June 15, 2021
June 15th
Into Town
The last few days have seen me stuck indoors as it's been intensely hot and riding in 35-degree heat is not my idea of fun. On a positive note, it's given me time to plot a route of about 60km that begins with a train ride south for 30-odd minutes.
The thing is this past weekend was a national holiday - Dragon Boat Festival - and although it's been sweltering for a while, in the lunar calendar this vacation marks the arrival of summer proper and everyone knows there won't be any cool days or nights from hereon until around September. That's just the way it is.
The local newspaper's weather forecast says Thursday onward should be partly cloudy and hopefully it'll be less hazardous for my health to venture somewhere later this week. We'll see.
It's a scorcher, but today I need to ride into town to collect my paltry salary from teaching a little bit in early May, before stage 3 lockdown put pay to it all. My boss emailed to say she's manning the office for a few hours and my commuter bike gets wheeled out just before noon for the 20-minute ride. It's bound to be sweaty.
After a couple of minutes I turn off the main road leading directly into town and ride along some small side streets that are quiet. They're really alleys and are lined with four-storey town houses and apartment blocks as well as aging homes.
Once past a few blocks and an elementary school, there's a patch of green land that no doubt will get developed in the not-too-distant future. It's quite surprising it's survived this long and I try taking a couple of snaps of myself riding, but just end up in the shade of a tree beside a temple and notice a large mirror adjacent to a sink and settle on taking a selfie of my reflection.
The back lane takes me across the busy ring road and past a university that has an array of graffiti on it's perimeter walls, then it's just another five minutes to get to a charity shop.
This charity shop belongs to a Christian group and the staff never bother using money-eating AC and it must be around 40 degrees, so my cotton shirt is stuck to my torso within a minute of entering. It's much cooler outside. There's a nice breeze today.
I flick through a rack piled with various odds and ends and notice a Crank Brothers box. Oh yes, bike stuff!
It turns out to be single pedal. Jeez! Who knows what happened to the other... my guess is a bike shop donated it after it got lost or whatever. If you were after half a pair, you'd be searching a very long time, especially for such a special type as a pricey Eggbeater. The ticket states NT$250, which is roughly US$8. It'll be here for years, guaranteed.
I do buy two pairs of cheap black IKEA photo frames that are still in the shrink-wrapping and feel relieved to get back outside and cruise a few more city blocks in the breeze to where I usually teach.
My bike gets locked up outside the tower block. Up on the 7th floor, my boss is seated alone in the open-plan office and with it being so vacant, the place has an unfamiliar ambiance. She tells me a couple of my classes will restart online next month, so that's some welcome news.
As I leave the ground floor lobby, two police officers walk in and as I unlock my bike, one of them glances out at me. This just makes me wonder if the security guy at the front desk reported my presence, wrongfully assuming that I must have come in to teach. Or it could be just a touch of paranoia.
It's lunch time and as I haven't been to Subway for a while I call in on the way home and get a foot-long prawn and avocado sub, then pop to a Louisa Coffee shop nearby for a large iced cappuccino. The three other customers inside are actually Food Panda delivery drivers waiting to collect their orders. It's all a bit strange now.
Just five minutes later I'll be back at the small temple, where it should be fine to sit in the shade of that tree and have my picnic lunch in peace.
Gatherings of more than five or is it ten are currently not allowed and thankfully there's nobody lingering around the temple. Usually when I cycle by there's a group of elderly men sat chatting, but the adjacent gazebo is now taped off and, besides, the men are likely worried about catching the virus.
Someone must have just left because the low wall-cum-seat circling the base of the old tree is still damp from being hosed down.
The breeze feels very nice and while the temperature is high, it feels extremely pleasant to be relaxing here in the shade of the low, overhanging branches.
When it seems time to get going, my camera takes a shot of me cycling along the lane that leads to the elementary school, with a Carrefour close by. I have some shopping to do.
My plan is to cook pasta dinner tonight and my canvas shoulder bag soon gets filled with stuff. There are English bottles of IPA for about US$3, but as you may already know, there's a cache at home. Maybe another time... I take a snap as a reminder.
I have to carry a couple of items because my bag is stuffed full and the broccoli and a bag of discounted kettle potato chips get squeezed inside my rack bag once outside and it's now just a few minutes to cycle home.
The small alleys I use are lined with a mix of homes that have either been renovated or stand in various states of neglect. Last week the surfaces were relaid with tarmac and white rows of rumble strips warning of the intersections have just been painted and before these were so worn down that they didn't vibrate the bike, but now they do.
Today's ride: 6 km (4 miles)
Total: 190 km (118 miles)
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| Comment on this entry | Comment | 2 |
Your lockdown seems to have been far more enjoyable than ours. The photos are superb as usual for your work. Thanks for posting.
Cheers,
Keith
3 years ago
I've had well over a year to get my head around what a lockdown would be like, which helps. If the virus had arrived here six months ago, it would have made cycling easier. It's been too hot here again today, but hopefully some rain will fall in the next few days to dampen things down slightly. Staying home is not my idea of fun. I miss sitting in coffee shops.
Hopefully life in France is getting back to some form of normality. Stay safe.
3 years ago