There's literally nobody around

Well, that's not strictly true.  But, this morning, on the way to work*, there was hardly any traffic, and in the streets around me there were probably only about 15 people.  I thought to myself "Wow, it's dead out here!"  Of course, this is all comparative.  If I were to think the same thing at home, there would literally be nobody else in sight.  But that's the way things go in bustling Shanghai.  I was just jealous of all the people who weren't on their way to work.

I just heard a huge boom outside, and I guess the fireworks haven't completely stopped yet.  It's a week since the new Chinese year began, and it's been like a war zone every day since with huge fireworks and annoyingly-long strings of crackers going off at all hours of the day, night, and ridiculously early morning.  Some clever and considerate people have been letting them go off in the driveway of my apartment complex, and they explode right about my window level.  Would be interesting once or twice, but I was sick in bed for three days of the break and just wished they would shut the hell up.  I'm glad I was in Hong Kong for the weekend of the new year, so I missed the real craziness. 

*Don't get me started on having to work on a Sunday as part of a seven day week which we have to do in order to receive the 'seven' days off we got last week.
I didn't take any pictures this year, so the image is from the Beeb.

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