Saturday's Meandering Thoughts and Recollections.

Student asks if My Commute is Too Long

Yiqu is a suburb of Wuxi that is further from downtown that Yanqiao (where Casa K is located almost).  We have a few students attending our school from there.  One of them asked me if my commute, by scooter, to work was too long.   I told him I was used to it.

Cats Making Love

On my bike ride home last night, I saw two cats copulating on the sidewalk.  The only noteworthy thing I can recall about the trip. 

Some Expats think that the Chinese never have sex, that there is no sex in China, at least as Westerners know it.  Like them, I was stunned to see the two cats together as they were.

Son Holding Mother's Hand

On my bike ride home, the night previous to last night, I saw a son holding his mother's hand.  The son was on a scooter, being driven by his father.  He was holding his mother, by the hand, as she rode a bicycle.  The scooter was towing the bicycle because of this grasp.  This scooter or motorcycle towing a bicycle is not an uncommon sight.  I have seen other methods by which the tow can be enacted.  Commonly, the bicyclist will use a foot to hold onto the faster vehicle.  I wonder if this is a way to conserve energy in the West.  Chances are that it would violate some safety regulation.

What I am having for Breakfast

It wouldn't be an AKIC blog if I didn't, as I have been accused, of making a blog entry where I talk about what I had for breakfast.  This morning, I will avoid McDonald's and have a bowl of instant oatmeal instead.

Neighbors and Their Garbage

People on the second floor of our building have found ways of putting their garbage outside their door that jar my and my wife's sensibilities. Previously, they had assumed that it was just okay to leave the garbage outside their door and wait for the complex personnel to eventually take the bags away.  However this meant, in practice, that the garbage could be there for over thirty hours or more.  Eventually, these people, on the second floor, were persuaded to take the garbage out of the building themselves.

Last night, I saw them do another strange thing with their garbage.  Walking up the stairs, I saw a wall of garbage bags partially blocking my path.  Three bags of garbage had been laid in a straight line right outside their door in a way to give maximum annoyance to passersby.  Instead of putting the garbage bags down the side of the stairs, or in an unobtrusive corner, they put the refuse at the top of the stairs in a way that blocked one's path.  Like those people, I told you about previously, who saw no problem in driving their cars on the common sidewalks and grassed areas so they could park by their apartments, the second floor neighbors seem to lack basic consideration for others.