Pump it

This morning, I met a friend for coffee. Today’s a public holiday for the Dragonboat Festival, so the first two cafés we tried were closed.Luckily, the third one was open, and it was excellent.I started with strong, bitter espresso. 10/10.A crunchy tomato bagel. 9/10.And finally, a very good cappuccino. 8/10.While talking over coffee, my friend and I noticed something interesting outside: people with containers queueing to use what looked like a decorative, antique, hand-operated water pump.I’d never seen this happen before, in Taiwan or anywhere else.The pump was installed on a street corner, immediately outside the café, and I don’t think I’d noticed it when we walked in. (And if I had, I wouldn’t have guessed it was functional.)The act of pumping, and the pump itself, seemed completely anachronistic.But also intriguing and cool: Pump it! When we left the café, we paused for a closer look. A lady stopped and chatted with us in English. She said the pump was maintained by her…