Since returning to Shanghai in November I have not had the opportunity to revisit my old neighbourhood. It is impossible to compare the glitzy, upscale Huaihai Lu area where the Shanghai Star office now sits with the less posh surrounding of Wanhangdu Lu, where I worked three years ago. Therefore, I don't know if the differences I see are caused purely by wealth. More money, more expensive clothes do not make the man (or woman).

On Huaihai Lu, people are always in a hurry and look as if they really need to be somewhere else, if they could just get past the others blocking the sidewalks. It seems I must again break the habit of saying "Pardon me" every time I collide with someone else. Several years ago, I learned that bumping and being bumped are part of Shanghai street life, and soon realized that I was the only one apologizing.

I've also learned that just because cars are driven on the right side of the road, the same rule doesn't apply to sidewalks.

Restaurant prices are much higher than they used to be in my old neighbourhood, but prices there are probably higher now. I can still get a great breakfast, though, for only 1.4 yuan, as long as I'm willing to defer to those rushing to catch one of the buses that stops near the stall where the bao zi are dispensed. There is always a long line, despite the many eating places along the streets, so saving a kuai or two must be important to the young and rich.

In our old neighbourhood, there were many old people and children on the streets and in the small park across from the office. I learned that no matter what time of day I ate lunch in the park, someone would always stop to speak to me in English and a small crowd would gather at the first word.

There are few seniors and almost no children on Huaihai Lu to disrupt the homogeneity of the downtown crowd. I miss seeing them. There is a special place in the heart for seniors and children, and a day in which they do not figure is an unsatisfactory one for me.

I suspect that people downtown aren't really so different from other parts of the city - that they have pasted on a veneer that small joys easily peel away.

Since the new year is approaching, we each have the right to make resolutions and wish for things to come. Since wishes don't have to be realistic, I will admit that I want wider sidewalks in downtown. I don't for an instant believe that people trample each other every day because they are rude. There simply isn't enough room for everyone. And moving residents out of downtown isn't going to help much, it will just dump them out in more and higher concentrations at metro and bus stops.

I also wish for: escalators that run down as well as up at pedestrian overcrossings; clocks that chime out the hours in public spaces; the sound of children's voices at play; warm gloves that keep track of me; a swap library of English language novels; cars without horns; left-turn lights at every major intersection; microwave jiao zi; to never see another Christmas tree made from beer bottles; a small garden to dig in when spring arrives; and most of all, a very happy new year to all the readers of Shanghai Star.