July 30th

July 30, 2021

Longtan for coffee

This week lockdown restrictions here were eased and on Tuesday I sat inside a coffee shop for the first time in quite a while and I'm now able to drink my morning cappuccino in 7-Eleven, instead of having to bring it home. Life seems just a bit more normal.

After teaching a teenage student via Skype this morning, the idea of riding out to Longtan to sit inside its Starbucks makes sense. Yes, it's roasting hot again, but I need to get out for a spin.

Recycling outside my local Hi-Life convenience store

It's been far too sweltering to ride during the last few days and the high humidity means sweat doesn't evaporate and cool you down. It's a killer. Today it's around 32, so not as terrible.

My sunglasses and sun cream are on.

My wheels have travelled just a block before I opt to take a photo, but a strange noise tells me the memory card isn't in the camera and it's a case of having to pop back home. Luckily it's only a minute wasted.

The guy I photographed earlier this month is busy loading some flattened cardboard boxes onto the back of his sturdy trike, right outside Hi-Life on the corner, and I wonder how much money he earns on an average day.

A collection of household stuff stacked next to a stainless steel kitchen sink outside a metal-clad dwelling is my next snap, a minute or so later. It looks like it's an open-air shed.

At the end of the road is a large playing field that must be owned by the military, as there are about half a dozen decommissioned tanks lined up on one side. I decide to take a snap of one, then notice there are some seriously dark low clouds over to the south. A dog appears at the front of the tank as I take the photo and barks at me.

As I make my way down the new section of road, there's a certain amount of regret about not sticking my rain cape in the saddlebag. It just seemed too hot and sweaty for it.

About 15 minutes after leaving home, the storm clouds have come close and a fine drizzle starts coming down, but it's clear that more heavy stuff will be arriving before very long and my mind begins to think of places to shelter. I ride fast to a row of small units with canopies and dart under the first one just as the droplets get a lot bigger.

It pours down for quite a while. At times there's a slight pause and I think it'll be fine to start riding again, but then another deluge comes along and the road surface becomes a mass of splashes.

My prescription sunglasses come off - changed for my regular ones.

After over 30 minutes, boredom begins to set in. There's not much of a view, with a betel nut seller over the road to the right and on the other side of a small T junction is an open-sided warehouse that looks like it might be a workers' cafe. There's nobody in it.

For something to do, I take photos of scooters coming by.

It eventually eases off so I get back on my bike, but only ride 100 metres along the road before there's another torrential downpour and it's a case of waiting it out under another canopy .

Once that downpour has gone, it seems like a good idea to ride along to a 7-Eleven at a junction at the end of the road. It's just a few minutes' away. My stomach is empty and at least I can sit down inside now.

At the junction the sky ahead looks much brighter, so I ride past 7-Eleven, make my way over the junction with Route 66 and know there are a couple of other 7-Elevens to stop at. I pedal past one and know that if it rains now there won't be many places to shelter, as it's more rural until the outskirts of Longtan.

Luckily a dwelling that seems to be vacant and for sale has a forecourt covered with a metal roof and it makes a decent shelter for 10 minutes when a shower does come along, but a few hundred metres further towards Longtan there are only small trees to try to shelter under as torrential rain starts coming down out of nowhere. I'm drenched in seconds and ride to a row of homes that have large covered forecourts and stand there for another 20 minutes until it becomes drizzle.

The ride to Longtan usually takes 30 to 40 minutes, but it's 3:40 when I get to Starbucks - that's over three hours after leaving home.

To comply with the Covid restrictions, there are just two small round tables on the ground floor with one chair at each, but neither has a customer. Sat down at one, the AC is pumping out and my wet shirt now feels chilly against my skin.

It's one I bought from a charity shop this week and is only size L and feels a bit small. I cut out the elastic from the bottom hem and had a local women sew it back up and had a high-viz patch stitched on the back while there. She charged me NT$50 - that's under two US dollars.

I retrace my route but then take a side street to see if I can spot anything worth photographing. The houses have nearly all been modernized and are less interesting for it. A child's cheap mountain bike stands near one corner. The seat has perished and the back tyre is flat. It must have been here a while.

It doesn't look like it'll rain again. That's good. The sky has mostly cleared.

Further along, a woman is sat outside her detached home with a table of produce displayed on a makeshift stall by the gate. Being on a bike, it's easy for me to see her and the veg, but car drivers likely fly past unaware. Maybe she has regular customers who stop, but I can't recall seeing her before, and I've cycled by here many times. I double back and take a snap.

Once over the intersection with Route 66, the traffic is now busy as it must be gone 4:30 and people are heading home from work or whatever. The drivers in the cars that are stopped at a set of lights at the big junction must see me standing at the edge of the road and wonder what I'm taking a photo of - it's a women in a motorcycle helmet holding a gardeners' trowel.

She's silhouetted against the water in the flooded paddies but it's not obvious to me what she's actually doing with the small tool. There's a single flip-flop marooned in the water.

I spot another farmer as I ride nearer to home. He's carrying stuff in large bags and also has one of those conical straw hats on. Hardware shops still sell them here. Taking the snap makes me realize there's a lot of light compared to earlier this afternoon. He notices me on the bike with my camera and probably questions why I'm taking a photo of him.

By the time I get to the road leading towards my apartment block, my shirt has dried out. It's been a long day, but a short ride.

Another abandoned bike that Debbie and I see on our evening stroll around the neighborhood is the last snap I take. It's a folder. If it were mine, I would have collected it in a car a while ago and got the puncture fixed. Actually I would have fixed the puncture there and then. It's just going to get more and more rusty.

An abandoned folder just a minute from home

Today's ride: 25 km (16 miles)
Total: 592 km (368 miles)

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