Autumn arrives

So what, you may ask? Well, it's nearly winter and we're all still sweltering in 98% humidity and high 20's. The swimming pool's closed (and empty, so no point climbing the fence), there isn't aT-shirt in the shops (although you can stock up on left over stock at wholesale prices anywhere that is selling them, if you feel you can take the fashion risk of being out of it next year. Needless to say the remainder tables are surrounded by crowds of not women). Autumn fashion is just about on its way out the door as well with winter only weeks away. Autumn's absence has been causing tension all over town.

The other thing about autumn is very strong winds cleans the air even better than the mid-summer rains.
To wit, you've certainly seen that building before if you've been paying attention, but in no photo previously taken my me in Guangzhou has the sky ever looked like that. I mean, that's a proper sky, guv. Wi' clouds an' evrything. Really. No tricky play with digital editing, just azure.

You can see the clouds better in the next one on - I know the sky is a different colour, but that's due to trick photography. I was practising ways to trick the fully automatic exposure controls, and I have found one.


Even that extremely annoying gold building looks OK under a sky this strongly coloured.



(more to come)








This guy will be happy too. Obviously that isn't the world's largest block of peanut brittle right at this minute, but some time in the recent past it surely was. last weekend that was going to melt if he didn't finish his deliveries by about 10:00 am. This weekend he can probably switch to retail around 11 o'clock and make some extra money.

Also, cycling today is the kind of thing you might think about doing for pleasure. Last weekend it was something you would do to lose weight, or because you had no choice.


It's not unambitious, is it?

Imagine how devastated you'd be if you fell off the bicycle (happened to me once going down Williamstown Road when the chain jumped off the sprocket). Or how angry you'd be if some idiot ran into you. Twenty years ago if you'd been doing this (and no-one actually was that I saw, which might be a whole other discussion) it would have been a bicycle but now it'd be about 50:1 on it would be a car. They don't call it brittle for nothing.

It's tempting to think that there is something a little idyllic about a world where you can earn a living selling peanut brittle from the back of a bicycle - that's the "real China" that everybody is worried might be vanishing. But think about that guy's stress. Take a look at his back - it's the back of a man who is worried about many things. OK, it might be the plummeting value of his share portfolio - but I think the balance of probabilities is against it.