Monday, October 01, 2007

A Chinese 'alarm clock'

One of the reasons I have been suffering so badly with depression and over-tiredness in recent days (apart from my debauched lifestyle, that is), is that there has been a lot of prettifying going on in the little park beneath my bedroom window - in preparation, I imagine, for today's National Day celebrations. This has involved men with power tools - chainsaws, hedge-trimmers, and who-knows-what-else - getting to work every morning shortly after dawn. Yes, that's around 5.45am.

Of course, the men are either exhausted or have finished their daily quota by early afternoon, so it's not at all clear why they need to be starting their labours quite so early. Other than the sheer annoyance value, of course, which always seems to be a popular motivation for action here in China.

Like MacBeth, I have become a stranger to a good night's sleep.

4 comments:

The British Cowboy said...

I live across the street from a bakery. Very pleasant to wake up to the smells wafting in.

But what on earth possessed one of the employees to think it was acceptable at 5.00 am on Sunday to tune up his motorcycle for half an hour in the parking lot?

Anonymous said...

I hate crap like that. People here in suburbia like to mow their lawns at 7:45 in the morning on the weekend. It irks me.

Froog said...

And 'irking' is bad. We know that.

If only they would pop some bread in the oven at the same time, it wouldn't seem quite so bad. We might even fantasise about killing them by some comparatively swift and humane method.

Anonymous said...

I remember a tale of long ago ... where a profoundly deaf couple had to complain about the loud music. The vibration was causing their ornaments to rattle off the shelf.

"The only way to listen to The Great Gate of Kiev is at full volume with your head under the duvet" was said at the time.