一个乞嚏令我卧床多天!

(一) 傷


期望扭傷的大腿筋自然癒合......

結果是...natural healing不奏效, 腰神經痛楚難當, 蝦腰了2星期。西医 (orthopaedic specialist) 瞄了一瞄, 几秒後, 開了几天止痛藥, 打發我回家。他和我的認知是一致的: 對, 傷, 最終是會好的。二人之不同, 是我付鈔, 他收錢, 然後煞有介事的, 把這个觀點再說一次 : well,natural healing...it takes time...。

腰繼續蝦下去, 拐仗巳成八達通以外的必需品。天殺的 ! 几百塊錢買几位止痛藥, 和一个千百年來已證明有效的觀点! 值得(?)!  平常一分鐘的步程, 摻扶拐扙, 吃力前行, 花了15分鐘! 舉步維艱啊! 未想過, 挺起胸膛昂然濶步是那麼困難。

(二) 良医?


焦慮中, 讓一位在街市開診, 貌不驚人的中醫師推拿兼針炙, 他事前笑說: 「拐扙? 可棄耳!」。 信焉? 天曉得 ! ..... 果真, 半小時後, 20多日的腰痛, 霎然消失...真不是兒戲, 他把我腿擺了几下, 基本上把神經線路, 大致重納舊軌。大隱隱於市, 真神人耶 ??! 真想給他响个頭。中医西医, 能治病的就是良医, 此言不虛。

(三) 打回原形


昨天打了一个大乞嚏, 整條左腿如觸電, 好得六六七七的傷勢打回原形, 仍需卧牀, 不敢再動, 怕再傷腿神經。......從來设有感到這麼無助...從來沒有發現天花板是這麽矮...

(四)小病是福


卧床足四日, 安靜的時間多, 感覺身体自我修補的奇妙, 筋肌深層受創傷的地方, 疼痛過後, 生機復然, 每天都有小進步, 四天累積下來, 該痛的也消痛了, 離昂首濶步之日, 不遠了; 小病是福, 福的意義在於更深的了解人生起跌之不可知, 知之不知而更珍惜現有的一切, 這是老掉大牙的道理, 不切身經歷, 不會有深切的體會。

(五)癱卧四天


想不到一个乞嚏令我癱卧四天! 「L1椎間盤走歪及發炎, 是你下腰發輭,下肢發麻的原因...」物理治療師娓娓道來, 解開我心中的疑問, 解决方法? 只需反弓腰椎, 把椎間盤推回去便可。 忖: 感恩了! 慶幸這是可治之症, 對, 是時候花多一點時間靜休,誠如老友 Reggie 說:「 Our body takes care of us before we turn 40, and after 40 we ought to take care of it.」。

(六)針炙


今天到 QE 中医部針炙, 八支2吋針自背到小腿, 各扎在穴位上, 作整体治療, 以去除小腿皮膚發麻的現象, 後再被用力推拿及敲打背肌腿肌。 有效。

(七)香港這个地方的人情人心...變了?


倚著拐仗, 彎著腰在地鉄車廂內佇立, 臉有愁容, 不知何日方能康復, 十多分鐘的車程, 苦候有心人讓座, 結果是: 心內痛苦遠多於腿腰之苦, 因為竟無人主動讓座! 


到站, 痛苦難耐! 實難支撑十分鐘歸家的路,  偌大一个車站, 人頭湧湧,  如蝗虫的人羣,  空洞的眼神凝視我額上流下豆大的汗珠, 脚不著地的飄移, 又像幽靈般趕赴出閘; 車站售票处, 求一椅暫時休息, 「對唔住, 冇櫈喎! 有事幫你 call 白車。」。再述情况。他聆聽的耐性己失, 眼睛開始望看別处。 「對唔住, 冇櫈呀! 有事幫你 call 白車。」, 他以更短的語速, 完成說話。 


