AKIC randoms.

• I went to Ronnie's on Wednesday night with another Canadian I know to celebrate Canada Day.  I was surprised and yet not surprised to see the same bunch of expats that I had come to expect to see at the Ronnie's old location.  Amazing how some things never change, even in currently ever-changing Wuxi.  I played pool for the first time in ages, and an happy to report I lost respectfully as the game went to the final ball.  To appreciate how long I have been away from the bar, I heard talk of the economic crisis for the first time from other expats.  It has affected everyone, I heard. 
• The other Canadian and I were the only Canadians in the bar.  It was interesting to observe that knowledge of the day's significance was minimal among Expats from other parts of the world.  The only Canadian that one person knew of was Neil Young.  My cousin's brother who knew Young when he was attending high school in Winnipeg always complained about Young not paying back a small loan.  The one American who was aware of the day said I should be ashamed of being Canadian because of my staunch Republicanism.  I am a member of the loyal opposition, I replied.  Being of the Conservative persuasion, I will celebrate genuine real achievements, not phony made-off imaginary world ones that far too many Canadians tried to propagate.
• Construction of the subway and mag-lift train stations has forced me to modify the route of my electric bike ride to work.  I have to now take Xicheng Road all the way to European Street before turning left on Zhongshan road.  The Dammdest thing happens as I get to the Xicheng Road tunnel going under the rail tracks:  a traffic jam develops for bicycles and scooters because a bottleneck created by construction taking up half the tunnel's width.  Annoying.  It is especially  annoying to see how no one seems able to stay in line.  The jam is made all the more annoying by the fact that everyone has to jockey for position instead of keeping their place in line.  If one doesn't jockey for position, you would never get through the bottleneck.
• Tony can turn on the television, DVD player, and Cable box when he wants to watch television.  He can also put garbage in a can when ordered.  Yesterday, I had him help me load cans of pineapple beer into my shopping cart.  He is starting to have his uses, the boy.  He is not just something to wax sentimental over.
• More and more students are at school for the summer.  Excellent!!
• http://wuxiguide.net  had a record day yesterday.  Three registered users logged on at the same time.
• If you watch WTU 360, you will learn that our Canada Day Bike ride took us to Jiangyin district.  Who would have thunk it?  I ask.  Who?
• Someone I know says that the reason the Chinese government is trying to put all the filtering software on all computers in China is because some crony has a contract with the government to do so.
• There are rice paddies in the countryside near our school.  Wow!