Social Infrastructure

 

Outside of this downtown Yangon teashop on a main thoroughfare around 10 AM on a Saturday morning, the lines between public and private space become blurred as sidewalk planters become tables that are conducive to conversation. How does this compare to the infrastructure dotting the sidewalk around where you are? Does it encourage interaction - assuming social convention allowed the placement of chairs around it? 

Usual weekend sidewalk social conventions mean passing acquaintances of the initial group of customers who sat down also often sit and engage in conversation. For briefer salutations/interactions, there is no compulsion to order and the visit can usually be timed to sync with the amount of time it takes to down a cup of (free) Chinese tea. If one plans on really chewing through some of the latest local news or gossip, though, one will usually order something, even it is as small as a token cup of tea. 150 or 200 kyats (U$ .20 to .25) is the price of syncing with the pulse of the neighborhood.

Note also the relationship between age/cellphone usage (quantity/color of hair and cellphone usage also works). With two out of five sitting around the more conventional table in the foreground engaging with cellphones (and one more handset sitting on the table next to the man reading the newspaper), one can glimpse the variations in behavioral cues associated with socializing across different age groups.

One more thing: the only woman we see here (foreground, pink, visor) is an employee of the adjacent donut shoppe.

Happy plants, happy customers

 

This water diversion/recycling system outside of a New York City restaurant relies upon a few basic parts: a plastic funnel, a repurposed plastic jug, and some tubing. Likely initially adopted in deference to customers who preferred not being leaked on by the air conditioner as they lined up outside or stepped out to take a cellphone call. The bonus of water conservation is notable, as well as the added convenience for the staff in charge of watering the flowers (as they no longer must perform the extra trip from an indoor faucet to the outdoor flowers when a container full of water awaits them outside).

Truly dash-proof?

This is what it takes to show skeptical potential customers in this Bangkok mall that the displayed products are as good as they claim to be. Points for going the distance with the true-to-life goods display, and a nice bit of hustle if you consider that, while this may show that your device of choice will adhere to the pads when the (implied) vehicle is stationary, it does not necessarily reflect what will happen when you pull near-G's around corners rushing to catch your flight out of Suvarnabhumi. Just sayin'.