Springtime in Shanghai

It was good to have been here at New Year.  You realize how much of Shanghai's population is made up of migrant workers who went home for the holiday when you see how many flats are in darkness, nights.  And the streets are quiet, just the foreigners and Shanghainese. It reminded me of being in Barcelona in August, it gave a sense of belonging.

And the year really has turned, New Year's day itself was the mildest and sunniest day we've had since I got here in December.  This morning, the third day of the year, with a 4% waxing crescent moon, it's lovely and sunny and mild and I've not put the wee electric bar fire on for once. I'm going to check out the flower market at the end of Wanhangdu Road, see if there are plant pots and compost for the herb seeds I brought from Scotland. 

A previous occupant of the flat had left a load of twigs, over a yard long, tied to a pipe in the utility room. One's a woody, a bit like birch, and the rest are green and sticky.  No idea what they are, but the seem viable, so I've put them in a big vase in behopes they'll spring into life, this weather. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LTPTP XXV: We Shall Overcome

Image
We shall indeed.  It's a lovely wee tune to learn.  I've almost memorized it this morning, the idea being, when I encounter a piano, I want something to sit down and play on the bugger.  I've a feeling that my keyboard's keys are lighter than a proper piano's, and there'll be a bit of effort transferring the skills I've gotten so far.  Probably, at some point this year, I'll be in workplace with a piano.  I'll print off some simple music and scales, and work at it, but it's likely to be in a public place so I want something to avoid making a twat of myself initially. It feels right that this should be the first tune I learn by heart.
Read more

Leech or flatworm? Ants and Swiss Chard

Image
For the 2nd time in a week or so, (1st time regarding dwarf beans ), I'm following Alys Fowler's advice, this time with regard to Swiss chard .  Long story short, after midsummer plants which often bolt if planted in spring will resist the impulse to do so, probably because of shortening days; (I say shortening, but in Glasgow, in July, we're still getting 18 hours of daylight).   I got a packet of Bright Lights , at a good price, (another reason to wait until July before sowing, lots of bargains, I've noticed). But where to sow them? Most of the 2nd bed is under a tarpaulin, but it wasn't quite big enough to cover the whole bed, so the last 5ft or so went under a sheet of plastic, (in the background of the photo in this post, here .) Transparent plastic was a foolish idea, weeds were growing underneath it, so I covered most of it with sheets of metal from the old shed. I decided to leave the tarp, but use the area beneath the plastic for the chard. Who-ah there
Read more

VINEGAR!

That wine I started a while back has turned to vinegar. Well, that answered questions I was asking myself back then, viz., 'Do we get vinegar flies around here?' And, 'Are all these little flies vinegar flies?' The fuckers. I thought I was being a clever recycler, not buying proper air-locks and using the old plastic-and-lacky-band method. Ah well, another step up another learning curve. Anybody need three gallons of white wine vinegar and two gallons of the impossibly exotic strawberry wine vinegar? It's been a 'business day', dealing with officials and filling out forms. Don't get me started! Alex came over tonight. He gave me the Aphonic CD (he's been in touch with them and they sent him several copies). I thoroughly approve of this new trend of bands getting their work known over the internet, by-passing (initially at least) the poisonous attentions of the music industry. Come to think of it, some of the people in that business are rat
Read more