Free from curse of dumbest thing ever invented

I've been in Beijing for three months and admit to being in the "honeymoon phase" of my relationship with this city. I'm sure China's capital has its problems, but so far, I haven't been hit over the head with them. Instead, I often find myself walking around with a dumb grin on my face and a gut full of the kind of gob-struck awe you might expect from a busload of small-town trainee decorators on an excursion to the Sistine Chapel.

Much has dazzled me but one thing that has impressed me the most is something it does not have - leaf-blowers. The bane of my existence back in Vancouver, Canada, is the leaf-blower and it annoys me on every possible level.

Those foul, noisy, pointless creations are as useful as mudflap on a speedboat.