PLENTY OF THEM ON GRANT AVENUE

The problem with old people is that one of them doesn't listen and the other one is deaf as a post. The third is absent minded and grumbles. And I say this because I am better than two decades younger than all of them. Still, they are rather nice dudes. And on the whole fairly liberal. Cheap, crotchetty, strongly opinionated despite sometimes not having many clues what they are or should be opinionated about. But open minded secular humanists.

Which brings me to the lantern festival. Which today is. In Jakarta and Den Haag it's known as 十五暝 ('sap ng ming', Hokkien: tjap go meh), here in a far flung suburb of Guangzhou it's 上元天官誕 ('sueng yuen tin kun daan'), 元宵节 ('yuen siu jit'), 上元節 ('seung yuen jit') and various other names. Concerning which there is a whole lot of legendry and blah blah blah, but it's the final day of the Spring Festival, so that's probably all you really need to know.

The Spring Festival this year is cold, wet, and miserable.

In the words of one old fellow: 'Taint spring!

I am presently in the room where the computers reside, wearing two layers of underwear, a plaid flannel shirt (thick), a sweater, and a warm garment over that. Drinking a hot beverage of the Mandarin Duck variety (鴛鴦 'yuen yeung') with plenty ginger.

Elsewhere people are freezing their Maganuts off.
Ted Cruz has probably gone to Cancun.

This weekend is both the parade and some basketball thing. So the city will be crowded, and wherever the tourists are expected to go the drug addicts and homeless people are being persuaded to go elsewhere, and turds are being picked up.


Good thing it will be raining. Both of those demographics and their refuse will get washed, and the tourists may dissolve.



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