We had blue skies for two days. I told my guests to enjoy it. I told them they were lucky. An it looked clear as the sun came up this morning,
but it didn't last. I wrote a colleague
who had saved a Saturday to explore Beijing that the good weather was
continuing. “Enjoy the day." And now I regret thumbing that
line. The sky is thick and getting
thicker. There’s a chalky taste in my
mouth. A dull ochre constellation of particulate haze arrests visibility beyond two hundred yards. It doesn’t matter that I’m heading into the
city. It wouldn’t change things if I
drove for five hour out of the city. The
northern plane of China is blanketed in an unhealthy haze. I don't need a forecast to know.
Today is the first
day of the break. I’ve waited a long time
for this day, when there are no more must-do meetings nor hosting obligations
left to attend to. I was longing for
this day so I mustn’t let the air bring me down. I do have one obligation today that I’m in
the middle of fulfilling. I borrowed a
battery charger yesterday and after our collegial feast, complete with a toast to this and
a toast to that, I wound up taking it home.
I will drop it off with the concierge and swing right back around to my compound.
Everyone should be enjoying themselves today. It’s the first day of the holiday and
everyone should be strolling about the city laughing. Perhaps they are but as I look out and see
people sitting at an outdoor café I worry about them. People are riding their Mobikes and their
Ofo’s around and I worry about them. Perhaps the abandoned Mobikes and Ofos strewn
about waiting to be picked up are a more apt metaphor.
Speeding back home now.
A friend stayed last night and he’ll stay again tonight. He came to Beijing for work and booked his
homeward ticket for the wrong day back. No
worries. Change the flight for something back this morning. Ahh, but it’s the first day of National Holiday and all the tickets back to Japan are gone, and the prices for the subsequent days now all
terribly inflated. He’ll need to take a
train somewhere else tomorrow morning and fly on from there. I don’t think anyone regrets leaving Beijing they see the air like this. A woman in
the car beside me just rolled down the window and stuck her head out to vomit.
Saturday, 9/30/17
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