December 15, 2021
December 15th
A new seat
Debbie steams a couple of the mantou for breakfast then I go to 7-Eleven for a coffee and the newspaper. I'm a creature of habit.
It's a great day again, but my energy is low after yesterday's exertions.
One of the regular Taiwanese bulbuls flits around the balcony looking for cookies, but it's been a few days since I crunched any for them and they've scoffed all that, so I use some pliers and crumble the last one from the pack and make a mental note to buy some more from Carrefour on the way home.
Mosquitoes bite my bare ankles while I'm out there for those couple of minutes. Bastards.
Like the vast majority of workers, my salary is payable on the 10th of each month. It's always been a mystery to me why it takes so long in Taiwan to calculate an employee's pay. It's a five-minute job. Today is the 15th, so my plan is to ride into town and collect it. They pay me cash, but it's not what it used to be as classes have been cut. A couple of years ago I had about 20 hours of teaching per week - now it's just a handful online.
It's seem like a good idea to carry my camera and revisit some of the nearby spots, as it's about noon when I get to leave and the sun has moved further in the sky meaning there might be brighter photo opportunities of the walls I like.
I ride around the block to a wall with a number daubed on it in red paint, next to a few windows with home-made canopies. When my brakes stop me in front of the wall, I hear a metal clank and wonder what could have fallen off my bike. On the ground is a decent-sized bolt, which doesn't look familiar, but near it is a metal piece that's from a seat. It's then my attention turns to my Brooks and notice the front part has totally ripped off. It did look very iffy the other day.
It's still OK to ride, so after a couple of snaps, I set off for town.
The banyan trees Debbie and I saw last week have all gone. Weird. They were pretty big, but the whole bunch of three or four has disappeared, roots and all. I took a photo of one, with its roots seemingly throttling itself. Debbie did say they were diseased and a notice on one of them said they were dangerous.
I need a new seat. This one is about 35 years old. It's served me well.
The wall with a painted window on it is still in partial shade, so I head to town and decide to have a Vietnamese sandwich for lunch. The small cafe is a block from my workplace, not that I go there anymore.
The office worker is alone in the deserted place and tells me there are still no in-person classes, which seems odd. It would't surprise me if the company folds before too long.
Louisa beckons and I sit outside with my drink and regret keeping on a Timberland over-shirt, as it's pretty hot again and it's become damp and is sticking to me. The sleeves get rolled up, but it doesn't make a lot of difference.
At home I have two new Brooks seats spare, but it seems a shame to use one on this commuter bike, so I decide to call in at my local bike shop on the way home to see what they have. Hopefully there are some decent second-hand ones going cheap.
There's not much in Carrefour that I need, but the bargain section is what I invariably make a beeline for and there are some bottles of Hobgoblin beer from the UK going cheap, so I pick two up and notice some oolong tea beer, but it's still quite pricey. The only other thing I buy is a small loaf of bread that I usually slice for toast in the morning. The mantou have all gone. I forget to pick up the rock-hard cookies for the birds, as my mind is on the nearby bike shop.
The shop owner doesn't know if he has any second-hand seats, but sure enough there are a few hanging up on a rack, wrapped in poly bags. They're about half the price of the cheapest new ones and I end up with a SQlab 15 one for NT$800. The guy says it would be considerably more new.
If feels OK on the short ride home.
My sweaty overshirt comes off as soon as I'm through the door.
After 20 minutes, Debbie calls to say the reprinted calendars are ready to be collected, so I ride back past the local bike shop, over the ring road, veer left near the university and head back towards the charity shop, then make a left to get to the street the printers is on.
Mother doesn't know the calendars are there and thinks the ones in a box are the misprinted ones, but these have December in them and after a phone call to her son she understands the situation.
I was hoping to buy the misprinted ones cheap to give to some students, but she uses a translation app on her desktop to tell me they have to go back to the actual printers. It's no big deal.
Today's ride: 12 km (7 miles)
Total: 1,059 km (658 miles)
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