I decided to spend my Sunday afternoon by taking a ride down to the river and take a ferry over to Pudong and cycle along the river on the far side. However, I got to The Cool Docks, where I planned to have a coffee and get the ferry, to find The Cool Docks closed… Read More »
I came out of my community to find Nanchang Lu full of lights, staging, cables, equipment trucks and a fair few young people hanging around. I noticed that several empty shops had been fitted out and their appeared to be an actor with a racing bike in th doorway of the hostoric Art Deco building.… Read More »
One of the things we, in the west, can learn from the Chinese is the willingness to make-do and mend our appliances. Once in a while several fixers come with their tables and tools and sit on the pavement outside my community. My neighours bring out their broken objects and for a small fee they… Read More »
I went for a wander today around Suzhou Creek in the vain hope of seeing some dragonboating. I think I was a day too late. Anyway I saw a fantastic Art Deco fire station with a tall look-out tower and then, at the top of Shan’an Xi Bei Lu a huge collection of boxes waiting… Read More »
It’s been happening slowly, you don’t notice it at first and then someone mentions it and you realise that, yes, the kisosk which used to add life to the streets, are being closed. The one near Xiang Yang park was my favourite. It was always busy with people buying drinks and ice-crean and in the… Read More »
When I look down at the floor of the Metro train I see almost everyone wearing training shoes, from the child just learning to walk to little old ladies, their backs bent double from a lifetime of hard work and mul-nutrition. Even businessmen wear trainers with their suits. It’s all the usual brands, Nike, Adidas,… Read More »
Why oh why I decided to go to the pie society for my evening meal when the weather forecast promised rain – I do not know. But I suppose I was driven by a desire for a proper pie. I ordered a very fine beef ad ale pie with mash and gravy and it disappeared… Read More »
I’ve been in this house for five years and for the whole of that time, there has been a problem with the guttering at the top of the house across the lane. For five years water has fallen from the top of the house (fourth floor) to the ground in a constant stream of drips,… Read More »
It’s one of my all time favourite books – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – and it was coming to Shanghai Culture Square in the form of a play from the National Theatre. I couldn’t NOT go. I paid my £40 for a ticket for the Saturday matinee and the whole… Read More »
I really love the Chinese – honestly I do. Every day I see something which makes me laugh or smile, or even reassess the way I have always looked at something. It could be someone walking backwards down the street clapping, a dog in a tuutuu, an old lady in fake Nike runners and an… Read More »