June 16, 2023
June 16th
a short ride before it's really hot
Debbie and I have been wondering what the shop on the corner of our block will be, as the thirtysomething guy with an east European accent who's rented it has been doing DIY on it for a couple of months or more. He's fixed some wooden pallets to the external walls and painted the whole outside white - a job which should have only taken a few days at most - and managed to get quite a lot of paint on the tarmac. We'll see soon enough, as it looks about finished. My guess is he and his partner will be selling drinks or snacks.
Well, it's been a month since I posted a ride here. The reason is the weather's been really hot, too steamy to ride, but today the temperature is hovering at a reasonable 30°C. It'll be a few degrees hotter very soon, making it dangerous to ride very far, so this feels like one last chance to get out.
A book is in my saddlebag, sun cream is on my arms and my camera is in the barbag and I pause to take a self-timed shot of the white corner shop, as who knows how long it'll stay open. Most businesses here last just a year before closing, as the rents tend to be ridiculous. A small - and I mean tiny - coffee shop nearrby that can seat about six customers max is costing the tenant NT$40,000 a month. That's around US$1,300. She needs to sell a lot of coffee and cake. I wish her luck.
This past week or so I've been toying with the idea of getting away to the east side of the island this coming weekend, but yesterday the forecast said rain would be persistant, so that idea went out the window. Realistically, it'll be September before the weather becomes OK for that trip up into the mountains. Today I'm heading to Longtan - just a 45-minute ride away. That's enough.
It's been quite a while since I looked around the traditional market in Longtan. There used to be a stall selling branded clothing, but the vendors disappeared and it all seems very quiet today, so I just walk past stalls for about 100 meters before turning around and heading back to my bike, then riding around the corner to Louisa Coffee.
The book I'm currently reading is Another Day In The Death Of America, by Gary Younge. It's sombre, documenting as it does the circumstances surrounding children and teens whose lives were lost to gun violence on one particular 24-hour period. There were 10, which in the US is average. I spend over half an hour or more reading it before taking my empty cup to the counter and leaving.
Back near the market I pop into a flower shop and buy a small rockery plant and a terra-cotta pot that seems quite reasonable. It's hard to find these now. Then just across the nain road is a narrow street that has warehouses that also function as residential units. A couple of weeks ago I cycled this way and spotted two plastic chairs that didn't appear to be used anymore. They looked 60s, but were likely 1980s or later - made of glossy white plastic and shaped like pods. The man who owns them was just getting on his scooter, so I asked him about them and gave him my number, but he's never called, so I decide to pop back. The steel roller door is down, so I just ride towards home. I'm not sure what I'd do with them.
A dusty and mud splattered bamboo chair that wasn't outisde an empty house the last time I rode this way catches my eye and I snap it.
Once back home I put the rockery plant in a wall-mounted pot on the balcony and decide to reposition it so that it gets more sunshine. It means drilling a hole, but it only takes a few minutes.
Today's ride: 25 km (16 miles)
Total: 3,046 km (1,892 miles)
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