Who Is Al Gore Kidding?

Global warming took a vacation here in China, as snow blanketed the country in amounts unseen in recent years. This is the most snow Tiff and I have seen since we’ve been here. Shanghai usually never gets any snow, or if it does, it’s a few of those wet flakes that melt upon ground impact. But this week the mercury dropped, and we’ve actually gotten a slight accumulation of the white stuff, which has had mixed reactions from the locals.
On the one hand we’ve seen crowds of delighted children dancing around in the falling snow. Trying to form snowballs as it melts into mush in their hands and throwing goopy handfuls of snow slushee has not diminished their enthusiasm. Amateur photographers emerged from around the city to capture this rare event from all angles. And generally curious pedestrians bundled up and braved the elements to wander the city transformed into a grey/brownish/white winter wonderland. Umbrella sellers enjoyed record profits as couples huddled under cheap Burberry knockoff umbrellas found that sudden gusts easily snapped their snow shields and forced them to shell out another $2.50 for a replacement Gucci-branded parasol. For others, however, the snow can’t disappear fast enough. Armies of public workers received the call to duty to sweep away the snow, a task worthy of Sisyphus as each completed sweeping of a block was rewarded with a return trip to sweep away the equally messy snow pile that built up in the interim. The everyday bike peddlers and outdoor laborers were granted no respite and performed the same grueling work under colder, markedly worse conditions. And street intersections were manned by squads of traffic police, tasked with the thankless job of directing the unruly demolition derby of Shanghai drivers. I watched one particularly harried policeman (at a four way intersection that had traffic flying in eight different directions) alternately hop around to keep warm and jump aside to avoid getting run over, all the while attempting to establish some order of traffic flow. My instinct was to give him a tip, at least enough to get a mug of hot cocoa, but from the warm cocoon of our heated van, I couldn’t bear to open the door and expose myself to the cruel cold. So instead we drove on, and as I looked back through the rear window, I said a silent prayer to the weather and traffic gods instead, to keep watch over him.
Hopefully this cold front will move on soon, and in any event we leave Friday for Chinese New Year’s holiday, which we will be spending in tropical Vietnam!