Air Pollution: The Upsides!

You are probably not surprised to hear that the air in Beijing is totally not very. While it's not yet reached the record-breaking levels of early last year, it's one of the longest stretches of particularly bad pollution I've experienced since I've been here. I have a near-constant headache. My skin has had a teenage tantrum, no doubt to spite my earlier joy at how it had cleared up. My chest is tight. I regularly fight an urge to run outside and punch the air in its stupid, soupy face.

I went out to celebrate my birthday the other night, and the official plan to drink and do a pub quiz and drink some more then slur songs into a microphone fell by the wayside a short time after a triumphant bronze finish in said quiz. I am sure this was partly because the air gave everyone a headache, a cough and a bleak outlook, quite aside from the fact that one or more of us may have collapsed a lung had we attempted to belt out Dog Days Are Over.

It was then, dear reader, that I realised this smog had gone beyond being merely unhealthy - it had bloody well stopped me from doing karaoke. I will not let this happen on my watch. With at least another week of this blank, grey canvas ahead, I need a bright side.* So without further ado, may I present six reasons to be cheerful. About smog.

Smog Resistance: Activate

I've never had brilliant skin. By the word 'skin' I mean my complexion in terms of blemishes and grease content - my skin as a means of generally holding my blood and stuff inside my body is doing a sterling job of course. I don't want to overstate it as it's not the bane of my life and I know people for whom it’s a way more serious issue, I just seem to get a fair few spots compared to other 30-year-olds (from my non-scientific study of looking at people's faces), I scar easily and have some pigmentation issues. I wear a lot of makeup, which you might think is a chicken and egg scenario, except the spots definitely came first during adolescence and only then did I become trapped in a vicious cycle. Also, I really enjoy putting makeup on so I don't mind that part of the cycle I guess. Erm, anyway, I've become pretty good at concealing and these days, it's rarely so bad I don't want to leave the house. However, when I got to China, my skin (I can only presume in some kind of fit of solidarity) reacted precisely the way the rest of me did: with panic.