No Problem, this is China.

We stop in traffic and I glance out the window. I'm soon transfixed by the crazy moment I've just joined. There is a young chinese man sitting on top of a makeshift wooden ladder - it appears to have been his last project. He is intently focused on cutting the top off a metal lamppost using an old hacksaw. I watch for a little while wondering why he wants to cut the top off a perfectly good lamppost. I mean, it's decorative, functional, what does he have against it? Then I consider that the cables that provide power to those lights must run through the middle of the pole. The pole he’s cutting with a metal saw. Are we about to witness a public electrocution?

I turn to my friend in the car and ask,
“Hey Ray… Can you tell me why he’s cutting the top off this lamppost?”
Ray turns and looks puzzled for a minute, then a huge smile breaks across his face.
“Nope. No idea at all. I told you you’re gonna see something crazy almost every day you're here.”
“Well yes.. but.. I mean.. what could he possibly achieve by cutting it off? What problem is he trying to fix? And is he about to cut the cables and jump around for our viewing pleasure?”
Ray turns around fully now and leans forward to consider the situation.
“Nope. No idea. Maybe we should stop him or something.”
“Can we ask the driver? Or maybe Jessica knows?”
Ray turns to consult his assistant and translator the lovely Jessica, a Jiangsu local from nearby Shanghai where we are now. She talks to the driver, who is a local Shanghainese man. The net conclusion is that of the four people in the car, none of us can comprehend the slightest reason for the scene before us.
“Don’t think about it too hard mate”, Ray offers, “If you do, you’re gonna be properly crazy in a month or two.”
I ponder the likelihood of that and turn back to watch our man. He has stopped sawing about halfway through the pole and is now examining the hacksaw blade. By the look of it, it was handed down from his grandfather - it’s probably the original blade. Our car gently moves forward again and we leave him to his destiny. Ray grabs my shoulder and gives me the phrase I’m going to repeat to myself daily for months,
“No problem, this is China.”