it's finally spring
and the air in the park near our apartment smells marvellously fresh, all cold earth, new leaves and freshly grown grass. birds flutter through the air and amongst the leaves of the trees which line the streets, twittering merrily, no longer blown off course by strong winds.
bits of cotton fluff throng the air, so you cannot take deep breaths or open your mouth too wide because they will get caught up your nose or in your throat. it is a most uncomfortable feeling, and i imagine cats feel that way just before they cough up hair balls.
jinni thinks they look like falling flakes of snow.
having a good run along the streets of beijing (to the park) depends a lot on the time at which you begin your run. the plus side to leaving earlier, like i did today, is that there are less cars on the roads and more pedestrians and cyclists, which greatly facilitates the crossing of major junctions. i do believe i've become more adept at crossing roads, but just to be on the safe side, i wait for more people to join me at junctions and roads where i have to jaywalk. that way, even when cars honk impatiently at us, the right of way is technically still ours.
you can judge whether it's a good time or not by the number of people on the buses. it's a good time when there are about the same number of people as you would find nus students on a 151 to kent ridge at around 0845.
the down side to leaving earlier is that the toddlers aren't usually out in full force in the park.
it's quite something watching them toddle about, especially since all of them look like 馒头 (man2 tou2) mantou on legs. does it then stand to follow that all mantou look like babies? if there were multi-coloured mantou, perhaps. during winter and the period of time i shall grudgingly admit was early spring they were bundled up in many layers, usually topped with a brightly coloured sweater - which outfit looks to have been replaced by a single sweater, now that it's finally warm.
what hasn't changed about their outfits are the pants they wear. these pants aren't joined at the middle, meaning the pant-legs are both attached to the waistband so there is a gap at the crotch and seat. when it was cold, as they toddled about, their butt cheeks would show, skin red where the wind had rubbed it raw. the purpose of having pants not joined at the middle is to make it easier for their parents or grandparents (usually the latter, in the park) when they need to go shh shh.
i have no idea how you're supposed to spell that word.
anyhow, doting parents and grandparents alike simply bid their respective charges squat by the pavement, or at the drain holes in public toilets; in full view of everybody, they are encouraged to pee.
i can foresee this sort of pants being banned in singapore for the same reason chewing gum was banned.
the park also has many elderly folk doing aerobics and tai ji quan, or learning a dance done with a small drum worn at the hip, dutifully following whoever's in charge. they also walk about, swinging their arms to improve circulation, singing chinese opera. i've chanced upon an old man playing the saxophone, as well as others practising martial arts, complete with fake swords and nunchakus and various professional grunts of the HAH and WOOH nature.
they also look rather alike though, after a while. dark red, dark brown and dark grey coats were favoured in winter, and sweaters in similar colours are favoured now. glaucomoused eyes, or dark glasses; some walk with their spouses, some alone, and these make me the saddest. on the run before today's i saw a solitary old lady with yellowing teeth walking to the park from a roadside food stall, moving slowly against the rush of young, busy pedestrians, biting fiercely into a 煎饼 as if daring it to say something back to her about her aloneness.
***
i've just put lunch on to cook, and it's chicken porridge again. i was supposed to attempt cream of _insert vegetable_ soup this week, having bought anchor butter last weekend (refer to previous post), but was too weak to do so following monday's food-poisoning episode. the mushrooms at the fruit and vegetable co-operative downstairs are very nice, just that xiaoyun doesn't seem to eat mushrooms so maybe it will have to be cream of potato.
oh, and if you had to go all the way to the tenth floor of a neighbouring block to borrow a mop to mop an oily floor, you wouldn't be too tempted to fry food in your kitchen either.
and the air in the park near our apartment smells marvellously fresh, all cold earth, new leaves and freshly grown grass. birds flutter through the air and amongst the leaves of the trees which line the streets, twittering merrily, no longer blown off course by strong winds.
bits of cotton fluff throng the air, so you cannot take deep breaths or open your mouth too wide because they will get caught up your nose or in your throat. it is a most uncomfortable feeling, and i imagine cats feel that way just before they cough up hair balls.
jinni thinks they look like falling flakes of snow.
having a good run along the streets of beijing (to the park) depends a lot on the time at which you begin your run. the plus side to leaving earlier, like i did today, is that there are less cars on the roads and more pedestrians and cyclists, which greatly facilitates the crossing of major junctions. i do believe i've become more adept at crossing roads, but just to be on the safe side, i wait for more people to join me at junctions and roads where i have to jaywalk. that way, even when cars honk impatiently at us, the right of way is technically still ours.
you can judge whether it's a good time or not by the number of people on the buses. it's a good time when there are about the same number of people as you would find nus students on a 151 to kent ridge at around 0845.
the down side to leaving earlier is that the toddlers aren't usually out in full force in the park.
it's quite something watching them toddle about, especially since all of them look like 馒头 (man2 tou2) mantou on legs. does it then stand to follow that all mantou look like babies? if there were multi-coloured mantou, perhaps. during winter and the period of time i shall grudgingly admit was early spring they were bundled up in many layers, usually topped with a brightly coloured sweater - which outfit looks to have been replaced by a single sweater, now that it's finally warm.
what hasn't changed about their outfits are the pants they wear. these pants aren't joined at the middle, meaning the pant-legs are both attached to the waistband so there is a gap at the crotch and seat. when it was cold, as they toddled about, their butt cheeks would show, skin red where the wind had rubbed it raw. the purpose of having pants not joined at the middle is to make it easier for their parents or grandparents (usually the latter, in the park) when they need to go shh shh.
i have no idea how you're supposed to spell that word.
anyhow, doting parents and grandparents alike simply bid their respective charges squat by the pavement, or at the drain holes in public toilets; in full view of everybody, they are encouraged to pee.
i can foresee this sort of pants being banned in singapore for the same reason chewing gum was banned.
the park also has many elderly folk doing aerobics and tai ji quan, or learning a dance done with a small drum worn at the hip, dutifully following whoever's in charge. they also walk about, swinging their arms to improve circulation, singing chinese opera. i've chanced upon an old man playing the saxophone, as well as others practising martial arts, complete with fake swords and nunchakus and various professional grunts of the HAH and WOOH nature.
they also look rather alike though, after a while. dark red, dark brown and dark grey coats were favoured in winter, and sweaters in similar colours are favoured now. glaucomoused eyes, or dark glasses; some walk with their spouses, some alone, and these make me the saddest. on the run before today's i saw a solitary old lady with yellowing teeth walking to the park from a roadside food stall, moving slowly against the rush of young, busy pedestrians, biting fiercely into a 煎饼 as if daring it to say something back to her about her aloneness.
***
i've just put lunch on to cook, and it's chicken porridge again. i was supposed to attempt cream of _insert vegetable_ soup this week, having bought anchor butter last weekend (refer to previous post), but was too weak to do so following monday's food-poisoning episode. the mushrooms at the fruit and vegetable co-operative downstairs are very nice, just that xiaoyun doesn't seem to eat mushrooms so maybe it will have to be cream of potato.
oh, and if you had to go all the way to the tenth floor of a neighbouring block to borrow a mop to mop an oily floor, you wouldn't be too tempted to fry food in your kitchen either.
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