Scorching heat

Temperatures are soaring high, over 35 degrees for the past ten days. Everyone with AC closes doors and windows and stays in, enjoying the chill. It's only from 8pm that the streets are full with people catching some fresh air. Heavy thunderstorms light the skies almost every night, taking some of the heaviness away, for a short while.

Walking around town, the typical sight of drying laundry is no longer exceptional as it was during the few dry days of Spring. Instead, blankets, woolen sweaters, and even underwear are now dried everywhere, all the time. On bamboo poles, on washing lines in the street, on top of bushes: laundry is an intrinsic part of Shanghai's culture.