Saturday morning I awoke a nervous wreck. Hadn’t managed to get a wink of sleep all night because I was worried about the very  critical security situation in my province. Most of you will have already learnt about this from the 24 hour news bulletins and special editions the International press have been putting out, but just in case you’ve been living in a cave, here’s the 411.

shoe thiefs

To try and regain some inner peace (and pick up concert tickets), I rode my bike down to Wukang Lu, about 10 or 15 minutes easy cycling from my place. The air was sweet, crickets were singing in the trees and shoe thieves were the last thing on my mind as I rode around this lovely old French Concession district.

Wukang Lu

Sometimes you come across a place where it’s hard to believe you’re still in Shanghai (although slightly easier when you ride around the corner and some fellas is using his bike to tow a cage full of live chickens).