We often comment at the old men and women who work in the gardens of the college. Many of them do regular maintenance and pruning of the hedges and other plants, and they are forever doing things. Many of them are well beyond retirement age - but choose to keep working doing what they love doing. Gardening, odd jobs, carting small items. Retirement for them means boredom!
They have a small plot next to our apartment block, where they cultivate plants especially the many pots that decorate the college. They display the pots near the main entrance, near the West Gate, and in strategic places around the college. I've mentioned the pansies and cinerarias.
As well some of them help clear away the rubbish, (and there is plenty of that when you have so many students and staff) and one elderly gentleman carries our heavy water bottles up to our rooms - for a fee of 1 Yuan. (about 15 cents), and we marvel at him. He's quite a character. Doesn't speak English but always greets us.
We see other men with small carts operating in the college grounds, and some pull carts that look like a horse should be pulling them. There is a constant flow of workers - pulling or pushing one cart or another.
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