Zen and the art of old-style living

A cool way of seeing life at its most real has taken off in the beating heart of a metropolis

As harried mothers coax their children from bed, there is a clinking of milk bottles outside as the delivery man does his daily rounds, and for Barnybas Covey this is as reliable a guide as the finest Swiss watch that it is 7 am.

He zigzags through quilts and mops that dangle from clothes-lines hanging above the alley, and around the corner he grabs a few dabing, baked pancakes that are a breakfast staple in Shanghai. A new day lies ahead.