Rhona's Blog: More weather in Shanghai

Sorry to keep going on about the weather here, but it has such an impact on my life. The plum blossom season has finished, so no more days of 32 degrees and 94% humidity. Now it is just hot!! The headlines in the newspaper the other day said that the temperature had reached 39.6 degrees! That equals the hottest day in 63 years and is the second hottest since records began!!! The hottest temperature was 40.2 degrees, seen on July 12, 1934. This year is set to be the hottest summer on record. Oh, joy! It’s cooling to 32 degrees at night, so much against my principles; I’m sleeping with the air conditioner on. I still find it very strange opening the window to find it hotter outside than in. So, because of the heat, I’ve not been doing much – it’s really tiring in the heat – even if I do spend most of the time in air conditioning.

Pavement or bike park?

I try not to go out too much, as the heat makes me tetchy, and my ‘pavement rage’ is worse than usual. Most of the pavements are very wide – but when you add in the bicycle parking; the little stalls selling everything from DVDs to handbags; the people selling fruit from their baskets carried around on a yoke; the recyclers and all the other people just walking along the road, there is very little space from me. I get so frustrated having to walk so slowly that I develop ‘pavement rage’. Just to give you an example of how busy a pavement can be – I live 5 minutes walk from the metro, and most nights on my way home I pass:

2 or 3 people wanting you to fill out a survey (they never ask me – one big advantage of being a Westerner living in China!)
a bloke making wire and bead jewellery to order
somebody selling handbags and purses
2 or 3 people selling fruit from baskets on a yoke
someone selling cigarettes
2 DVD stalls
English books for sale from a sheet on the pavement
A girl selling crockery from her bike
2 sets of people recycling rubbish (this bit stinks!)

The recycling zone

There are other people who appear occasionally – hot-dog vendors, some blokes weaving grasses into animal shapes…. Not bad for a 5 minute walk.

So, it’s getting near holiday time again!! Yesterday I booked our flight tickets for the trip around China in September. I was a bit worried given the last experience I had booking tickets – but this was really simple. I’d booked the first couple of flights on line, then had a confirmatory text, then an email and finally a phone call. During the phone-call the lass asked if she could book the rest of my flights – no problem, all done. ‘The courier will be round with your e-tickets at 4pm.’ Next stop, the bank. I needed to pay cash, ans the highest denomination here is about £6.60, so I felt like someone from a film walking out of the bank with my big bundles of cash. So, 4 o’clock came, and went…. As did 5 o’clock, 6 o’clock…….. then at 6.30 I got a phone-call, from the courier, I think, but he only spoke Chinese, so all communication failed! At 8.30 the door-bell went, and my tickets arrived!!! In China, e-tickets are real tickets, printed on fan-fold paper, that are just the same as real tickets!!! Anyway, the pile of tickets was bigger than I am!!! It’s going to be fun!!!

The tickets are as big as a door!

I was looking out of my office window the other day, and saw that the company fire engine was parked on the road. I know that the hot weather is causing a shortage of water, but this is just silly!!!