December 3rd

December 3, 2021

Printers and the river

It shouldn't be this hard to crop a photo to the correct size, but what Photoshop tricked me into thinking was that the software's preset crop dimension of 8.5 x 11 inches is A4: it isn't.

After manually setting the correct parameters, I redo the snaps for the umpteenth time, adding black borders and typing in my name to one side in tiny print, then uploading them onto the printers' app.

Debbie calls the young guy to make sure he has the finished calendar and I tell her I'll pop there later to see him and look at the paper thickness and hand over some cash. She goes off to work and lets me finish my online class, which ends at noon.

Front cover of my 2022 calendar - some Chinese text has been added to the bottom black border

The sun is out and the sky looks great but the temperature is low and I wear a fleece. I make for the university as today I'll have a pizza from the German guy's place as it's been a while since I ate there and some comfort food is required.

I detour down a passage near the university as I reckon the sun will allow some nice photos and get lost in a rabbit warren. Many of the buildings are derelict, but some have been renovated. The passages are just wide enough to ride down.

The sun seems too low for photos - the passages are mostly in shade.

The German guy isn't at work today and I order a mushroom pizza and pay the equivalent of US$3.50 and sit at a wooden picnic-type bench outside in the sun and look down the street at scooters and people coming and going.

The pizza is a decent size and it hits the spot.

I ride straight along the busy road towards town for a few minutes, heading to the back of the train station, and make a left near the charity shop and park my bike outside the printers.

The ginger cat is still there curled up in a cardboard box on the guy's desk. It's oblivious to all the disarray, with a nearby desk hidden under a pile of paperwork and whatever. Mother is at another desk, using a computer, and the top of her head is just visible among the stacks of stuff while another customer is like me, not sure what to do with himself. I notice a mountain bike hanging up outside.

The young guy i attending to something and it takes about five minutes before he engages with me. The front cover of my calendar is displayed on his curved computer screen and everything seems fine and I ask about the paper thickness and it takes him ages to find samples of different paper. I just want to compare 200g with 350g. The 350 gram paper seems better for the front cover, but 150g for the dozen A4 pages seems fine. He doesn't know the price difference.

Wanting to get the ball rolling, I hand over NT$2,000 and tell him he can pay back the excess when I pick them up and order 15 copies and he says it'll take about a week.

I ride into town and head to the river bank as my curiosity is piqued about the bike path heading towards the coast. Maybe it's now open.

It is only a few minutes to get to where the new path starts but the gate is locked. It's hard to know what the score is. There are no signs or notices, except for one about scooters.

I cross a bridge and ride back up on the shaded side. It's coffee time and the Louisa in town is a good place to head for. It's just five minutes' steady cycling away.

It's warm in the sun, but cool in the shade.

There's little breeze and sitting outside Louisa is fine and that's what I do along with just a couple of other customers.

My bank is not far away and after a cappuccino and ride there and spot an office chair in a sorry state of en route and take a photo of it. There's a man using the ATM, and rather tan wait I go across the road to what I call the yellow shop - it has big yellow signage - which sells all kinds of stuff. I want some Blu-tack.

After looking for a few minutes I have to ask an assistant where it is and the stuff they have is called Stick-tack, and I also end up buying a whiteboard marker, a few small craft knives and some large envelops that should be OK for posting the calendars. I only buy four, just in case.

All the clocks on sale tell me it's gone 3:30 when I leave to go back to the ATM.

Today's ride: 8 km (5 miles)
Total: 915 km (568 miles)

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