It’s hard to find quiet back lanes in this part of Dar because it’s generally full of immense white-washed houses in private compounds. There are a few smaller houses on our road but I cannot imagine them remaining like that for long as the price of plots much put pressure on the owners. It was… Read More »
I have written a lot about the old lanes and communities in the old parts of town which are being cleared of human life and demolished. Today I was walking around the old town, LaoXiMen in the area of YuYuan Gardens and saw two very attitudes of the city authorities to two lane communities. The… Read More »
I have written on more than several occasions about the disappearance of the lanes of old Shanghai, the wiping out of communities of people who live in them and forced resettlement to Songjiang or other satelite town. The saddest of these places are Maoming Lu in Jing’an area and in the old town of Laoximen.… Read More »
I hate the man who lives underneath my bedroom. I really hate him. He bangs on the ceiling with something very heavy whenever he thinks I am walking too heavily across my bedroom. I have taken to sliding across the floor instead, fearing his wrath. Saturday morning came and I was in bed when I… Read More »
It was a bright sunny afternoon and I wasn’t particularly busy and I thought I’d down Fangbang Lu – one of my favourite cycle rides. My friend and I called in at the flower and bird market first and then in a small electronics market and then parted ways. There is a community I really… Read More »
The children in the lane have developed a habit of knocking on my door every day in the summer holidays asking if I want to come out to play. This week I decided to hunt around for the paints and brushes and papers I’d got somewhere in the cupboard. As I was rifling through the… Read More »
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’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 »
The warm weather brought everyone out onto the streets this weekend. Even my neighbours have started taking their early morning tea sitting in our lane. I had a disgusting cold but forced myself out of the house and down to Laoximen to explore the lanes in the old town. I had to put a marker… Read More »
Just as one of my neighbours was ordering a spare part for my fuse box in the communal kitchen some workmen came by and glued a notice to the house door. Another neighbour explained to me that it was the National Grid – they were coming to upgrade the electrics in the house – well… Read More »