Sunday

At one point during yesterday's lovely walk I was already composing this blog entry in my mind. We were following Nguyễn Đình Chiểu Street before the Thị Nghè Canal, and wandering a very engaging-looking area of rather ramshackle one-story buildings sharing the city blocks with blooming tropical foliage. The yellow flowers from nearby trees were scattered along the sidewalks, complimenting the apricot flower and red of the increasingly abundant Tet decorations. The pace of the city slackened, somehow. If I'd been unable to see District One buildings high-rising above the terracotta tiles of the immediate roofing, I might have been in another city entirely. It was tempting to imagine this as an isolated village instead of downtown Ho Chi Minh City. Then it struck me: twenty-five minutes into walking, I'd not even spied one playing card on the ground. I found one last Thursday, by the way: the Ten clubs, first card of the sixth Street Stud round since October. I don't remember where I picked it up. I usually find one or two cards whenever I walk anywhere, but not today. So the subject of this blog occurred to me: wow, what an atypical day in an atypical-feeling neighborhood just twenty minutes from our house. Then I discovered another Ten clubs jutting from a concrete hatch in a busy intersection--ah, the usual again. I nearly killed us both retrieving the card from the active turn lane. But after that, walking south along the banks of the canal--toward the zoo--cards started coming faster and faster, much the way a chain of dominoes might fall. Eventually, I found eighteen more cards after that ten yesterday,* an even more atypical number than none. The real subject of this entry then occurred to me: cause comes before effect. [Cavin]