Strange lights in the night sky as beams struck out into darkness about People’s Square. I was drawn by the light, not quite the Christmas star but something akin to it – the Star Wars Force Awakens illuminated glory. Now I am probably one of the few people in the world who has never seen… Read More »
There’s a new Muji store on my road and I had heard it was huge and included a cafe so I thought I’d pop along to have a look. Imagine my surprise when I saw the queue snaking down the street. People are actually queuing to go into a shop to spend money. There are… Read More »
The water pressure in my house is so bad that to fill a bucket I run the tap and carry on with the rest of my jobs. If I put the washing machine on, I usually leave the house as I can do nothing else which involves water. It is without doubt the biggest drawback… Read More »
Now the new metro line 12 is open I decided to go to somewhere which sounded really exotic – Fuxing Island. It is an island in the Huangpu river and I thought it might be a little like the island in the river in Nanjing which has a certain charm and was a favourite away-day… Read More »
There are such beautiful old colonial houses in Shanghai, especially in the French Concession where villas often have a garden and you can imagine them in former times, full of life and wealthy foreign families living the high life. Many of these houses are of course still here and preserved for posterity. However there are… Read More »
The cold weather is coming and we’re wrapping up warm against the elemental forces of a Shanghai winter. Everything is slowing down, fewer people out and about in the evening and people scurrying along the streets instead of ambling. It seems that even on Nanchang Lu, somebody is looking after the trees and preparing them… Read More »
My community is dirty enough without the added complexity of building rubble piling up outside my door. Yesterday I went downstairs to find a cabinet blocking my path. Today waiting for me was a pile of builders bags from the renovations going on next door. In the other direction, the ground floor flats are getting… Read More »