Another sign?

It is strangely quiet today. It has been for the last several days.

Sure, there have been some outbreaks of firework mayhem - but they've been very muted, sporadic.

Ordinarily, firework activity gets under way a couple of weeks before the arrival of the Chinese New Year (tomorrow, Jan. 26th), and in the last few days it can be quite frenetic. I had thought that this year, since the holiday falls over a weekend (tonight is the BIG night!), things might start up even a bit earlier than that. But so far..... there's been almost nothing, compared to previous years I've been here.

Of course, it might be partly down to the weather. There's been a bitter cold snap this week, with a lacerating wind blowing in from the north-west at a steady 25 or 30 mph from late on Wednesday night to around midday on Saturday. Few people were willing to venture out in that, either to buy fireworks or to let them off.

However, I do suspect that this may be another indication of the meltdown making its effects felt here, dampening confidence, depressing consumer spending.

And then, maybe there's been something of a government crackdown on sales this year, because last year's firework blow-out was so over-the-top - and the behaviour of the populace so brainlessly self-endangering - that casualties numbered (according to one rumour I heard) in the thousands, in Beijing alone.

[And, of course, the conspiracy theory behind there being a firmer policing hand over firework sales this year is, you know, to do with mounting social unrest and the fact that these things are, er, explosives....]

I should enjoy it while I can. Undoubtedly, the city will be lit up like a battlezone tonight - however modest firework purchasing might have been compared to a year or two ago.

Update: Yep, come dusk - the whole place erupted. Probably not going to be getting much sleep for the next few days....