The Summer of 2007
As I write this I'm setting on my balcony in the humidity of the first day of the 2007 summer of Shanghai. We've had a remarkably mild spring and early summer - until today. My recently departed family members from the US just missed the arrival of a humidity that characterizes the miserable summers of Shanghai. When I left the house this morning to visit the art area of Moganshan Road the water vapor hit us as I walked out the door. "Oh no, it's here," I thought.
On the way back from Moganshan Lu the subway was filled with sopping wet people. I should have taken a taxi.
Now I'm recovering on my balcony in front of a fan turned on to the highest speed. Around me is the buzz and whine of construction equipment, hand saws and hammers. Shanghai seems to be under constant remodeling. If the neighbors next door move out (as they just did) the landlord has the insides gutted and redone. Across the wall, in the adjacent compound, multi-million dollar mansions have been under constant construction for at least the 1.5 years I've been here. In the other direction part of the subway is under construction in front of our compound. Cranes swing this way and that way, dropping bundles of rebar on concrete. Sometimes the noise is overwhelming, especially when it starts at 6 am on the weekends. I have no hope that it will ever stop. The fall will come however, and this humidity will have an end, at least for awhile.
As I write this I'm setting on my balcony in the humidity of the first day of the 2007 summer of Shanghai. We've had a remarkably mild spring and early summer - until today. My recently departed family members from the US just missed the arrival of a humidity that characterizes the miserable summers of Shanghai. When I left the house this morning to visit the art area of Moganshan Road the water vapor hit us as I walked out the door. "Oh no, it's here," I thought.
On the way back from Moganshan Lu the subway was filled with sopping wet people. I should have taken a taxi.
Now I'm recovering on my balcony in front of a fan turned on to the highest speed. Around me is the buzz and whine of construction equipment, hand saws and hammers. Shanghai seems to be under constant remodeling. If the neighbors next door move out (as they just did) the landlord has the insides gutted and redone. Across the wall, in the adjacent compound, multi-million dollar mansions have been under constant construction for at least the 1.5 years I've been here. In the other direction part of the subway is under construction in front of our compound. Cranes swing this way and that way, dropping bundles of rebar on concrete. Sometimes the noise is overwhelming, especially when it starts at 6 am on the weekends. I have no hope that it will ever stop. The fall will come however, and this humidity will have an end, at least for awhile.
posted by Kevcham at 1:38 AM
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