odious stench wafting from the communal toilets and washrooms, asbestos walls with peeling paint and traipsed in trails of mud and sand.
Hundreds of plastic and nylon tents unfurled on slatted wooden platforms, scrubby bushes dotting the bare sandy soil surrounding the acres, makeshift lines strung up between trees with sweat-dripping clothes festooned along each cord.
Hordes of 14 year olds with questionable toiletry habits lined up like pigs at a trough to receive their lunch in a cardboard box, then find a squat to sit and gobble before the next activity.
Exhausted adults "fresh" from morning activities, moving straight to afternoon duties then nightly "entertainment" before doing the rounds of tents: trying to quell over-amped teenagers late at night before collapsing into their own rudimentary accommodations.
Doing it all again 5 days in a row.

Pomp and splendour as liveried gents serve in vast hallways, priceless carpets cover ancient flagstones, imposing turrets shadow wings of reception rooms and grand ballrooms.
Dressed for dinner in sumptuous outfits, jewellery sparkling, conversation so couth and dazzling, servants at beck and call.
Trams clanging and cars puffing in the village, even the common folk suited and polite, old-fashioned shopkeepers chatting and smiling.
King and Queen visiting, fuss aplenty, silverware shining impossibly, staff all aflutter and twitterpated, lords and ladies refined yet excited, all hands on deck.
More of the same, quite magically, for two hours.

One description was the "Downton Abbey" movie and the other was of the 2019 Grade 8 Fulong Camp. Can you possibly guess which was which?

The privations and rudimentary facilities along with the questionable meal quality are all well documented on these pages. Things haven't changed a bit, although the weather gods did favour us just slightly this year, keeping burning rays away under covering cloud and slightly weepy skies. Cass and I were particularly lucky to be housed together again in a cabin, although I did spend the last night "under canvas" as the rotations of duty demanded. A giant and unrelenting swell managed to cancel the snorkeling each day, which meant Cass could do a more leisurely pace on the seaside hike and arrive back slightly less flustered and at least, mercifully, on time. I did the long hike up the Caoling Trail each day and the stand-up paddle-boarding in the afternoon: no cancellations for me, and a ridiculously tight schedule meant rushed showers and meals upon my return each day. I also managed to blow the soles off two pairs of joggers, so was left with just sandals on the final day.

We arrived home with a mountain of soggy laundry and  persistent leaden skies, so the dryer was well employed (quite a rare event) as was the washing machine for the remainder of the weekend. After being in a state of collapse on Saturday we Uber Eat-ed some Indian at home and had an early night. On Sunday we decided to treat ourselves to the perfect antidote to camp: luxury class seats at Miranew Cinema at Dahzhi to see the Downton Abbey movie. With blankets draped on knees, piping cups of coffee on our side tables and velvet seats to recline and disappear into, we escaped into the English countryside of 1927 for just a few hours....it was bliss!

School today is exhausting, enervating and difficult but we're delighted to be here rather than the Fulong Peninsula! Photos: Cass in front of board, Cass cooking some veggie patties at camp, varios shots of the impediments on the Caoling Trail and a couple of shots of AFL finals down at Patio: internet goes out and we hover around a phone screen!

The top of the Caoling Trail was just a touch windy!

There's a palpable buzz of excitement when you alight from the MRT in Hsin Yi and emerge under the monolithic shadow of the glass and steel needle better known as Taipei 101. Having been usurped as the world's tallest building many times since it claimed that mantle in the mid-2000s, it is still an awe inspiring sight and one that makes you lose your equilibrium when gazing at its top when standing right beneath. We always feel quite insignificant, little worker ants at the foot of an anthill, scurrying around doing our tiny little tasks as the monster leers and smirks above us.

Suitably energized by the man-made leviathans above, we wound our way through coruscating malls and temples to human excess, each store in 101 ticking off a list of the world's most ubiquitous luxury brands. The second floor Cartier shop was sentried by overly coiffed, faintly perfumed and impossibly good looking young men and women, themselves slightly restricted by their designer suits and somehow managing to appear mildly irritated by our presence despite their obsequious bows and smiles. Our mission was to source a replacement band for Cassy's Tank watch, which had fallen apart quite rapidly in direct opposition to the eye-watering cost of a replacement! We were eventually ushered away after being told that this store had all attendants busy with customers and asked if we could visit their 3rd floor store directly above.

