Foreigners who don't know Shanghai may say: How is it possible? There are so many places in Shanghai, how can there be no place to sit?

You can definitely find iron shoes. If it's hard, it's hard to use the word "whatever". If you are on a whim, get up at 5: 30 in winter and exercise early. If you are tired from running, you want to find a warm place to rest. Or in a high mood, I want to go out for a walk in the middle of the night, and I want to find a place to sit quietly when I am tired. So in Shanghai, you usually can't find such a place.

If you were born in a small city, there may be many free kiosks, many benches by the river, stone tables, benches under banyan trees, and many parks open all night and 24 hours a day. When you are tired, you can always find a place to sit.

But in Shanghai, these seemingly ordinary places are really hard to find. Almost every inch of land in this city is clearly marked, and there are few places where you can sit at will without spending money. In most cases, you have to pay for the seat.

Of course, Shanghai is a respectable city, and there will be no shops selling seats, so there is no sign of "seats per hour 10 yuan" (there are such VIP lounges in railway stations and airports). They changed some names, such as Starbucks, Costa, Pacific, and many coffee shops, bars or tea restaurants that you can't name at once. If you want to find a seat, you usually have to order something, such as a cup of coffee.

After you spent 30 yuan on a cup of coffee, you will feel that this seat was bought at a high price. The longer you want to sit, the better. At first, all you have to do is take a break for 30 minutes, reply to an email, and then move on. But you spent 30 yuan on a seat. If you stay for 30 minutes and leave, you will feel a sense of loss, so you will sit for 2 hours. If you have a power outlet nearby, you may sit for hours. So, although coffee is expensive, coffee shops can't make much money.

Sometimes you just need a place where you can have wifi, then those shops with wifi will do better. Everyone knows that Starbucks' coffee grade is not high, and everyone knows that white-collar workers who come to Starbucks rarely really taste coffee. Most people just want to find a seat with wifi and power plug, which can block the noise, dust and pleasant temperature inside the car. It would be great if there was a toilet in it.

Sometimes, I envy those who are careless and tired and sit by the roadside. They don't feel uncomfortable at all. It is also common to see some people sitting on the steps or sidewalks in front of shopping malls. They don't care about the cold wind, dust and noise in the street. They are happy. But I usually dress neatly, and it feels strange to sit like them. I think passers-by will look at me differently. So, I always open the mobile phone map to see if there is a Starbucks or something nearby.

Perhaps this is the charm of Starbucks. I don't know whether others come to Starbucks to find seats or drink coffee like me. Only Starbucks coffee is the same. Apart from some changes in Logo, coffee cup color and membership card, the taste has not changed much over the years. It is really not a good reason to go to Starbucks for coffee.

If you don't go to the coffee shop, you can also go to the community library for free. There are more than 200 community libraries in Shanghai with different facilities, but there are always lights and tables and chairs, but they are not very quiet. Many libraries close at 5 pm. Leave the library at 5 o'clock. If the weather is fine, you can stop in the nearby park. If you are lucky, you can find a pavilion in the park. Unfortunately, I had to sit on the grass. But you have to leave when your ass is hot, because the park in Shanghai closes at 6 o'clock, and the security guard will lead the big wolf dog to drive people away. The German shepherd has a good sense of smell. Even if you hide behind a bush, it can smell you.

In Shanghai, there is another place suitable for sitting, which is a five-star hotel. I sometimes go to the lobby of a five-star hotel to find a place to sit. Generally, there are wifi with strong signal and no password input, and there are even many Mac computers for passengers to surf the Internet for free. And the waiter is well trained and always smiles. As long as you don't wear slippers, no matter how shabby your clothes are, you can go in calmly, and no one will drive you away. If you want to stay longer and feel embarrassed about not spending money, you can take the elevator to the hotel cafeteria. In places with the lowest consumption, you usually spend 50 yuan to order a cup of coffee. If there is no minimum consumption, you can sit for 20 yuan in the afternoon and order a soda.

But even in Shanghai, five-star hotels are hard to have unless you live in Lujiazui. If you stay at home for 7 days, you can meet it at the corner. However, in order to save costs, many express hotels don't even have a lobby. When you check in, you have to take the elevator to room XX0X, not to mention the spacious and bright restaurant with good wifi signal.

I always feel that a beautiful city should have many places to sit at will.

There should be many chairs on the roadside, and you will feel safe even if you don't sit down, because you know you can sit down at any time when you are tired. It would be better if there were some corridors that could shelter from the rain. This is true in most European cities, such as Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam and Vienna. These cities have bicycle lanes along the road, sidewalks beside the lanes, and rows of benches beside the sidewalks. The name of the donor is usually engraved on the back of the bench. In Shanghai, only near the French Concession can people be treated as "walking, stopping and sitting". There are many such cities in the south of China. There are some sheltered streets in Xiamen. I wonder if they have a formal name. I call them corridor streets. In some towns in the south of the Yangtze River, there are many chairs beside the bridge. The old man sat on the bridge chatting. Some bridges have covers, which may be roofs or sheds made of simple iron sheets and plastic paper. Let's call it a country covered bridge.

Shanghai is not easy to give you the feeling of home. Some people say that Shanghai is a city that never sleeps, and its nightlife is comparable to that of international metropolises such as new york and London. I don't agree with this. There are many places in new york and London where people can stay at will. Universities can go in and out at will. There are chairs everywhere on the roadside. There are no German shepherds in the park to drive people away. Many subways operate late into the night, even all night on weekends. Tramps can spend the night in the subway station or even settle down.

I am a night watchman, so I always feel funny when I hear someone say that Shanghai is a city that never sleeps. There is no subway after 10 at night. After 1 1, there are almost no buses. What is the city that never sleeps? Taxis in Shanghai are very expensive. The starting price at night is 18 yuan, which rises to 5 yuan per kilometer after a certain distance. If you miss the last subway at night, you will have to pay an expensive taxi fare. And I really can't think of any place in Shanghai that is open all night. Even bars and restaurants are mostly closed. Everything is dead except the occasional convenience store, internet cafe, or McDonald's, which is open all night. I really don't know how the name of the city that never sleeps came from. Shanghai's nightlife is not only far behind most cities in the south, but also behind some small towns in the Pearl River Delta. Probably those who have never seen the world in the north will think that Shanghai is a city that never sleeps.

If it is a small town or city in the south, it is not a problem to have no bus at night. It only takes half an hour to walk, and it costs more than ten yuan to take a taxi. But in a city like Shanghai, people have a wide range of activities, and life without burning the midnight oil is simply a paradise for night lovers. The daytime is a bustling world. After eleven o'clock in the evening, Shanghai reveals the special silence of the third world night.

The city I dream of becoming my home should be a place where I can rest everywhere. There are stools everywhere in the street, it is easy to find toilets, and there are shelter places everywhere when it rains. However, Shanghai can only be a city that belongs to others forever. No matter how many years you have lived, you still feel like a familiar and indifferent passer-by passing by on business.

Maybe you know Shanghai better than I do, and you know many places where you can sit at will. If so, please tell me.

Wen/yi alloy

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