句子短促而冰冷, 並非 question tag, 沒有一絲商量餘地, TMD! 言辭實在冷漠無情, 真不相信出自一位地鉄前線員工的口中, 這一切都像不真實! 只有腰腿陣陣劇痛殘酷地告訴我, 香港這个地方的人情人心 , ...變了?!。


多日的鬱悶, 一下子爆發出來, 隔着玻璃狂吼: 「我不是要你施捨!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!」, 聲音響亮, 週圍的幽靈, 繼續飄移, 沒有一刻停下, 這位地鉄員工, 即時後退半吋, 他合該看到我眼中盈尺的怒火, 直撲他臉上, 淌汗, 他額上開始淌汗, 是冰冷的, I guess......
...
後記: 前後經歷10星期, 腰傷才痊癒

Emotionally we all are in debt to......

Familiar faces

We all, emotionally, are in debt to our childhood. My heart is sweetened when this picture emerged somewhere on internet. 'I must be there!', I murmured to myself, then I spent another half hour looking for someone whose face is familiar to me, but my efforts are to no avail as it could be taken somewhere else in Tai Hang Tung or Shekipmei. All resettlement buildings were match-box-like, looked similar anyway.

Resettlement buildings

Resettlement buildings had once been homes of 1/4 HK's total population in early 70s. I guess the figure must be more than that. One million! I got this figure stamped in my memory that one million people were living in bare cubicles no more than 144 sq ft . It was normal at that time for a family of 5 or 6 jammed in such a tiny space with 2 double-berth beds. Privacy? It is totally out of the question.

A prison cell vs a godsend

Looking back, I will put it as a prison cell rather than a decent place to live in. Like it or not, given that there was no other choice, given that the living environment of the makeshifts built on hillsides were thousand times worse, many people regarded a small cubicle in a resettlement block as a godsend place to live in. Actually we had no reason to complain with as long as danger of typhoon and its accompanying disasters were no more a serious threat to us, and, the rent was, benevolently and reasonably, cheap. Hallilujah!

Life could be monotonous, but could be otherwise... all up to our street wisdom

The corridors like what is shown in this picture got chunks of time of our being there, eye-looking at the street aimlessly, picking on others with some `F' words high up in the corridors. Then some dirty and abominable words from the street, with the most extreme vulgarity, returned.

Such exchanges of verbal insults, which unexceptionally started from a quasi hide-and-seek game first and subsequently rolled into physical conflicts, were taking place everyday right here in the corridors.

Some rough, tough and wise street kids

The fun part was that kids got their own talents to invent something out of nothing. Passing a ball up or down from one floor to another was a much-loved past-time. To those extremists who dared to challenge the limits, trashing some empty glass bottles or plastic bags filled with their own urine down to the ground floor was kind of, they claimed, heroic act.

It was their intention to have this brand upon their visage--rough and tough. Pedantically speaking, I would say it was a self approving process leading to adulthood in their later days, or, at best, it was a simply mindless show-off of macho courage amid their peers.

People loved to bullshit anyway. What they claimed to have done, never proven, should not be taken for real in a serious and investigative manner. When hearing tales or hearsays like this sort, scarcely would the audience question about its authenticity and give out evidence contrary.

Why so? The truth is, as a discerning listener, it would be polite to appreciate the eloquence of the presentation part rather than pick up some minor faults which you think discording to the main plot of the story. Social etiquette for listening gossips and bullshits should be honored, and observed. Be a wise man on the street!

A vertical village

From a sociological point of view, a resettlement block like this one shown in the picture, with so many people nesting inside, can be regarded as a vertical village by whatever definition. Its people were loosely acquainted in terms of communal friendship, despite this, the WE-THEY concept emerged gradually among the youth with the advent of threats imposed by other delinquents from neighboring blocks.

THEY and WE

`THEY are the invaders and WE are the defenders!'. When the sense of gang consciousness came into being among the juvenile groups, and with the kicking in of the influence from triad societies, each block doomed to become an enclave, a fortress on its own controlled by different triad society, sooner or later.

故事說不停。李鄭屋官小上午校。

故事說不停。李鄭屋官小上午校。 撰文: zamu

故事,

年代久遠, 外人看來毫不重要, 但都是同學多年來, 該說而未說出來的話...

