not the same as usual

This is the Chengdu fog. 

This is too.

People here have a habit of calling any grey pall that fuzzes the city “fog.” Admittedly it’s way less depressing than pointing out the brew of chemicals and particulate matter that we’re all sucking down daily.

But this past Sunday if you said it was foggy you weren’t sugarcoating the truth. We woke up and couldn’t even see the building whose appearance we normally use to gauge the pollution.

Our first thought was to check the AQI. It was only “unhealthy” so we turned to nature.

Nature?

It’s good to be reminded there is such a thing since we don’t go outside much. We also don't let the air come in if we can help it.

We might be alone in that. We were talking with a western doctor about air pollution and he said his local patients don’t believe him when he says they should close their windows. They respond that fresh air is healthy and that living in a closed house isn’t good for you.

He explains how 50 years ago it was a good idea to open the windows - what with diseases at the time and the cleaner air - but not anymore. Now… now fresh air is no longer good for you.

He told us they don’t believe him.

(We believed him and we enjoyed the fog from inside.)