We saw a one-scooter accident this morning that restored some of my faith in humanity. The young woman driving the scooter seems to have taken a corner too quickly, went into a skid and slid into the concrete barrier that separates the lanes of traffic. The good humanity piece is that at least four people stopped to help her. Mostly that involved talking to her and getting out their cell phones but that qualifies as help, in my book. We had heard story after story about people in Taiwan not going to people's aid when there's an accident so it was good to see that disproved, at least in this instance.

She was pretty shaken up but at least she had on her helmet, which is the law, and she also had it buckled, something plenty of people don't do.

While I'm on a downer subject, let me tell you about dengue fever. We're supposed to be at the end of the season but it's been a tough one around here. There have been something like 10,000 cases in Taiwan, 9500 of them in the Kaohsiung area. The PTA has switched away from the fear of chicken pox to the fear of dengue. The water pipes at school have been flushed with salt water, the city has been spraying for mosquitoes (I would have thought all the chemicals in the air from the smog would be enough to kill them all, but apparently not), and anyone with a slight fever is getting rushed off to the doctor's. At this point there are no cases at KAS but the parents would like to see it stay that way. Can't say that I blame them!