Wednesday, February 21, 2007

The sounds of footsteps








The sound of footsteps may be good to someone like Ho Keung in Australia. It is a training to the sensitivity of his ears.

In the past when his house was not carpeted, he could know where his children and wife were! “Now, Yin Ping must be in the kitchen! Next she is walking to the washing machine and turning on the water tap.” Ho Keung could detect these sounds easily.

If Ho Keung and Yin Ping had mutual agreement, with one knock of Yin Ping’s shoes on the floor, Ho Keung would know that breakfast was ready. With two knocks, lunch. With three knocks, dinner. With four knocks, ……!

In San Francisco, it is a different picture. Felix will receive a phone call from his wife whenever a meal is ready. It is good and fast, but costly! What happens when the battery is low? Felix will have no food for the day!

Ho Keung and Yin Ping gave us a small bell as gift. At first, I did not know its use. Later I learned that when someone rang it, it would mean dinner was ready. Sorry! We never used it because our flat was small as compared with Ho Keung’s and Felix’s houses. With a shout of “Open rice”, everybody would know that dinner was ready. Now the bell is still with us, for our eyes only!


3 comments:

Hong Lit said...

We used to think of using walkie-talkie to communicate (between bedroom and kitchen) when we're in Fortune Villa. But before we ever try to do so, we have moved to a small flat at Taikoo Shing!

Anonymous said...

Nearly can't keep up with you again. By the way we have already commented on the article " Building with a thin wall" last night but Google refused to publish it until we tried again 2 minutes ago.

It is a good idea to have the special coding system. But we nearly had a fight..... Ho Keung said 4 knocks was for supper while Yin Ping said it was for " wash the whole day's dishes before you go to sleep"

Yesterday the whole of Sydney was getting very excited because the world's biggest and most extravagant cruise-liner
"Queen Mary II" entered Sydney Harbour during her maiden voyage. Her sister ship "Queen Elizabeth II" also arrived on the same day! Every one here knows the name of Hong Kong now because the next stop for QMII is Hong Kong. The media had many many reoprts on this.
Apparently the captain of QMII was very happy coming to Sydney because there were lots and lots of boats spreading out like carpets welcoming the ship. The sight was amazing!
Are you getting excited about QMII entering Hong Kong Harbour? Will you go to see her?

Anonymous said...

Hey, forget to give one suggestion: ring the bell when QMII enters Hong Kong . This is a very decent and elegant action as compares to what two sydney-siders had done. This couple waterskied inside the Harbour and across the back of QMII, naked.