Green ribbons
(Buds on trees: Suzhou, China)
I’ve been noticing that the weather here is changing rapidly – what was a chilly, breezy, dry and wintry world here last week is becoming damp, humid and hazy again. Perhaps the word about the cold rain followed by a warm one is really true – yesterday it rained all day and mist shrouded the city in a cloud-like blanket.
I took this photograph over the weekend as I’ve noticed these buds popping out all along the banks of the canals for several days now. From a distance, these little polyps of green look like tied green ribbons along the long trailing branches of the weeping willows. Finally winter is ending here and I’m relieved, but the respite will undoubtedly be brief – rather than complaints about the cold and dry, I’ll be bemoaning the beating sun and the humidity. China’s weather is more extreme than predictable at any time, but in these short transition periods even more than usual.
The building in the background is the kindergarten I referred to yesterday. There must be an underground mine of children somewhere to fill this place, as the new building seems to be about three storeys high and big enough to contain an Olympic swimming pool. Chinese people are very child-centric, I’m sure due in part at least to the one child rule. However, some restaurants advertise their LCD TV run of constant cartoons as much as their menu, or one wall of a café will be painted with Disney characters and a short plastic table might be piled with colourful plastic ephemera to play with. There are maternity and childrens clothing shops as often as there are cafes in some areas of Suzhou. The child in China is a constant accessory. In Britain, if people are doing their shopping late at night, their child might be in bed at home with the other parent. If they are present, they are at least nestled in a buggy – but I have seen children asleep in trolleys of food or toddlers racing round supermarkets at 10pm.