Wandy 說的故事: 《雞翼 ! 鹵味! 魚蛋 !牛什 ! 》

小息。小操場。圍網外小販叫賣: 雞翼 ! 鹵味! 魚蛋 !牛什 ! 圍網內, 不同的小手握著輔幣往網外伸, 小販把小食往網內塞, 一買一賣, 雙方動作俐落, 貨銀兩兌, 童叟雙悅 。不悅者, 獨曾Sir 及廖Sir。斯時, 二人穿梭往還網邊, 以鷹隼之目光, 橫掃學校週邊, 阻嚇黄口小兒亂吃骯髒牛什, 邋遢豬肚之類。二人趨, 小手縮, 二人身影漸遠, 眾小手復伸手網外, 此起彼落, 如潮水漲退, 蔚為奇觀。不幸者如我, 多次塞錢網外, 適二大 Sir 忽至, 又遇鐘聲乍響, 小販如鳥獸散, 趕往別處營生, 我左手握一串牛什, 右手執半串魚蛋, 橫空凝在網外, 進退兩難......。

Allan 說的故事:《伍蚊不在手, 幸福不再有》

小學一年級。學費港幣伍蚊(

蚊同

money), 需在每月首幾天在堂上繳付, 學生不可藉詞拖欠。學校如此規定。 每次,母親把伍蚊交到我手, 總叮嚀一番: 「要小心保管, 不能丟失啊...!」, 然後什麽安樂日子,什麽幸福等說話... 說了很長, 我記不清楚。

當時年紀雖小, 伍蚊雞的重要, 我還是隱隱知道的, 重甸甸的東西, 一定很重要, 這關乎「安樂日子」和「幸福」啊 ! 但是, 不知為甚麽, 母親間中忘記適時把伍蚊雞交到我手上。 那幾天, 老師在堂上催促頻仍, 而我內心則非常焦急, 心想 : 伍蚊不在手, 幸福不再有。

遇到這情況, 翌日我必鐵定翹課躲在家中, 直至母親把「安樂日子」 交給我, 讓我牢牢把「幸福」掌握在手,才答允上學去。最後, 老師把「幸福」接到手中, 蕭殺如深秋的臉上, 才再綻放出如初夏陽光般的笑容。 我心想「幸福」真管用。

William 說的故事:《紀念。冊》

「William ! 所有同學已領回紀念冊, 為甚麼我仍未收到你的, 你不需我寫點甚?嗎? ......太過份了! 我現在送你一本, 我己在上面寫了 Good Health, Good Luck, God Bless you , 給你留念及勉勵, 快! 快快請其他老師替你在冊上寫點東西 ! 現在就去! Go, Go, Go!」。

Miss Yuen 召我到她面前, 叨嘮之餘, 簇新的紀念冊己往我手裡塞。這是小六臨離開學校前的某一個早上，也是很多年前的一段回憶。 當時, 我捨不得花數圓去買一本只有十來頁如信封般大小的紀念冊, 更不要說伸手向父母索取 。有甚麽值得紀念? '紀念' 的意義有多深遠? 坦白說, 沒有細想, 只覺得 `冊' 的價錢不平宜,省幾個錢便是。

Miss Yuen 當時送我一本, 否則, 現在就感到莫大的遺憾了。

現在, 偶而揭開紀念冊, Miss Yuen 贈送紀念冊那一幕, 同學及其他老師在紀念冊寫上勉勵句子的每一個場景, 至今, 仍歷歷在目。紀念冊承載的, 不單止是文字, 隱隱然, 我感覺到春雨潤物無聲的關懷------當中主要包括了Miss Yuen 對學生動向的細緻觀察及隨後的跟進工作------ 從文字間散發出來, 而且,仍在暖。

