TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A photo posted over the weekend showing an elderly woman precariously perched on a fifth floor tin roof of a dilapidated apartment building while tending to her garden in Taipei has gone viral.
On Sunday (March 19), a member of the Facebook group Streets Observation Academy posted the image and wrote, "Grandma is so good at playing hide and seek. The sun has almost already set, and she still has not been found yet. All she can do now is plant flowers while she's at it."
What frightened many netizens was that "Spider-Grandma," as some dubbed her, had somehow climbed over a concrete wall first before stepping onto the flimsy, downward-sloping roof while wearing pink plastic slippers. All with nothing to stop her from plummeting five stories below if she lost her footing.
One Facebook user posted a video showing the Monkey King floating on a cloud and whisking her away.
According to TVBS News, the apartment is located in the high-end Tianmu neighborhood of Taipei City's Shilin District. In response to the uproar over her exploits, the septuagenarian told the news site that after retiring, she started to grow vegetables on an awning outside her top floor balcony, which is part of an illegal addition.
The woman was cited by FTV News as saying that some of the leaves had turned yellow, and she was simply removing them. She said the wall was "not very high" and so she did not think it was very dangerous.
The news station interviewed a member of the community who pointed out that there are no safety measures in place on the awning and if she slipped she would fall approximately 15 to 20 meters.
Netizens were not reassured by her explanation:
"Don't do that, it's scary!"
"This is very dangerous. I advise her not to play like this."
"Putting your life on the line to grow vegetables."
"Is it necessary to risk your life like this?'
"Grandma in Spider-Man incarnate?"
Woman tends to her garden while sitting on roof. (Facebook, Streets Observation Academy photo)
