brooms and mops

27 december

have become completely fascinated with the brooms and mops in beijing and have been taking many photos of them propped up against walls, corners, steps and stones - its the way they are left there alone, at a certain angle and with a certain propensity - they seem so much more associated with activity here, with so much more intent - maybe because there are so many and so ready to hand -they seem to hold both a strong memory (of their owner) - hey also have a powerful sense of design especially when combined with the colour red (which occurs often) - red being everywhere in china/beijing being very strong against the black which is also prevalent - so, in the temples i took many more phtos of the brooms and fire equipment- i also walked the streets to the bell and drum towers - struggling up the stairs very accomplished only run into american guy who was climbing to base camp mount everest the next day - always so relative - nearly everyone here speaks english with an american accent due to american teachers and cctv - he irony is not even funny - though iron is not in the vocabulary here anyway though sarcasm is very easily understood once explained - it is very cold but skies are clear and blue as the daily quota for fine weather leading up to the olympics has to be met - cloud seeding and factory shutdowns do wonders for the air