Charles 說的故事: 《補身》

母親往見張老師, 大致是討論我的學業成績課堂操行如何。自問一向表現良好, 不覺得母親和老師這次會面有多重要。這許多年來, 常記得母親當天見老師後的情景: 回到家, 母親拿出幾塊錢, 說:「......這是張老師的心意......。」大概的意思是給當時瘦小的我, 添點營養,強壯強壯身體, 好好學習。每念及此, 內心對張老師, 總滿懷感謝。

Annie 說的故事: 《愧對雞腿飯》

参加校際田徑賽, 曾Sir帶隊, 可翹了一些課堂, 更有一頓午飯, 心情興奮極了。旺角球場上競賽, 鎩羽而歸, 愧疚非常, 愧對曾Sir, 愧對那一頓......美味的雞腿飯。

Leung SK 說的故事:《Sunkist vs 神經士》

某農曆新年, 與Michael 往張老師家拜年, 買了Sunkist橙, 各擁一大紙袋, 牛皮紙袋上蓋紅紙,尼龍草綑好的一種, 頗具架勢, 登上6C巴士, 往土瓜灣去。拜年細節已不太清楚, 印象深刻的是在海心廟公園, 無端端受一名精神有問題的男子襲擊, 可惜當時已把橙送了給張老師, 否則必以Sunkist 迎頭痛擊 '神經士' 。

Winnie 說的故事: 《白裡透紅》

昔, 徙置區兒童上街或就寢, 基本上是穿同一套衣服, 漂亮與否, 好像不太在意, 原則是需要好用、耐用, 最重要的還是要方便。我穿衣的態度,曾經也是如此。

上午校。八時不到, 需上第一節課, 秋冬, 更需與太陽拼早。某晨, 微凉, 為省時間, 起牀即怱忙梳洗, 白恤衫罩在睡衣上, 內裡保持從牀上帶來的一夜餘温, 外則雪白美觀。街邊小檔, 草草吃過白粥油炸鬼, 急忙回校,列隊操場上。

張老師來回審視隊伍秩序, 多次停駐身旁,良久不去, 終忍不住, 輕聲提示: 孫慧玲呀, 透過白恤衫, 看到你紅色睡衣的設計,大圓衣領突在恤衫外, 整體配搭, 以小衣裹大衣, 短褲筒裹長褲筒, 殊為囑目.....張老師說話語氣温婉, 無責備之意。吾省吾身, 果真如此, 忙整理領袖褲管, 至於「白裡透紅」的特殊效果, 一時三刻不能改變, 就讓它繼續, 直至當日課畢, 才急衝回家, 把衣服換掉。

這事, 看來雖小,但對個人有啓廸作用, 此後, 特別小心個人起居習慣、儀容衣著以及時間掌握, 因明白到合適的衣著, 表示一種生活態度, 表現個人對場合的了解,尊重及主動配合。 非經當日如此經歷, 得張老師輕聲提點, 顧全我的自尊於前, 指出問題於後, 可能, 我對這道理的了解, 來得沒有那麽早。

Samu 說的故事:《十一歲》

小四, 某一慵懶的週六, 遊蕩到馬騮山附近的赫德傑道政府宿舍外, 不怕唐突, 嘗試與一外籍小孩傾談, 測試剛學的英文。

我: 'How old are you?' 外籍小孩: ' I'm 10, you ?'

我: 'I-am-ele-vent- ye-ars old.' 外籍小孩: Howa' yu?'

我: 'I-am-ele-vent- ye-ars old.' 外籍小孩: ' Wanto'play soc'er?'

我: ' "縮吓"(soccer)? I-am-ele-vent- ye-ars old.'

外籍小孩一臉狐疑, 走開了, 他大概已接受一个事實, 這个踢著拖鞋的, 是一個小瘋子。'縮吓' 即 'soccer', 這个意思也不懂, 真不配跟他共享英國國技。但, 我心樂透, 他大概不知道 'How old are you? I-am-ele-vent- ye-ars old.' 是我鼓起極大勇氣朗讀出來的句子, 他明白與否其實不重要, 重要的是我明白自已說甚麼，這是Miss Yuen的功勞，她要求我們每天齊背誦 see saw seen, go went gone, do did done 動詞表, 日久功自深, 讓我們有勇氣用英文 SPEAK UP, SPEAK OUT.

