July 3, 2021
July 3rd
the shops
Tuesday's ride north from Zhubei zonked me out and staying up till almost 2:00AM watching England win their game against German didn't exactly help. Needless to say, Wednesday was a write-off and while I rode into town on Thursday, yesterday saw me stuck at home sheltering from the July heat.
This morning I had a class via Skype for a couple of hours from 9:30 with two students and by noon popping out for a while, even if it is a zapping 35°C, really appeals. Lunch and a coffee sat in the shade near the small temple seems like a winning idea. There's only so much lockdown I can handle.
Debbie's already gone out to meet her friends for a chat.
Once outside, I decide to cycle to the charity shop, just a few minutes up the road past Subway. You never know what they might have in stock.
That single Crank Brothers 'eggbeater' pedal is still there. Told you.
Something I hadn't noticed before is a pump-action 'cool mist' spray. It's basically a plastic bidon with a hand-pump on top that sprays a fine mist onto a rider's face from the end of a narrow hose. What a piece of crap.
The other cycling item is a bar-end mirror. They actually have two. Initially they look OK, but when I fiddle around with one it's clear the construction has a fundamental design problem, with the stem being very thin. If it ever got a slight knock it'd just snap. I pass.
With no AC, it must be over 35°C in the shop and it's too hot to hang around, so I quickly skim through a rack of second-hand T-shirts and spot one with the logo for A&M records on it and wonder if my UK friend Dave, a huge audiophile, would like it. It's NT$150 - about US$5. Off the top of my head I can't recall the artists that were with the label, apart from Herb Albert, and Dave's not into him. I'll send him and pic and ask if he wants it.
The road-side fruiterer who sells a limited range just has mangoes today and he weighs four big ones I pick out and it comes to about US$5. They're quite soft, but that's OK as they'll soon get eaten. They go in my rack-bag.
The comfort of air conditioned chilliness inside Subway feels wonderful and it'd be good to linger for 20 minutes or more, but once my 12" sub is ready it's back out into the heat and after calling at the nearby Louisa for an iced coffee, it's just a case of riding back past the graffiti-covered walls of the university towards the small temple, where hopefully there'll be space for me to sit in some welcome shade.
Maybe the monochrome portrait of former dictator Chiang Kai-shek has been on the brickwork of the uni's scooter parking area for a while. It's pretty small, so it's quite possible that it escaped my eagle eye. I take a snap.
Looking closely, maybe it's not the Generalissimo's portrait - it's hard to say - and if it is, it's not a particularly complimentary one. The fact is many of the statues of the late Nationalist's leader have been removed from schools and public buildings over the past ten years or so, with his legacy having been exposed as one of brutal dictatorship.
The countless soldiers who escaped with him from China in the late 1940s are fast dying out and the young generation have little affinity with Chiang's Chinese roots. This piece of work was likely painted by one of them.
Thankfully there's nobody sat on the low, circular wall under the tree outside the temple. A few men are at the rear of the building and a couple of them give me a nod as I park my bike and take a seat. There's around four or five of them there today. Another guy in his 70s soon pulls up on his scooter and asks 'How are you' in English. No doubt they recognise me from last week when I was here on my birthday with my friend g.
With the wind being quite strong, it feels comfortable in the shade and my view is one across a barren field, which in the past has grown rice. In the future it'll likely get developed, with yet more tall apartment blocks being built. That'll just increase the urban heat.
It's strange how the temperature either side of the ring road is so noticeably different. It's like someone flicks on the AC when I cross over. It's due to there being more green space, but sadly a huge swath of land nearby - right next to the ring road - that's an urban wasteland covered in weeds and long grass is currently being transformed into a sports complex and what have you, and no doubt there'll be yet more concrete.
A couple of blocks away is the main supermarket and getting something for dinner is on the day's agenda. The problem is my appetite is weak and after wandering around the veg area I give up on the idea of cooking and settle on buying a small bottle on 'lemon IPA' and a loaf of bread.
Today's ride: 6 km (4 miles)
Total: 420 km (261 miles)
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