What to do, Military Parades, Three Great Father-Son Moments, 很多人, Built-up or Neglected, Two Red-Light Running E-Bikers

• What to do in mainland China on the 70^th anniversary of the Chairman Mao's declaration of the establishment of the People's Republic of China? One could celebrate it or honor it, but that would mean honoring evil, tyranny, the killing of innocents and attempts to crush the human spirit. One could do nothing and treat the day like it is a holiday but one for which you don't care what the point of it is. One could oppose it, but the question is to what degree. Not celebrating it is opposing it, but it is minimal and cowardly. I, coward that I am, indirectly opposed the day by noting other things to celebrate on October 1^st, like it was the feast day of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the anniversary of Roger Maris hitting his 61^st home run of the 1961 baseball season. I made postings about Saint Therese and Roger Maris on the moments feed of Wechat, the Chinese social app. I was drowned out by my Chinese contacts actually celebrating the 70^th anniversary. I didn't see any of my Wechat foreign contacts posting things to honor the 70^th, except one who even wished China a happy birthday. Geez. It is as dumb as Canadians who think Canada was born on July 1, 1867.

• What countries have put on impressive military parades? The Soviet Union, North Korea, Nazi Germany and The People's Republic of China. I only caught brief glimpses of the broadcast of the big parade held in Beijing. If I watched any more than I did I would have lost my temper. As it was, it was only a short jaunt into local national day traffic to make me despise mainland Chinese and the Chicoms.

• First, Tony was looking at the NFL app on my phone, checking the scores. "How did the Vikings do?" I asked him. "They lost to the Bears!" he told me. It was a wonderful moment, a sublime exchange with my son. Then, Tony & I were following the National League Wildcard game between the Nationals and the Brewers on the MLB app. We didn't have access to a TV broadcast so we had to rely on a feature of the app that allows one to follow the play by play, pitch by pitch results. In the bottom of the 8^th inning, we followed the Nationals staging a dramatic rally to take the lead in the game and save their season, and Tony said it was more exciting than Bobby Thompson's 1951 Home Run. I had to disagree with him but the moment was memorably dramatic all the same. And then, Tony & I played catch. Jenny & I managed to find a place in Wuxi that sold baseball gloves and bought him one, as well as a few baseballs. I already had a glove and so that evening, Tony & I went to a sports field and threw the ball back and forth. We were a curious sight for the locals who were there. Tony enjoyed himself, though I have to report that I am old and stiff, Tony is clumsy and uncoordinated, and that one of the baseballs we bought was of Chinese quality and broke apart very quickly.

• 很多人！henduoren! Too many people! October 2, we went to the Livat Shopping Mall. Too busy. There was a traffic jam to wait through to get to the Mall. We didn't bother walking through the Ikea. (Ikea when it is crowded is hell on earth.) October 3, we went to a Tai Hu lakeside park. It was worth ten minutes of a walk through, but we had to be there for three dull hours. After finally leaving, we got stuck in a traffic jam for an hour. We were on a two lane road with the jam going one way. So many locals, doing the stupid mainland Chinese impatient maneuver, thought that they pass the whole line making it annoying for the people who were waiting properly in line and for the people who decided they were going to turn around. In the evening, we went to Nan Chang Jie Bar street which was so full of people that I had to hold onto Tony so we wouldn't get separated. The moral of the story: stay indoors during National Day Holidays.

• One thing that strikes me as I travel through the Wuxi area is how everything is either built-up or neglected. Part of the contrast is a result of the speed of the development. You will see freeways built next to or running over neglected, weed-infested fields, hotels next to empty lots strewn with garbage. October 3^rd, I drove on a road built through overgrown bush. The road was new, but the high bushes were already drooping over the curb. I have walked past entrances to new apartment complexes where there are water fountains and well-lit entrances, only to walk fifty meters more and see piles of abandoned fixtures, signage and other trash. The contrast is also a result of Communist China never having had civilized property laws. Much of the build-up I have seen was decreed by the Government and whatever was there before was shoved out of the way. There being no property laws, there is no incentive to maintain anything. So everything is shabby and much is neglected unless the government decides to build up something on it which in turn gets shabby in twenty years as no one in China has much incentive to maintain anything.

• In the past week, while driving, I have put the scare into at least two red-light running e-bikers. In both instances, they had to come to an abrupt halt when I honked the horn at them to get out of my green-lit way. I wasn't surprised when these e-bikers didn't show any bit of sheepishness at the fact that it was their ignoring the signals that almost had gotten them killed, and that they instead glared at me like I was in the wrong. Mainland Chinese, as I have complained many times in this blog, are oblivious to other people as they journey through their days. (It shows why no one should trust the Chicoms on trade, and issues of diplomacy and morality.) In response to their idiot glares, I glared back at the e-bikers and pointed to the traffic signals. I hope I gave these people a near heart-attack, for they deserved that. I also hope that they maybe they may come to see the errors of their ways. (If they operate like the Chicoms, unfortunately, there is little chance.)