There was nothing much to do today, and since all the things I have been busy with recently were in relatively fixed places, I took advantage of the holiday and drove around Beijing while there was little traffic.
This "wandering", well, it depends on how you interpret it. Since there was no specific goal, wandering like a cloud without any direction, so it was truly a "cloud" journey. But the places visited were indeed not many.
First, I went to the office to pick up some stuff. There wasn't a single person, extremely quiet. Then I went to a certain unscrupulous toy store, but the store owner got up too late and hadn't arrived yet. I then went to Lianxiang Building to enjoy some Zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), and spent some time at a shoe store. During this time, I even helped a child solve a math problem, which went as follows: Xiaoming's home is 269 meters away from his school. He left home at 7:57 am and arrived at school at 8:12 am. So, how many meters does Xiaoming walk per minute? Hmm, it seems that primary school math problems have remained just as boring for years. What if Xiaoming wanted to make one or two pancakes along the way? The speed would be hard to calculate.
Later, I returned to the unscrupulous toy store, had an intense discussion about Shaanxi noodles with a certain boss, such as Youbo Noodles and Roujiamo (Chinese hamburger) and other high-class foods. After buying things, I prepared to head to the Third Pole Bookstore.
When I got in the car, I suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable. When I got up in the morning, it was overcast in Beijing, but after noon, the sun came out, the temperature started to rise, the humidity didn't decrease, and the environment became humid and hot. From the toy store to the Third Pole Bookstore, it required a long drive, and I felt the distance was too far. So, I made a turn and instead went to the Xinhua Bookstore in Hepingli.
I have deep feelings for this bookstore in Hepingli. Because I grew up near the north entrance of Heping Street when I was young. This bookstore is very close to my first elementary school, next to it is the Central Orchestra, nearby is also some Philharmonic Orchestra, and beside the Xinhua Bookstore is a post office. I remember there was a disabled person selling newspapers there when I was very small. It has been about 2 years since I last went there, and today I happened to wander by.
The residential area of Hepingli that I am familiar with began construction in the 1950s. It is said that before I was born, to the north of the north entrance of Heping Street, which is now just north of Peace East Bridge, was still farmland. This large residential area, which was later surrounded by walls, probably built the newest houses in the 1980s. I remember across from my house, there was a building that the elders called the "new building," simply because it was built later and was referred to as the "new building." In fact, it was already quite old.
The place where I work now is also within a residential area. However, compared to the residential area where I work, I prefer the housing complex built during the planned economy era. Almost all of them are slab buildings not exceeding five stories, most of which seem to be old brick-structured houses. Despite being repainted several times, the exterior contours still possess a kind of ancient simplicity that modern commercial housing doesn't have. At the base of some "corridor buildings," you can even find the founding date. The earliest one I found was from 1956. As for when the 11th building where I used to live was constructed, I haven't found any cornerstone evidence at the base of the building to this day.
Unlike modern commercial housing, there is enough space between these buildings. From the 1950s to the 1980s, the contradiction between population and land wasn't as sharp, plus all housing was welfare-based distribution, so the use of land was quite extensive. There are wide enough motor vehicle lanes and pedestrian paths between buildings, and the trees on both sides of the pedestrian paths aren't towering into the sky, but they are tall enough to overshadow the buildings. My family says that the poplar trees in front of the building where we used to live were planted by my mother when she was in junior high school, just before the Cultural Revolution. These are truly memorable poplar trees!
In fact, every time I walk near Heping Street, I intentionally pass through that residential area to see the elementary school I attended in the first grade and take a look at the house I lived in as a child. Today's passing by was purely unintentional but somewhat intentional. Of course, this comes at a cost. Besides driving slightly more than a kilometer, being charged a parking fee by the neighborhood committee is almost unavoidable.
Since the sun came up this morning, I've felt uncomfortable, with the mugginess enveloping me. I parked the car under a tree in the Hepingli residential area and walked to the bookstore, where I bought three books. For a long time, I've been buying books online or going to large bookstores, so suddenly coming to a small Xinhua Bookstore to buy books brought a different kind of charm. The charm isn't in the books inside the store or the arrangement, but rather in the "binding of books" after checkout. I'm used to putting books directly into plastic bags, but since June 1st, plastic bags are no longer allowed. However, Xinhua Bookstore has maintained its tradition of packaging books for many years, and whether or not plastic bags are used doesn't affect them. The three books I bought today were still packaged in the same way as in the 1980s or earlier. They used a thin sheet of paper to cover half the area of the books and then tied them tightly with brown paper rope in a cross pattern. This kind of paper + fine string packaging hasn't been seen for days except in Chinese medicine stores.
I remember when I was in college, there was a graduating senior who said that when he was particularly stressed or tired, he had a great method to relieve it—go back to the school and stay at the entrance of the teaching building for an hour or so, and all the stress would disappear like smoke. I don't often use this trick mainly because both my workplace and home are too far from the university. However, this residential area where I lived as a child, which now looks very much like the style of the planned economy era, plays the same role as the university mentioned above.
After leaving the bookstore and getting back in the car, I exited from the north gate of the residential area, turned onto the Third Ring Road, and then headed home via the Fourth Ring Road.
Thinking about it, this is the first Dragon Boat Festival I have experienced.
Because I have never specifically taken a holiday for this festival before, I haven't learned how to celebrate it, so I could only wander aimlessly, treating it as a comprehensive relaxation.
I wrote this down for reference when thinking about how to spend next year's Dragon Boat Festival.
Related theme articles:
Small Zongzi, Big Principles, Zongzi Spirit
Today We Learn About Dragon Boat Festival Knowledge
Risk Analysis and Strategy