I don’t think it’s uncouth to talk about it. I think it’s a reality that has to inform the urgency with which we approach those issues.

My fat cells went condo and my skin is all crepey.

South of Songpoling is Yuanchuan, a station on the famous Chichi Railway Line. Named after the picturesque small town of Chichi to the east, trains on this line take 50 minutes to travel the less than 30 km (19 miles) of narrow gauge that span the rustic countryside between Changhua and Nantou counties, making it the island’s most popular tourist railway line. Though Chichi was the epicenter of the 9-21 Earthquake (sometimes referred to in Taiwan as the Chichi Earthquake), and was nearly levelled, the railway line is already restored, the colonial-style station rebuilt, and the town on the way to recovery.

I lifted the hounds (hoping to catch the leading ones there) to the far side of Hallaton Thorns.