Billboard man
(Man replacing advertisement: Suzhou, China)
Perhaps this image can offer a sense of scale to Suzhou’s streets and our general surroundings. This man is hanging strips of paper like wallpaper along each of the long, thin sections of this curved billboard. All he has is a ladder and his tools – this could only happen in Asia I think, where ‘health and safety’ is taking a prolonged vacation from duty.
One of the strangest things about returning to the UK after being in China is that people ask me, “so what is China like?” I understand what they mean, and yet, it’s the most difficult, vague, general query and I never really arrive at a definite answer. More often than not, I reply inarticulately “Oh, it’s just crazy” because if I were to expound on what I feel China is like, I could write an essay… like now. More often now I introduce China with the phrase, “it’s just huge, everything is colossal and just, more than here.” It’s not the best comment, but it’s really what divides the impressive (for the UK) one million of Glasgow and the small city (for China) of eight million inhabitants of Suzhou.billboard man
Health and safety? Pffft. That guy is tethered to the building by a rope (strength of rope questionable though). Health and safety is supposed to be common sense, not regulations designed to replace it and create jobs to the detriment of productivity and cost competitiveness.