5 Stages of Grief: Shanghai Traffic Edition
2009 September 24
1. Denial
Those cars aren’t hurtling towards me. No, no, it must be the pollution creating an optical illusion. Just like this oncoming horde of tuk-tuks.
2. Anger
Get out of my way you f****ing cyclist! I HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY GODAMNIT!!!!
3. Bargaining
OK, Mr Bus. Now, we both know you’re not supposed to run the red light, but we both know you’re going to anyway. So I’m just going to stand in the middle of the road here nicely, and you swerve on two wheels, OK?
4. Depression
Why did I have to come to this stupid city? What kind of civilised nation can’t even regulate its transport? WHY ME? Why am I but a poor, wheel-less pedestrian?
5. Acceptance
[I'll tell you when I get that far].
2 Responses
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In my (limited) experience as a pedestrian in the great metropolis of Shanghai, I found that whereas virtually no bicycles or scooters observed red lights, some of the cars did, some of the time. Is that acceptance?
vgag: BUT NOT THE TAXIS.*
*You can see I haven’t made it to stage 5 yet ;)