Actually, one missed to the south and one missed to the north. Last week, three foreign visitors came to the newly cemented bridge. I only spoke with two of them. They were both amicable, and I looked forward to skating street with them. It was impossible that night, because of the rain. The session was marked by a huge sideways gust of wind during a downpour that soaked the entire spot in seconds. This is a very rare event, usually it's just a little wet around the edges. As it was, the whole session got shut down because once that surface gets wet, it's slicker than greased shit.
The first typhoon caused some chaos in the south, and our favorite bnb got blasted. Lzyk showed me photos they sent her of what is left of their building. We'll have to go visit once they get the roof back on. Alarmingly, I found out that insurance basically doesn't exist in Taiwan, so it's all out of pocket loss for them. They are offering free rooms and surfing for anyone who wants to go help out. I might take them up on it.
The second typhoon was just heavy rain, even though the weather service says it was stronger winds. It never made landfall here though. However, because of the apocalyptic forecasts, I didn't bring my skateboard to 彰化, and I was disappointed when we had a day of perfectly cool and sunny weather. I wandered around the town that evening and marked off spots for next time on my phone.
The good weather interval was perfectly timed for our meat party. Lzyk's parents have a miniature court yard in front of their house, and we packed it with people and grills and twenty kinds of meat and mushrooms and clams and shrimp and every other conceivable thing you can cook over a fire. One interestering cultural note about Taiwanese grilling is that light fluid hasn't been invented yet, so we use blow torches to light to charcoal. THis takes about twenty minutes. Blow torches are awesome, but have to be one of the least efficient ways to light charcoal I can think of. Fanning the coals with a peice of cardboard was actually quicker, but I was upbraided for my primitive technology and a roaring blowtorch was shoved back into my hands with many assurances it's the best way to light coals. I think it's because the grilling aspect of moon festival is a relatively new invention, inspired by a bbq sauce commercial a few years ago. Now, the grilling part is an institution. Whatever Taiwan might lack for charcoal methodology, it more than makes up for with the food itself.
Back in Taipei, it's still drizzling. I don't want to spend the forseable future only skating under the bridge, but it's convenient for rainy days
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