February 11, 2022
February 11th
Longtan window salvage ride
Something told me my teenage student would cancel this morning's online class and I emailed him before nine to see if my hunch was right. He finally replies 20 minutes before 11:00, when we should start, to confirm it. Plonker.
The rain of the last few days has stopped and the sun is actually out, so with no class it's a chance to go for a ride out of town. It's been chilly and I've been cooped up and need to get outside.
My humble goal is the town of Longtan and the tea fields on the hills beyond. There's an abandoned house that I want to take another look at, as it could have a window that needs salvaging, and my big canvas shoulder bag gets rolled up and stuffed inside my saddlebag, just in case it's needed.
We might be in February, but this is the first month of the Chinese New Year and many houses have clean, new pairs of red paper couplets flanking their front doors, or posters stuck to the door or on the wall. We've put one on our door.
My thin yellow jacket comes off after a few minutes as it's warm. I'm in shorts and at a red light some sun cream gets squirted out of an old tube in my bar-bag and quickly rubbed on my forearms and nose.
A rendered wall to an old house that I've often thought of taking a photo of has a Chinese New Year greeting pasted on it. The official rectangular pressed metal plate with the house number printed on it has been replaced in the past year or so. I preferred the old one. It was faded. What's always appealed to me as I've cycled past is how the homeowner has at some point added the three numbers in red oxide paint next to it and this time I take a shot and stop again not long after when a field of rape seed catches my eye.
As I stand beside the yellow blooms, there's a low hum and it sounds like distant highway traffic, but is likely bees buzzing around while gathering nectar. I just can't see any.
Most of the fields I pass are flooded with a few inches of water and rice will be getting planted in the next week or two. Spring is around the corner, but my mind has been on other things.
At the very end of March I'll be flying to the UK for a few months and most of my time in the past week or so has been spent planning cycling routes there, finding back lanes and less-seen sights.
There are a few elderly men sat outside their homes, looking bored and ignored, and I give them a wave or thumbs up as I cruise past. They reciprocate and maybe their mind has something fresh to ponder: who the hell was that and does he know me?
The ride to Longtan is pretty short - about 30-odd minutes - but the climb just beyond the town offers a decent workout and doubles the distance. It's a few weeks since I rode it, looping the other way, which is when I saw an abandoned house that I took a few snaps of - mainly its wooden windows.
Maybe you don't recall, but before I reach the small shop that I called in at quite a while ago and got entertained by a couple of retired guys, I wonder about stopping for a short visit. One of the men was called Mr Wong and his friend could hook his leg behind his neck, but I'm basically past it before I realise. However, it looked like Mr Wong who has a beer in his hand and maybe I'll drop in on the way back for a chat.
My route out skirts the edge of Longtan and as I'm heading towards the main road that climbs west, a house that I've never taken any notice of before has been gutted. There's just a brick shell now with gaping holes where doors and windows were, but some windows at the back have been left and I stop to take a quick look.
Someone has stripped out everything and all that remains is a calendar on one wall with the page for May on display. Rain has got in and a puddle takes up a section of bare concrete floor in an adjacent room where a set of rudimentary steps lead up to a low bedroom, but the wooden floorboards are clearly rotten.
There's a Japanese-style window with a painted scene on parchment that's in an internal wall and I'm surprised the thing is still intact. The floor tiles in the room are in good condition and as I don't have a tripod and the light is poor, I hold the base on my camera firmly against the tiled wall and take a snap like that. They looks 1970s.
Most of the wooden windows are a bit too big, but a door light has two that easily come out, so I get me blue canvas bag to see if they'll will fit in it and while it initially seems unlikely, with a bit of persuasion they both slot in.
The bag hangs down from my shoulder and I decide to head back home. Cycling up into the tea fields can wait for another day.
Clouds have arrived and my return ride is a bit different. It seems like a good idea to call in at Louisa in central Longtan for a coffee as there'll not be much added to my distance and it's now gone noon.
Riding with the bag slung from my shoulder seems fine, with my right thigh gently brushing against it as I pedal.
As I reach town it occurs to me to explore the traditional market, but then I opt to just ride straight to Louisa. They do a spicy veggie rice burger and my sweet tooth gets partially satiated with a lemon tart. The place isn't very busy and I rest the camera on a nearby table for a selfie. It's nice to remove the mask for a short while.
On the way home one of the men I waved to has moved indoors and his plastic chair stands empty and I opt to stop an take a snap of it. The sliding wooden doors on the house are original. Many people have replaced them with aluminium ones.
The shoulder bag seems to be getting heavier and I'm happy that I got these windows and not any from the empty house up in the tea fields. It would have proved a ordeal carrying them all the way home.
These are painted lilac and have clear glass, while most homes in Taiwan have windows with patterned glass.
It's still early in the afternoon when I arrive home. It was fairly easy and I'm pleased with my booty, which didn't get damaged en route. I'll fix them to a wall in the living room before long and reckon Debbie will approve.
Valentine's Day is coming and it'll be our 20th wedding anniversary this year - on February 13th - so I decide to get out again at gone three to buy Debbie some flowers. Apparently the twentieth is 'China' but getting Debbie some pottery doesn't strike me as a good idea, what with me collecting pottery.
Google Maps show a couple of florists nearby. One is located in the former military camp and it seems doubtful they will actually have flowers, as when Debbie and I were there we only saw ferns and other plants. The other is not far from it and that's where I ride. It's just five minutes' away.
The light is off and the door is locked, so I pedal back to the military camp where the man and his Filipino wife don't have any flowers as I'd anticipated, but they give me directions to another flower shop. It's about 10 minutes' away.
When I get back it looks like I've bought too many, if that's possible on a wedding anniversary. They fill three vases, which I place on the dining table so that she'll see them when she comes home and turns on the light
Today's ride: 28 km (17 miles)
Total: 1,389 km (863 miles)
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