Friday, November 25, 2011

The weekly haiku

The wind howls like wolves
And bites as cruelly, sharply
Winter bares its teeth


Oh boy, we’ve had some brutally cold days here in Beijing this past week, with an icy wind raging down from the north-west. Soon the lakes will be frozen again, kicking off our annual frost-fair.

The little roof terrace outside my new apartment (my main reason for choosing it) has already become a miniature skating rink. It rained at the end of last week, and the terrace has only one drainage hole in the wall around its edge; and that – of course – set rather higher than the lowest point of the floor (‘the Chinese way’ yet again!!), so it’s impossible to get rid of all the water that collects there, and I now have an inch thick sheet of ice over half of it.

I wonder where I can buy myself some skates?

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