Suitably chastened, after visiting the store above, we were then informed that the online booking service was down and could we come back at a later date? Never fear, when in the land of consumer excess, we are never far from another outlet. The phone told us there was another Cartier store not 400 metres away, so we strolled over to Shinkong Mitsukoshi, ordered the band, then headed to our appointment on the 46th floor of the new Breeze centre.

Saffron46 is a branch of the leading Indian restaurant in Taipei, which is ironically just a hop, skip and jump from our place in Tienmu. We rarely visit the local branch as its hours don't suit and it is often booked out. The newly opened Hsin Yi version is nothing short of spectacular. The oversized floor to ceiling windows frame a gargantuan 101 from every angle: you feel you could reach out and grab it!

We were in a high booth overlooking the view and we ordered some tasty dishes and refreshing wines. The whole experience was first class, being attended by courteous wait staff and left alone to enjoy our own company when the meals and drinks had been delivered. The cooks fired up the tandoor and frisbeed dough for the nans as we watched on, glass windows on two sides of the kitchen adding to the theatre but never drawing attention from the greatest view of all. Families dined and parties of girls pouted for selfies, while little kids put hand marks on the big windows, only to be discreetly wiped away by attentive waiters (the hand-prints, not the kids...although...!). It was a totally enjoyable experience, adding to our dining highlights gazing at 101 from places as diverse as Morton's, the W Hotel and looking out from 101 at Diamond Tony's Panorama.

There were various other exciting events over the weekend, mainly engendered by sporting codes reaching semi-final status or iconic series on the verge of conclusion. The semis in the AFL provided excitement and despondency on Friday night when Geelong capitulated as Wal and I watched on at the Taiwanese spiritual home of the AFL, the Patio bar in Tienmu. Cass and I were naughty and stayed up terribly late last night to watch the Aussies retain the Ashes in England. We were nodding off late in the evening, but after relenting and going to bed we were pleased to wake to the joyous news that they had, indeed, won the tiny urn!

The only blip on our horizon is the dreaded camp next Monday: I'll try to pop out a modified version of this blog on Sunday if I get motivated. To quote Colonel Kurtz, "the horror, the horror!"

Photos: the moop, Hsin Yi shots including Cass selecting her watch band.

Cass has got 5 meetings this week after school or during her prep time, all on top of our windfall of 85 and 95 paragraphs to grade respectively. As stated often in these pages, it's a pretty hectic life we lead during school terms. We've brought it upon ourselves in a way. The powers rarely meddle in our curriculum, trusting that once they've hired the best (their words), they expect and trust them to deliver the best in terms of rigorous yet fair workload to gain the best student learning outcomes. Often this trust demands that we go the extra mile in terms of grading and commenting to give them the feedback they need to show improvement and to become better students of English. This is sounding too much like a glossy promotional poster, so I'll sidestep onto other matters!

Cassy hosted her Book Club on Friday night and I definitely side-stepped that to go down to Uli's and watch a little football while I waited for Wal to turn up! The (Book Club) night was an enormous success as usual, culminating in the miracle pavlova, so labelled as it is produced from the tiniest, most rudimentary table-top toaster oven. The whipped mixture has to be carefully eased into the space which only just accommodates it, and Cass manipulates the dials for temperature and time a few times as it cooks. The girls enjoyed not only the magnificent pavlova, but also the pitas and falafel which were mildly cheated from the local Pita Bar.

Meanwhile I decided to risk some VPN work on my phone, downloading my VPN app, logging in then connecting to the Sydney, Australia ISP. Then, once I was mirroring Aussie traffic, I logged onto my app from Fox Sports in Australia and watched NRL games streaming to my phone at the table at Uli's...fantastic! I feel well justified in doing this as I pay a subscription in Australia to do this very thing, it just has convoluted broadcast rights here in Taiwan. Anyway, it worked a treat!

There's never a dull moment here in Taipei's leafy northern suburbs. We're ringed by temples here and cacophonous music and overly dramatic miked-up exhortations are the norm, but sometimes we get a glimpse of something more unusual. On Saturday, the light was laser-like in intensity and the heat was bitumen-meltingly severe. Despite the ferocity of the heat and sun, we had to brave the outdoors to get the groceries for the coming week. The bigger temple over the river was hosting some cacophonous sounds as usual, but also some fully made-up dramatic actors going through a play. How their white masks weren't pouring off was amazing: the crowd was sucking down frozen yogurt, fanning itself and hiding in the shade as much as possible, while the actors played out scene after scene being quite serene!

