the art of social distancing

The low rumble of machinery beginning just before midnight, the road being relaid once again, eyes opening resentfully, managing to get the coffee into the aeropress but forgetting to lock the lid, watching as grainy brown fluid arcs in slow motion from the tube across the worktop and floor. A good start to the day, but, the second one finds the cup, the room sharpening into focus, the hills shimmering in haze but the mood's wrong and there are tasks to address. Outside there's a beautiful breeze, a slight chill, residue still knocking around my head, hanging a slight curtain across the day.

Deciding that I'd prefer not to take the mrt, I find a bike and head off through the streets in search of something, stalked by a kind of restlessness which I can't work out. Lost in traffic and quiet alleys, the route unscrolling through unremarkable architecture until it rises above roofs, prepares to cross the water. A sign for the bikeway along the Xindian river, 101 rising faintly in the distance, fishermen upstream clinging to the banks, bridges spanning the wide water beyond them, the hills to the north dimming beneath a glowing sky. Further along I find a place to sit, beneath a bridge, watch as the threat of returning thunder flows upstream, drift further, into distances stretching out beyond this island, familiar streets and faces spilling into thought as the sounds of water reflect from concrete.

Continuing upstream, passing joggers and other cyclists; figures gather around displays of spring flowers, a monk posing for photographs as colours blossom around him. Turning off the river path, back into the traffic, finding that the shortcut through the university's blocked off, anyone entering the grounds having to have their temperature checked, a queue forming. In the post office I'm checked before being allowed to enter, back at the flat it's the same, another check on entry to the building; there's now a 1500 dollar fine for anyone found not wearing a mask on public transport. But people seem to have adjusted to the new rules, the modified routine, there's a slight increase in people on food street, places seem busier although tables are depopulated, distancing observed, precaution in ascendancy.