Goodbye, sky!

At left: The sun asserts itself through the haze over the Lanzhou skyline.

A patch of blue (now and then). This year we enjoyed a prolonged mild autumn in Lanzhou. The coal-fired central heat here is truly central; it goes on and the radiators begin to steam on November 1, and it goes off on April 1 (whether we still need it or not), at the behest of the local government. Daily peaks and troughs in room temperature are somewhat predictable, but uncontrollable. This year, we didn’t need room heat until the end of November (although we had it abundantly); the days were delightfully mild and the pall of smog crept up from the horizon at a slower rate than it did last year, or so it seemed. We savored every glimpse of the blue sky until it finally disappeared completely in December.

Something I never considered until I came here to live: there are no time zones in China. The entire country operates on Beijing time, aka CST, China Standard Time. It is, like so many things here, just simple and practical, albeit a little weird around the winter solstice. Here in the northwest, the sun rises well after eight in the morning, so I leave for work in the morning in the pre-dawn dead of night. It’s comical to follow the primary school kids with their colorful backpacks up the lane in complete gloom (no streetlights until we reach the main thoroughfare). The morning air is brisk (temps have been in the 20's F lately) but toxic. My cotton face mask is also a welcome nose-warmer, but it muffles friendly words to the neighbors. All the same, as the Irish knew all along, eyes can smile. On the plus side, we have afternoon light that would be the envy of New Yorkers, since our total allotment of daylight is about equal. Last night I dreamed that strawberries had come into season and the berries were piled in mounds in our street market!