Scary World We Live In; Was He Yelling at Me?; Return to the Scene of My(?) Crime; Back to Work (Sort of); Tenuousness; Praying Habits

• More and more it is becoming obvious to me that the lockdown in the West is insane I am sitting here in China and when talking to an Australian friend of mine about the current lockdown procedures being followed in his country(or enforced, I should say?), I had to remark that it was more Communist than what I was experiencing in the People's Republic of China.

• I picked up my son Tony from school on the sixth of May. I was driving him home when I came to this corner where I have to make a right turn. The way it is set up is that the right turn lane is to the right of the straight head lanes. That is it is not a case of a straight-ahead lane being designated a turn lane; it is a lane that appears on one's right as one approaches the corner. So I went into the turn lane, passed through the whole lane and started to make my right turn. But you can't make a quick turn because you do have to be wary of e-bikers who are going straight through the intersection (the bike lane is to the right of the right turn lane, and so it leads to encounters between turning cars and bikes trying to go straight ahead.) I instinctually looked for this and saw this e-biker right beside me, maybe closer than I was used to. So I slowed down and I saw that the man riding the e-bike was very upset. I let him go on his way and then I made my turn. I observed him turning around and screaming. And I thought perhaps he was screaming at me. I do recall that I went into the turn lane rather quickly, but I don't see how I could have cut him off because I stuck to the turning lane and didn't lead into the bike lane until I had to make my turn. But the sight of him bothered me all that evening. I still wasn't sure that it was my bad, and suspected that the man was mad because I got in his way even though he wasn't obeying the rules. Still, the first rule of China is not to hit anyone, even if they are breaking the rules, so I told myself that I just have to be on much more of a lookout for e-bikers when turning.

• The next morning, after dropping off Tony, I turned at the same corner. I observed a car ahead of me turning right causing an e-biker to slow down. This particular e-biker wasn't upset by being cut off, but cut-off she was, all the same. And I had a good idea what had happened the evening before. I got too close to this e-biker. My bad? Up to a point.

• Maybe I will be going back to work on the 18^th. It all depends, I have been told, on our school passing some government inspection on the 15^th. What this inspection will involve, I have no idea. And if we do get back to work, we won't be working full-time, just half-time till the school can adjust to the post-lockdown situation. Everything that had been going on before has been obliterated beyond recognition.

• I can't help by think that my position in China is becoming more and more tenuous. I can see the demand for the services I provide drying up very quickly. The Decoupling which others had foreseen coming seems to be coming.

• I pray the rosary every day. I then go through the fourteen stations of the cross. I feel it gives me strength to get through my life, though without improving it. I think it is presumptuous to ask God for favors, and the best we can ask for is strength for whatever he, life and our actions ends up giving us. I should also pray more than just in the mornings. I neglect to pray before meals, in the evenings, and before bedtime. I neglect to offer thanks for the small favors life does grant me: like for only being yelled at for having a near collision.