Sunday, October 05, 2008

棺材本全沒了

As read on mingpaonews.com at 10/5/08:

【明報專訊】趙伯是買了雷曼兄弟迷你債券的其中一個投資者。他向我們出示銀行文件的副本,「正本鎖在保險箱裏啊,沒關係吧?」副本面頁用原子筆寫覑兩個名字﹕ 趙喜春和張美鳳,字很秀麗,但不是他們的。翻開內頁,文件簽字彎來勾去像孩子學寫字,除了勉強寫出自己的名字外,他們不能認字。

趙喜春今年 七十二歲,跟我爸一樣,真實年齡比身分證上報的小,我爸說,那時人們都以為這樣可以早點退休。趙喜春跟張美鳳在一起已經五十多年了,有五女一子。二十二 歲,他一個人由潮州來香港打工。六年後回鄉省親,應父親要求往相親。那時他在酒樓點心部工作,月賺六十元,住木屋,只有一個破ʒ。女家開出一個條件﹕必須 三日之內將通行證弄到手。他到一個又一個政府機關去申請,竟又成事,在回港的半路上,他們成了親。那時由潮州乘車回港,要三天兩夜。

一年之 後,他們有了第一個女兒。那時候鄉下好窮,他們回鄉帶的物資男女家一家一份,試過因為分的問題吵過嘴外,再沒有吵過架。婚後趙喜春最初在街邊擺攤,後來跟 人合伙開大排檔,月賺幾百塊全交張美鳳管家,每日拿回一天用的七毫子買煙四毫子搭車。試過一次一個月裏打了五、六個風,大排檔被吹走,後來廣東信託銀行又 突告擠提倒閉,一整個長沙灣的工廠都倒了,幾個月後的端午節,大排檔都倒了,工人的糧都無法出,一家人搬到荃灣住石屋。那年妻子懷覑第五個女兒,他三十一歲。

生 意失敗之後四年,他替人打工。秀茂坪要起公屋了,他到地盤附近擺街邊檔炒№賣,屋鸷起好後他投標屋鸷大排檔,他們一家人也搬進了這個公屋鸷。一直到屋鸷拆 卸,他才退休。趙喜春眼中,張美鳳是個很稱職的家庭主婦,在家車衣造膠花幫補家計,湊大幾個仔女和幾個孫,知慳識儉,麻將都不打。

一生人慳 慳儉儉,兩夫婦積存五十幾萬,預作兩老的棺材本。那家銀行,自從搬入秀茂坪就幫襯,已經三、四十年了,勞工保險,傢俬火險,都跟他們買。從前的浙江銀行, 今日的中國銀行。那天,他去銀行做定期續期,那位姓廖的小姐跑出來請他進房坐,教他買迷你債券,話老人家買好,半年收一次息,五年後拿回本金,老人家一味 說是棺材本一定要無危險,姓廖的說無危險無危險。於是他打電話,叫張美鳳帶同她的三萬元私房錢來到銀行,按覑廖小姐的指示,瞞覑子女,在看不明白的文件 上,簽下了名字。

*** *** ***

趙伯在兒子的協助下,出席過民主黨金管局的大會,還有城市論壇,攝影師都認得 他。訪問那天趙伯說,如果不是約了我們,他又要跑去銀行吵了。早一天他一個人在家,想覑想覑,心情就壞起來,就又跑去理論。「銀行那邊叫我不要吵,說我影 響他們的生意呢。我說你們騙了我錢呀,那要我怎樣?」

趙伯人很憨厚和善,拍攝和訪問很努力的想要配合我們,希望也為大家出分力。事發後太太 很惱他,不瞅不睬。他有心臟病,說自己拼死了也算了,卻很在意勸太太要放開﹕「這麼多年那麼艱苦都捱過去啦」。不過,他知道這是他人生中最大的打擊,「後 生的話我還可以再打拼,現在我老了」。

*** *** ***

攝影師說覺得「迷債」這個傳媒起的term很有語境。美國議會昨日終於通過七千億救市方案,或且暫時可以遏止銀行倒閉潮。保羅紐曼死了,又有人說是「一個時代的終結」。眼前,是一個時代的「迷債」,等待清算。

黎佩芬 sunday@mingpao.com

攝影﹕余俊亮

創意總監﹕黃照達

封面人物﹕趙伯

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Blind Boy

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: 'I am blind, please help .' There were only a few coins in the hat.


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A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, 'Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?'



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The man said, 'I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.'
What he had written was: 'Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it. '

Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?



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Moral of the Story: Be thankful for what you have. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively.


Invite others towards good with wisdom. Live life with no excuse and love with no regrets. When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile. Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. Keep the faith and drop the fear.


Great men say, 'Life has to be an incessant process of repair and reconstruction, of discarding evil and developing goodness.... In the journey of life, if you want to travel without fear, you must have the ticket of a good conscience.'


The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling...

And even more beautiful is, knowing that you are the reason behind it!!!

Sunday, April 06, 2008

街邊小食

有兩年冇係呢度Post野,今日揾到呢個街邊小食Page,真係過隱.