As we close out the last of the LNR holidays, one bright note, in my area of Taipei anyway, was distinctly less firecracker noise. I heard it only a couple of times over the whole time, and those in the far distance, until today when somebody set off a big volley of them. I suspect more will follow tomorrow morning when things rev up again but that’s to be expected.
Hope everybody had a good holiday and enjoy this last tail end of it. Cheers!
So . . . after nine long days being closed, with banks be open tomorrow (i.e. Monday)?
Guy
The nine days over LNY are the only time I can completely relax. Sleeping 8-9 hours every night the last few days was just heaven. Well, all good things…
Back to work. Still have a family to raise, many life lessons to learn, and pr’s in the pool to break.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Yes, I believe so. Banks will reopen. The fireworks tomorrow will make that clear enough.
Yep, back to beautiful good ol’ hard life, as Lena Horne used to put it.
Beautifully put. 加油!
I am not usually fond of riding my bike through Taipei’s cold winter rain. However today is National Bonfire Day, with flickering embers of burning luckeymoney or something like that nipping at my heels on all major roads. The rain, I noticed, does help to stop these smouldering urban bonfire embers from lighting this cyclist on fire. Glass half full! 
Guy
Stunning! The detail on the bee is amazing.
I think you know, but just in case, that’s not my writing. It’s from a Robert Frost poem.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
By Robert Frost
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Ah, yes but thanks for providing the full text for those who might not recognize it.
Both beautiful writing and your reference to it, particularly at that moment at the end of the day on the last of a deliciously long holiday when many of us were preparing to head back to the salt mines to do the hard work of life and often caring for families (I believe you have referenced having children in the past here, though I could be wrong). There’s nobleness to it.
I’ve always admired that Frost poem. It’s related to another of my favorites that speaks to everyday duties performed for loved ones. Since this thread will probably run out of gas soon I’ll take up some space and post it here:
Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.
I’d wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he’d call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,
Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love’s austere and lonely offices?
1913 –1980
Is today a special day on the lunar calendar ? I’ve heard 10 times more firecrackers this morning, and particularly in the last hour, than I did over the whole Lunar New Year period!
Kai gong !
Starting work and business probably.
I thought that would be Monday though. But, better now than during the relatively quieter holiday time anyway.
I think all week really. Staff will go to temples also. There is a specific day that they concentrate on so not sure if it’s today or not.
Just guessing it is today, based on the inordinate amount of firecrackers I’m hearing. I half expect to see an offerings table and ghost money blazing away when I leave my apartment building. 
Today is the Jade Emperor’s birthday. It’s a big deal for Hokkien people.
Saw a ton of people burning shit yesterday. Made Taiwan look even more favela-ish than it normally does.
Ah, that helps explain it. Thanks.
