Mr. Hassan, a heavyset, pranksterish 23-year-old, loved the new world of cellphones, online computers and downloadable videos ushered in by the American occupation of Iraq, so much so that he spent a quarter of his monthly salary recently on another new phone.

The hometown of Taiwan’s president, Fangshan’s borders encompass a long stretch of coast and four villages home to around 5,500 people, sandwiched between mountains and oceans. Quiet and picturesque, it’s left off most tourist trails, which instead focus on Kenting national park to the south.[…] In June, midway through Taiwan’s worst Covid outbreak of the pandemic with thousands of cases of the Alpha strain, authorities in the southern county of Pingtung detected a rush of cases in Fangshan, none of which appeared connected. Fangshan had much in its favour – a low-density rural population with an outdoor lifestyle, and high community compliance. But it also had a lot against it. Fangshan’s health system is listed as “insufficiently resourced”, 20% of the population is over 65, and there were no protocols in place for being Delta ground zero. Almost nobody was vaccinated.

It was only when I sat, an hour later, disgustedly reflecting on this incident, that I remembered that there was always some 'hand-working' of the engine during the cage-descents, an engineman reversing the action by a handle at every stroke of the piston, to prevent bumping.

It was not my fault we lost the race. Oh, yes, it was!