down the market

There's been a fair bit of snow in the last few days making the roads
pretty dangerous. Since its below zero all day long even the mush
turns into ice, and even some gentle sleet is a major threat once it
hits the pavements. But at least the snow gives you a real sense that
its Christmas time (at least if you are not Australian, otherwise
you'd associate Christmas with the beach). We did have a snow a couple
of months ago, freakishly but that disappeared fast. Here the snow and
ice hang around for ages.

It does make for a more adventurous bike ride into work. It also makes
it easier to find a bike parking space! Cycling is one way to ensure
Beijing remains a liveable city. At rush hour the subway is just not
pleasant, while the traffic is awful. In fact rush hour is so bad it
makes cycling home at rush hour bad too as cars spill over into bike
lanes. I used to leave work after rush hour... around 7pm but
sometimes now i try to get off earlier and it's not an enjoyable ride.

Work is going to get pretty busy until the Chinese New Year holiday
when I'll head home for a couple of weeks. Being busy is often more
satisfying as you feel more has been accomplished but it also means
that other non-urgent things get de-prioritized and it might mean less
time with the little one. This was the first weekend for a while
without a "play date" for Hannah, instead it was playtime for the
adults, hanging out with other friends who all seem to be having some
form of party because of christmas, and hosting a little dinner of our
own. It's funny, even when we don't intent to hang out with parents
with kids, a lot of our friends are all having kids or considering it,
but the conversation thankfully does veer off in other directions
occasionally.

One of the moments of today? A walk down to a local market (or series
of markets) where our local shoe repair guy shined up my shoes,
replaced the heels and worked some miracles. I'm totally impressed and
have brought a pair of shoes back from the dead which are at least
good enough for a back-up pair. And of course we get a healthy dose of
"real China" down in the market; the China that thrives off pure
entrepreneurialism. Next to the shoe guy? A guy selling christmas
decorations. Not sure how many customers he'll get, but the next door
market is full of hotel stuff, so maybe he's pitching to the hotels to
buy his stuff! And the other side of the shoe guy? A shoe woman, next
to another shoe woman. All lovely, photographic, old ladies. Well
until some guy in a van stops in front of them and gets out leaving
the engine running and the exhaust belting into their faces. Those
cute old women can sure get angry when they need to!