There And Back Again

Visited my back doc this morning, happily receiving a clean bill of health on the back front, if you see what I mean.

Since the car is with Noi in the Malaysian capital I had to get the bus from coast to coast - the hospital in question being a fair distance away. As is generally the case, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride which generated quite a few thoughts, of which I offer a random sample below:

There are lots of building sites in this city. With Joyce's conundrum in mind of crossing turn-of-the-last-century Dublin without passing a pub, I offer a similar puzzle for this far place with building sites as a substitute for the hostelries. Most of the sites look remarkably tidy, by the way.

There are lots of trees in this city. They are its glory and almost compensate for the ghastlier buildings. Almost, but not quite - though they do manage to hide a few of those few constructed on a human scale.

It seems that there is now something known as a concept hotel. At least, that's what one sign shrieked at me. This is a silly name. As is the accompanying claim of being a Global Address. Surely all addresses are global, the ones on this planet, I mean?

You don't see many old people in the city centre. Or children. This is sad.

Nobody reads books on buses anymore - not that I'm all that sure they ever did.