There are a lot of rich-poor contrasts in our neighbourhood. For example, plunked on the sidewalk in front of a very bright upscale Mode hair salon with requisite Pretty Boy attendants, is an old guy giving haircuts with dull scissors and poor eyesight! On a rickety stool. Or horsecarts beside Mercedes --- one wants to be scratched, the other doesn't.
Kitty-corner from people selling knit hats out of their car trunk looms the North Star Shopping Center, a hulk in the smog. That's not startling because we've all heard about China's new riches and people who want to buy international brands. It's a glitzy palace of consumption and in truth I've even bought a jug of milk there! Think of the shops on 5th Avenue or Bloor Street or the Ginza in Tokyo, then make them high-rise.
The bizarre surprise is on the 5th floor --- a skating rink! Go past the Lego displays and around the curve from the Columbia trekking shoes, and there it is. About 200 feet up from ground level, about 90 feet long and 50 feet wide. Like an alien pod dropped in by the NHL. Maybe Beijing wants the Phoenix Coyotes?? Suggested new name ---the Beijing Hard 2 Breathers!
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