The Sound of Silence

I woke up this morning with the feeling that something was wrong. A sense of unease permeated my sleep fogged mind. What was different? Something was definitely amiss. As I struggeld to full consciousness, I realised what it was. Outside, I could hear birds singing. Birds singing in Shanghai? I'd seen birds in the garden. I'd seen them in cages but I'd never heard them before. Apart from the birds, silence. Absolute silence. Of course - the construction ban was in place. Student exams had started and building had stopped. I took out my earplugs and stretched out. I could almost be in the countryide. Two minutes later, the banging of metal on metal. A stubborn builder was defying the ban. Then the noise of police sirens as government forces rushed to the scene of the crime.

OK, I made that bit up but I was impressed by the effectiveness of the ban. We hadn't been expecting that much from it given that the night it was supposed to come into force was the night that our neighbour Master Worker Shen decided to rebuild the interior of his house. Drilling started at 10.30pm. The next morning, we emerged from our house to find the lane strewn with the entire (albeit meagre) contents of the house which added to the outside fridge units, four chairs, 7UP umbrella, bird in cage, four kittens and their mother and druken friend who emerges from the house in his pyjamas no earlier than midday, all of whom habitually lurk outside Master Worker Shen's house.