阿香. 阿畢 . William 說的故事:《海南雞飯 》

升中試後, Miss Yuen 比學生更緊張他們自身的升學問題, 四處替同學打聽中學招生情況, 還親自帶學生前往應考, 又向有關中學遊說收生, 恐學生上不了較好的中學。師生終日奔波, 靠搭的士追趕時間, 午飯多在外解决。

阿畢:「平生首嚐海南雞飯, 即在此時, 雞肉鮮甜甘腴, 葱油香氣撲鼻...」。

William、阿香:「 Miss Yuen 親力親為, 到我細妹那一屆, 也是如此...」。

* * * * *

無論那一屆, Miss Yuen 都著緊學生的升學前途。

無論那一屆, 學生吃海南雞飯時, 都會讚賞雞肉鮮甜甘腴, 葱油香氣撲鼻。

對同學而言, 吃海南雞飯是窩心的, 付帳那部份更不用說吧, 因為付帳者必是Miss Yuen。 但, 最美好的那一段, 應該是Miss Yuen 與他們並肩走過的...........那一段的日子。

众人說的故事:《

國父

》

小六, 鄧老師每提到孫中山之名, 必以國父之銜稱之, 督促一众學生, 需應聲挺直腰板, 表示尊重。

一众學生遵其意思, 一呼一應, 腰板直如古杉, 誠惶誠恐, 目不斜視, 众人腦中彷彿同時飄起一個風飄飄兮易水寒、捨身取義、革命尚未成功, 同志仍需努力的畫面。吾等竊望鄧老師表情, 嘴角稜線上翹, 有含笑捋鬚之態, 班房氣氛肅穆, 黃埔軍校之風赫然浮現, 牆上懸掛之英女皇肖像, 彷彿一下子變成孫文遺像......。

.....

It's a Thanksgiving Night, a `Thank'U Night'

It's a Thanksgiving Night, a `Thank'U Night'.

Thank you Ms Cheung Po Yuk (張步玉老師) , Ms Rosana Yuen Ka Yee (袁家儀老師) and Mr Tsang Wan Kit (曾宏傑老師) !

It has long been a dream of mine to meeting people of noble and respectful soul, whom we knew when we were still minors and, who had been incessantly helping us in the acquisition of fundamentals in arithmetics, languages as well as ethical values ages ago. Yes, I am talking about Ms Cheung, Ms Yuen and Mr Tsang. One thing most worth noting about them is that they never made us feel a second of being deprived of love, care and sense of security.

We met again last night!

To Ms Cheung, Ms Yuen and Mr Tsang, we are some yes-but-not-so-familiar faces. They need time to correspond our faces to their early days' memory because it has been a long time since we last met. Right, it has been a long long time......

The reunion proved to be a joyful one, a wonderful one. It was a night abounded with giggles, a night that many little unknown stories were told and by which......we understand more why we love and respect them so much. That night, an amazing one, is a night loaded with a festive banquet of stories glimmering with humanity warmth. One thing for sure, it will be the night that we will always talk about even many years after.

As the years spin by, I think we are no longer a class of shy boys and girls with big tongue uttering stammering and stuttering words. On the contrary, now we, the class of P.6A, have evolved into a cohort of eloquent and seasoned persons and we wholeheartedly would like to say `Thank You!' to our beloved teachers who worked in LCU(am) during our stay there. Special thanks should be dedicated to Ms Cheung Po Yuk and Ms Rosana Yuen Ka Yee. What they did to us, and their fellow students as a whole, are exemplary.

We owe them loads and loads of 'Thank'u's. Yet, it is never too late to say `Thank You!' to them despite it's been so many years after.

Ms Cheung Po Yuk (張步玉老師) and Ms Rosana Yuen Ka Yee (袁家儀老師) , thank you for having taken care of us.

You have lighted up our heart and mind.

We love you.