I’ve walked around the Suzhou Moat before, but yesterday the sun was oot and I decided to get a bit of sunshine. I still wore my thermals, but I’m glad to say that I think that winter’s bite has weakened a little and so tomorrow I will have no thermals on my legs, I’ll let you know how I go.

I had only been walking a short time when it came clear to me that my choice of clothing had been a bad one, more so when I got to the Western side of the moat, because of the sun and the lack of wind , it became very warm indeed. I even sported my new hat today, well it’s not too new but I haven’t had many opportunities to wear it.

For summer I’m going to have to get something a bit bigger that will give me a little more shade, but you know it has to be cool as well as functional. It’s all about image 🙂

As I walk around the moat you can start to see the first signs of spring on the way. Many of the trees are beginning to sprout new leaves and the naked trees will soon be fully clothed once more. Mind you some of the blossoms have already begun to wear this seasons new look. Even the bees were out and about sticking their noses into the new flowers.

There were many people out and about enjoying the winter sunshine and many of them had their dogs with them. Many of the dogs are small Poodles or a Labradoodle or whatever the hell you call them. Most had their designer clothes on and I must apologise at this time for not being able to provide any pictures of the dogs, however if I can in the future I will update and share. Now yesterday for the first time I saw a Poodle with a nappy on, yes a nappy. I can’t see this being helpful in anyway, not to the Poodle and especially not to the owner, after all they will still have to clean up  the dogs shit and possibly by having a nappy on it’s going to be a lot worse, but you know it’s all about image. Whether it’s practical or not, that wee Poodle was different and people were talking about him, you didn’t have to understand Chinese to realise that.

This reminds me of a conversation I had a few months ago with a Chinese friend, Patrick, he told me that he knew the guy that had bought the only machine in China that is designed to manufacture “Doggy Nappies” and do I know anyone in Australia or Scotland for that matter that might be able to introduce these into either market. At this point I am still in tears with laughter at the mere thought of trying to introduce “Doggy Nappies” to either markets. Can you imagine walking down Argyle Street in Glasgow with your Labradoodle with it’s tartan nappy on, fuck me I’m not sure how long either of us would last before the bears came in for the kill. He had no idea why I was laughing so much, even after trying to explaining the culture differences.

Every day you see clothing tragics that make it very obvious that having lots of money does not mean to say you are stylish by any means. But the Chinese don’t care and don’t seem to judge in the same way that we do. People wear what they want and do so without the fear of ridicule. Now we may all think that we can dress any way we want to but you know that’s not true if you live in the west. Many of us will cave in to peer pressure or social pressures and dress in a more conservative fashion rather than run the gauntlet of ridicule. We have fancy dress parties where we can be a tragic or let our hair down, but in China you can do it everyday. And yes I know there are some folk that don’t give a fuck about what other people say and let me put on the record now that I will still ridicule these folk under my breath sometimes ’cause it’s funny.

So let’s get back to the “Doggy Nappies” it’s for this very reason above that you can let your dog wear a nappy or anything else for that matter. You can buy your dog some shoes to match his coat and yesterday I even saw one dog with a coat with a hood, so why not a nappy also? Mind you I have seen many dogs over the months here that seem to have more dress sense than their owners because when you look the poor beast in the eye you can see a hint of humiliation, embarrassment and sadness even. The dog is saying to me “I had no choice honest, it’s not my fault his taste is in his arse” Some dogs seem to revel in their new found passion for fashion but there are a few that do not.

I passed this new exhibition house which has a replica of one of the traditional boats that used to be used in Suzhou and many other parts of China. No matter where you go in Suzhou you are never too far away from it’s history. When you walk around the moat you will see many of the original walls and there have been a couple of the old gates reconstructed for you to get a sense of what life was like many years ago.

And so as the weather gets better I am looking forward to getting out and about a bit more without me thermals, gloves, scarf and beanie and to enjoy Suzhou.