Haiku for the week

Air like sandpaper;
To breathe is to gargle grit;
Beijing in autumn.

Well, not just in autumn, of course.  Beijing's air pollution can be pretty shocking all year round, especially with the renewed frenzy of construction going on just now (you can hardly walk down any street without almost falling into yet another half-built subway line!).  But it gets particularly bad with the very damp air we suffer through a few weeks of the autumn.  And this year, that damp spell seems to have been continuing - or to be persistently recurring - much later than usual.  It's usually out of the way by the last third of October, but this year we've been suffering October-ish mists and fogs through much of November as well.  Even on days which have been fairly bright and clear, chilly mists descend upon us as soon as the sun is down - and with them, suffocating, throat-scouring air pollution.  Effective visibility is not just reduced in distance (it was down to less than half a mile last night, I would say); what you can see appears grainy, like an underexposed photograph.  Yugh!