To counteract the shocking assault of grading and (gratuitous?)meetings we are enduring as well as our swelling student numbers, we decided to gain a catharsis by planning and booking a few holidays. On Sunday, we had a chat about some possibilities and after a very short time decided on a few potential targets. Looks like we'll be spending Taiwan's national holiday extended weekend (4 days) in Vietnam and we're planning a few different cities and towns in Germany for Christmas if the flights work out. It should be fun as we return to two of the places we've really enjoyed before. We've got some other plans as well, so it looks like a bigger than usual year for travelling: might be some salve for our crushing workload (I know and acknowledge that this is a massive first world problem, but I'm going with it anyway!)

Phots: Coppers (!), Orphanage Club in my room, the sparkling apartment pre-Book Club, and shots of the temple players. Video up top for now and later here.

The skies were leaden and the wind whipped and worried, howling at times as the next typhoon bore down on the southern half of the island. Rain dumped at spasmodic intervals followed by whistling squalls with narry a drop: this was typhoon annoyance time rather than batten down the hatches time.

Barely days after the last one passed, another storm headed straight towards Taiwan but as we hoped for a bonus "Typhoon Day", where the city shuts down all official businesses and schools, we realized it was going to hit exclusively over the weekend to upset any leisure plans we had rather than give us some bonus time off work!

I went round to celebrate Wal's and Eli's birthday on Friday evening round at Wal and Annie's place. The grandparents are a touch out of favour with the two boys at the moment, a situation that W&A are hoping changes soon, as it is their only respite from very full days and nights with two rambunctious little boys. The big hit of the night was a set of radio controlled racing cars, and when the batteries were fitted and power was activated, the whirring of engines and crashing of cars into furniture filled the loungeroom for a good stretch of time!

Cass and I scurried over to the Carrefour Market across the river to do the regular grocery shopping on Saturday, dodging the stinging winds and spitting skies. My umbrella exploded against the wind on the way back, spines cracked in two and piercing the fabric....totally ruined! The day was very uninviting, so we organized some Uber Eats for delivery, trying out another Indian restaurant over near Shinkong Mitsukoshi. It was sweat inducingly spicy, yet tasty!

Naden had invited a crew of AFL tragics to his new place for viewing of three critical games in the last round of regular games for the year. Cass had been there before as Kristin had invited her over for other activities. I was super impressed with his "man cave"! Great stereo sound and giant screen projected on one wall by a ceiling mounted data projector, along with comfortable lounges and beanbags: I don't know how he ever tears himself away from the place! Not only did we experience excellent viewing conditions but Naden had ordered a tray or two of different flavoured "Leo's Pies" to add to the Aussie theme. A couple of pies with a couple of beers, entertaining games of football with informed fellow viewers; it was a great way to spend a few hours on a Sunday afternoon.

Cass meantime was negotiating the horrors of the big supermarket on a Sunday afternoon! She's bitten the bullet and elected to host the very first "Bookies" get-together of the year. This, of course, involves getting goods in to adequately supply food and drink to the group on the night. It was blistering heat and she got a little flustered, missing a few supplies on the list, so I scootered back down to get the extras. It, indeed, was a hell-hole! It seemed like half the population of Tienmu was in there all bustling and pushing and shouting and queuing (after a fashion!), so I made a beeline for what I needed and skirted round the edges as much as possible.

We're exhausted at work today as we stayed up extremely late to watch the final throes of the Ashes test match. Despite the fact the Aussies ultimately capitulated, the vagaries and intrigue of the very best test cricket were on display. Perhaps in the afterglow of such a game, one becomes prone to emotional exaggeration but I firmly believe this is the best day of cricket I have ever seen. I'm still stunned when I think back on all the twists and turns, the roller-coaster of emotions, and the almost unbelievable series of triumphs and failures, every ball so intense, over after over, hour after hour...unforgettable!

Photos: mirrors shattered by typhoon winds at the local temple, birthday celebrations.

Cass is reading a well written book by Anna Burns, the Booker Prize winning Milkman and I'm reading a poorly written effort, in fact, it's almost comical: Adrian McKinty's The Chain.

The greatest dumplings in the entire world? The most delicious pizza outside Italy? (and beating a lot inside from our experience!) The tastiest and least expensive craft beer ever? The most bizarre wibble wobbling bird that has become our talisman mascot?

All these Taiwan classics were on call this week as we delved back into our Asian life, our Antipodean adventure done and dusted, yet not forgotten, our minds now fully consumed with academic affairs and the minutia of running a classroom and household successfully.

