September 26, 2022
September 26th
looking for silver beads in town
It's Debbie's birhday early next month and I know what to get her. She told me. A couple of weeks ago she dug out some beads that I bought while touring around the Swat Valley in northern Pakistan almost 40 years ago. The guy in the shop there said farmers would dig them up in fields and bring them in, and with them not being in a set, they were quite cheap, even though they're mostly around 800 years old.
Debbie says it'd be nice if they were made into a bracelet. True, but in my opinion, they need spacers made from something like silver. So, today's goal is to find a shop selling beads. I need to pop into town anyway to post some mail and no doubt there will be time for coffee, too.
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Before leaving home at gone noon, I look on Google Maps to see if there are any areas on the other side of town that I haven't explored... neighborhoods that have older homes. I manage to spot a few areas on Streetview and take a snap of my computer screen.
After posting some things off, I pop to Louisa Coffee around the corner and sit and read a chapter of a novel penned by Kazuo Ishiguro that I bought last month. It's a page-turner titled When We Were Orphans.
A few blocks away is a shop that sells silver jewelry and it seems the obvious place to go for what I want. Unfortunately it doesn't. All they have are silver rings and necklaces. It's time to think of a Plan B. That can wait.
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2 years ago
The old neighborhood I spotted is just off Route 114 and it doesn't take me long to cycle there. It's a hot day and my skin is burning, but the street that caught my eye is very narrow and in shade.
Sliding doors the full width of the ground floor of the tall houses are nearly all the original wooden ones, which is unusual, as they've usually been replaced with alloy ones. They are painted the same deep brown, which isn't very photogenic in the shade, so instead I take a snap of a window grill on an upper floor that has Mitsubishi-like emblems welded on it. It's in bright sunshine and painted turquoise - my fave colour.
I ride slowly around the nearby side streets looking for other old homes and find a few windows that haven't been replaced. At one home, as I stand there with my camera pointing up at a first-floor grill, a women who looks to be 70 or more starts to quiz me. I tell her it's a beautiful thing and show her my snap and she says thank you before walking over the street and going into the very house. Maybe she thought I was casing the joint.
In my mind it seems my best bet to find beads is in an antique shop and there's one downtown. It's a place I last went in about 20 years ago.
Once inside, there are half a dozen people,nearly all middleaged, sat at a table drinking green tea. None speak English, but a teenager calls her elder sister on her phone and we manage to establish what I want.
Unfortunately they don't have silver, or any metal beads - only ones made of jade and such like. During our three-way chat the owner has poured me a cup of green tea and invited me to sit with the others. It's like a social club and my cup keeps getting refilled and before I think about leaving, a women in her 30s calls in and joins the conversation.
Her English is good and she suggests trying a place not too far away, down a side street. She shows me it on Google Maps and as everyone has been so helpful, I decide to buy a packet of green tea that I'll post to my daughter at Christmas. She enjoys it.
The shop turns out to be a place I'd never have found, as it's tucked away in an cul-de-sac alley. It looks fairly new, with bright LDS and glass counters with three people working away - two women and a man.
All they sell is beads, so this is the right place. They've silver beads in various sizes and I opt for ones that are 4mm. Ten cost NT$135 - that's about US$5. I get 20 and some black elesticated thread.
The man kindly helps thread a bracelet together, alternating silver with the old beads - then, as I have some left, I decide to make a second one, incorporating some long, tubular beads that are slightly curved and textured. It takes about 30 minutes and I wonder if this is usual business. It's anyone's guess.
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2 years ago
Those are beads to make an archeologist drool. And very nicely mounted. I showed them to my wife and she approves. Im sure Debbie will love them.
Cheers,
Keith
2 years ago
2 years ago
Today's ride: 14 km (9 miles)
Total: 1,746 km (1,084 miles)
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We have similar taste in authors. I’ve read a couple of Ishiguro’s books, not the one you have, though, and have enjoyed them thoroughly. Let me know if you like it and I’ll put that on the list of to-be-read books.
The grill photos are very interesting. Not the sort of thing we see around here, and with variety and style. Do I sense a series in the making?
Cheers,
Keith
2 years ago
2 years ago
I'm not sure about where you buy English books there, but I have just ordered a bunch of Mick Herron novels from Book Depository. It's based in the US, but delivery to Taiwan is free and the actual prices are cheap - much cheaper than I could buy books here....
https://www.bookdepository.com/
2 years ago
You may not have had the chance to read any Mick Herron books. He's another English author. I'm going through his series of Jackson lamb novels (a slobby MI5 agent)....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mick_Herron
2 years ago
I’ll give it a go then. I’ve mostly given up on printed books, especially in English, as the market for used books is saturated to the point where most are now given away or donated to small library kiosks. E-books are also easier to store. When we moved to France twenty-odd years ago, I sold off about two tons of books. I promised myself never to build up that many again.
Cheers,
Keith
2 years ago