We are now, improbably for March in Shanghai, on Day 5 in a wild streak of completely sunny, bright, warm days. Yesterday I went out in a light cotton Thai sun dress with a medium weight cardigan over my shoulders, not convinced that I could …
It’s Monday evening and I’m tired from a semi longish day trying to persuade my students to engage in the learning process so I’m offering another instalment of Mops of Shanghai. This first set of mops is from just at the entrance to our building. …
Actual thoughtful writing should resume soon- we had a big, tiring weekend away in Nanjing for work and didn’t see daylight for two days. I tried writing a few things on my iPod on the train ride home but the touch screen is small and …
This morning as I walked to work, a Shanghai municipal worker was crouched down on her haunches, polishing a garbage bin. She had already carefully washed it down and was now rubbing shine into the metal containers with a suede cloth. It sparkled. The …
In the Former French Concession (AKA bits of Luwan and Xuhui), there is a parallel universe operating, much like the ones full of street cats and their armies doing their own thing with their own agendas. This parallel universe is made up entirely of mops. …
