Update

It's the seventh day of Christmas here in Jing'An.

Yesterday I walked along Beijing Road to the Bund. At a very leisurely pace it took about two hours. I suspect I could have done it in 45 minutes, but I stop a lot. I talked to a little girl and took her picture, tried on a pair of shoes, strolled through the Jing'An Sculpture Garden, I walked around the block in a couple of places that looked interesting, and I stopped to have a jym-be just blocks before I got to the Bund. There was lots of talking there at the jym-be stop, and I took a picture of a lady and her dog there.  At the Bund I had a pot of tea and then took the train home. If you live in Jing'An, after all, why would you want to be anywhere else? I really feel that way about this neighborhood.

A jim-be is a burrito like thing which is made on a big round thing. The cook puts a blob of dough on the big round thing -- like a comal, used for tortillas, only much bigger -- and as the dough cooks they put an egg on it, toss on some green things, a yellowish thing, and then add a either a crispy bread or a chewy bread. Then they fold it in half and put some brown sauce on the half-moon bit. then roll and tuck the edges and you have a jym-be. This one was made with a chewy bread. It had noodles and seaweed inside, so it was a little different than what I am used to. But I think it's still called a jym-be... and I am not at all sure how to write the Pin Yin for it, that's just my best guess. They are from Shandong Province. You can get them on my street at the weekend, early in the morning. I like the ones here better. I'm not much on seaweed as a food for humans. I sometimes use the dried seaweed as a salt substitute, but I don't really like the limpy stuff in my jym-be.

I was surprised to see the sculpture garden. I knew it was on Bejing Lu, but I thought it was the other way. So, that was a nice surprise. There were some new sculptures and some old favorites. I went there quite a lot that time I wound up spending almost three weeks here waiting for my backpack to clear customs. Remember that? What a bother that was. Anyway, I'd go down to the sculpture garden to calm myself.

Then, if you continue on Beijing Lu, you walk through an area that sells all kinds of hardware: tools, motors, nuts, bearings, rotors, just everything you can imagine. I even saw some plumbing, which often has its own section. So that was interesting, though I am not sure I need to do it again.

Nanjing Lu also goes to the Bund and the next time I take that walk I think I'll go down Nanjing Lu. It will be more interesting.

We have not had very good air quality lately. The AQI (Air Quality Index) has been spiking up into the very unhealthy range several times a day for a few days. In the unhealthy range I sometimes get a mild eye irritation, something that I treat with drops and a nap. No big deal. But now it's the sore throat and I don't know if it's AQI or an actual sore throat. I will stuck close to home today and drink lots of tea.

Photos to follow. I know I always say that and then I never do it. I am just putting more energy into ukulele and journalism these days. I can only really love one or two hobbies at a time. I feel fortunate that there are so many things that interest me. But it also limits me. This is the nature of the Earth Plane.

Love to all.