Everyone has perked up, people have started smiling. It’s amazing what a few nice sunny days can do to the spirits. The first sign of summer/spring is without doubt the return of the curtains on the windows of the buses. This happened this week.
The street where my office is, is really dirty. It has to be one of the worst in Nanjing. In addition, it is impossible to walk on the pavements as they are full of people washing dishes, cutting vegetables, dogs shitting, children shitting and blue containers full of rotting food waste waiting to be taken to the pigs. It really is a hellish sight. This photo shows the street in spring when the dust is starting to rise from the roads and pavements into a cloud which will now remain for the rest of the summer.
Dirty Chengzuocun aside, the place is full of energy now the winter has gone. The outside tables and umbrellas have been brought out of storage, cyclists have installed their parasols on their handlebars to save their skin getting brown. Brown skin in China marks you out as uneducated, low class farmer. Skin whitening cream is eerywhere. In fact when I go to get face cream it’s sometimes difficult to get one which does not have a bleaching agent in. I definitely don’t want to look any whiter than I already am!