Interesting Rainy Weekend

I had no goals for this weekend except to prep for my Mongolia trip which begins on Friday, 9/17. On a rainy Saturday morning, I went to return a towel I bought at a local department store and was instantly transported 25 years backwards. This store can take your credit for sales but returns are heavily controlled so no swiping your credit card and giving a receipt. They write down your credit card number, fill out a form, copy your credit card and then tell you it will take 20 business days for the credit to go through. I objected to having my credit card written down and potentially available for someone to steal the account numbers, but was told this was the only way to make a return.

On my way home as the rain intensity increased, I watched the traffic with increasing curiosity. The moped riders drape themselves in a poncho and look absolutely miserable as the water hits them in the face and pools in the middle near there bodies. I passed one of those intersections where there are no rules, no stop sign, no traffic light, etc. Of course, cars and mopeds rarely obey the rules so it's not unusual. After walking past the intersection, I heard a loud boom. I thought it was one of those overloaded carts that might have toppled. Something like this one I found in Guillin in 2006...



So peaking out between two trucks, I see a moped rider on the ground and a very nice Audi sedan stopped nearby. I waited to see what would happen next. The Audi driver jumped out of his car very concerned and without a look at the person on the ground he raced over to see if there was any mark on his car. (You can't make this stuff up.) Then he and his passenger went over to help the lady on the ground. They never really looked at her, just standing there each holding the ends of the handlebar just waiting for here to remount and leave. The driver continued to stare at the front bumper of his car looking for damage.

Now a word about the accident victim. When she stands up, you can clearly see bandages on her left elbow and left knee. My guess is she has bounced off another car recently. She was very concerned about her right knee which was red but had no blood on it. Finally, after a lot of pointing at her knee she got on her moped and headed back where she was originally coming from. The driver just left the scene and proceeded to almost hit me and cut off two cars at the next corner. On my way to the corner, I passed one of Shanghai's many "Traffic Assistants" who are there to direct traffic in busy intersections and try to keep pedestrians safe from traffic rule breakers. She was sitting on a chair, mid-street, watching the accident scene but not wanting to get involved, so when I passed her I said, "It's okay don't get up."

Sunday was even rainier so I thought it would be good to go out and take some photos of the locals in action in a downpour. To justify my movement outside, I headed for a distant place called NY Deli on a route I have never taken to observe life and as luck would have it a few treats were found along the way. With camera in hand, the pictures will tell most of the story. (Note: As always, you can see all of the photos by clicking on any one of them and going to my Smugmug page)

The first thing I came upon was a marital dispute that seemed to erupt into a hockey fight. I saw this man make a grab for his female caveman style, while holding their child and an umbrella, never giving up his grip on any of the three. The lady tried furiously to shake loose, eventually, starting to take her shirt off because he wouldn't release his grip in the shirt. Those of you who know the ice hockey maneuver of pulling your opponents shirt over their head so they can't use their arms can visualize this easily. She seemed to be trying to remove her shirt to escape the grip. This held my interest for purely journalist reasons, of course. Finally, she slipped his attempt to move his grip to her hair and she ran down the street and out of sight. He still held the umbrella and child and walked in that direction and away from me.







As I walked away, I thought of Howard Cosell announcing a boxing match in the 70s, and screaming "Down goes Frazier", when boxer George Foreman decked Joe Frazier. It's been an incredible life and I'm only 55, but why do I remember all this stuff? In my house, only Marissa has a memory like this. Heck, Jonathan can't remember anything about his childhood, but that's a story for another day.

Then I saw this roadside repair by someone other than AAA. This tire repair job photo also catches a lady who might be giving verbal support but is lacking some support of her own, if you get my drift.



Next, I found this adorable scene with a young boy playing with a kitten by grabbing it's tiny claws under the door opening.



After a 2.5 mile walk, I found the restaurant and dared convention by ordering a Corned Beef Reuben sandwich at the deli. It was excellent! After finishing, I ordered a Chicken Burrito, yes, Burrito, which they are known for, intending to have that for my dinner. These items are around $7 each so very reasonable. The burrito is enormous. No way I eat more than half for dinner. A definite keeper location. On my way home, I decided to go a slightly longer route to see more of Shanghai.

This next guy and I had some fun watching a bus rush through a puddle and splash passersby as they walked in front of him. I enjoyed his enjoyment and tried to capture that.


Then there was this guy who was shopping with his family.



Finally near home, was the guy similar to the one in the photo above with his heavy load on his bicycle.





The funniest event of the day was a very pushy shoeshine guy who wanted to shine the black boarder on my Goretex shoes. He couldn't understand why I had no interest.

Near my home, I found a local grocery store which was a great relief because the nearest store I knew of is several subway stops away. Now it's time to pack for Mongolia so there probably won't be any blog posts until I return.