Cass couldn't wait to get back to the incomparable Din Tai Feng. Pretenders come and go in this city and country, yet none can match the peerless service and taste sensations that steam out from the kitchen in precise increments, the wait staff whisking off the top bamboo cookers to reveal the exquisitely crafted xiaolongbao. You can plop one straight into the sliced ginger, soy and vinegar mix, and directly into your mouth for a fresh taste explosion: somehow piping but never scalding, a brilliant feat of clever cooking and even cleverer timing.

We also couldn't wait to get back to Pizzeria Oggi, where the offerings were equally sublime both in construction, ingredients and taste. Neither one of these restaurants has ever disappointed, which is not a bad record considering the number of times we have visited.

Uli's supplied Wal and me with some new versions of blonde craft beers from the Yangminshan mountain-based North Taiwan Brewing Co. These slipped down our parched throats like oysters shucked from a shell and the salty sausages with sauerkraut and potatoes on the side were as hearty and satisfying as ever.

" The Moop" even made appearances on our way to school for three days in a row! We look upon this camouflaged rarity as our personal mascot and a sign of good days ahead: he's hard to spot as he only wobbles his neck periodically, often standing stock still for great lengths of time. We decided that despite our enervating days and exhausted evenings, things must be alright in our little Taipei world!

I'll segue just briefly from that into our exhausted stocks: we are sleeping long and working hard....this start of school caper is like getting knocked down by a freight train head on, throwing up an arm and hanging on for dear life, scrambling up on the engine after an indeterminate period, pretending to take control of the runaway juggernaut, and steering it along the tracks. We're still getting dragged along at this point!!

Photos: see text above for explanation!

Monday: We're back! Crazy busy first day in the saddle, hopefully more words tomorrow. In the meantime, cop this photo album of the trip...

Tuesday: A furious onslaught of meetings and bleetings, conversations and appointments, discussions and brain percussions have got me thinking (and writing) like Dr Seuss. Suffice to say that despite being only 1.5 days into the first working week and being minus that main ingredient of a successful school (kids!), we're in a delirious whirl of action exactly unlike the bucolic calm of our endless days of winter sunshine back in a coruscating Newcastle.

The winter holiday was long this year, thanks mainly to a calendar quirk which means that yearly creep needs to be reined in by an earlier-than-usual break every ten years or so. With that mindset, the endless winter crept along quietly till it exploded like a freight train near the end of our time, catching us unaware with it's rapid termination and meaning a greater-than-usual rush at the end.

The holiday was punctuated by family visits of a similar, and different, kind: we saw Mum quite often in hospital, as a fall necessitated her admission, stay, discharge and some subsequent rehabilitation. This wasn't an entirely bad thing on our part as we probably saw her more regularly than we normally would, but I'm sure Mum didn't enjoy the pain and discomfort that went along with her dislocation from home and routines.

Cassy was able to see lots more of her sister, Kristin, this trip and they enjoyed lots of chats and long lunches at various cafes "up the valley" periodically as our stay progressed. Chris and Val were still away on their mega round-the-world cruise, so the sisters kept up the family tradition of chats and meals albeit in different forums, combinations and locations.

As usual, we were slightly afraid of piling on the kilos as our eyes lit up with "new"and "exotic" Australian foods and wines, so we religiously applied ourselves to our daily walk. Straight across the road to the Bather's Way, on to Bar Beach, steadfastly marching upwards on the Memorial Walk to Shepherd's Hill where we had a satisfying look at the northern view before spinning around and heading back. The energetic 6 kms did wonders for our trimness, though my proclivity for a beautiful Australian red wine each night did see me over-tip the scales just a little when we returned!

Unseasonably fine weather beamed day after day, week after week, lulling us in a fine caress and shocking us when, momentarily, it would revert to wind and rain and cold. Our yearly bike trip did not occur due to mechanical difficulties and mishaps, characterized by amateur mechanical patch ups and professional rescues from the middle of nowhere due to a flat tyre! We did manage a few day trips taking advantage of the fine weather, and on these trips, out in the country's winding byways, all the good old motorcycling feelings came flooding back. Next year, I'm determined to find a decent mechanic and get set for a better riding season.

We got to see friends and family at many set events: as usual, conscious that people's lives are rolling on despite us popping up, we waited to be asked for a date (!), only occasionally taking the initiative ourselves for big annual events or if we were hosting ourselves (as we did for Mum's party). This seems the best way to do things, but apologies to anyone who we missed altogether or saw sparingly: the time really does fly, we know!

Anyway, apologies for the stodgy writing and awkward phrasing: I lose a bit of my mojo during a couple of month's inactivity! Photos: various scenes from the break and a link at the start to a fuller photo album.