Abby’s First lesson at Preschool

On the first day of our arrival at Vancouver, Abby had her first lesson at her preschool. The door of the classroom was still closed because we arrived at school a little earlier. We chanced to meet Teacher Olga who came out of the classroom. She greeted Abby and us at the corridor. Her spoken English was wonderfully clear and nice to hear. I think Abby will benefit much from her.

One by one, Abby's classmates came. We met more girls than boys. In particular, we saw a couple of twin sisters, a Chinese boy who wore glasses and two girls, one Indian-bred and another blond-haired.

Soon it was time for lesson. Each student was assigned a racket to keep his or her belongings. Abby was asked to hang her beautiful bag and she knew that she had to take her shoes off. She wore another pair of shoes at the centre of the room where eight students, I thought, would sit in a "U" shape. The children’s name cards were placed on the mat.


Abby was able to recognize her name card and sat before it.

Then parents or grand-parents had to leave the classroom so that the lesson could run smoother. Although I did not attend the lesson, I supposed the first lesson would be for the children to know one another. Songs such as “The more we get together, the happier we will be” would be most appropriate. Shaking hands and hugs might go through the children. Knowing one another is the way to success in a small society like this.

What we knew from Abby was that she brought home a sheet of drawing-paper, rolled up. When we unrolled the paper, we found the “masterpiece” of a small talent in Art.

Let me observe what Abby has learned at her Preschool in the days to come.

First Ride on Air Canada

The top photo shows the “Rudder” of a Boeing 777 that guided the plane which my wife and I were on board to Vancouver, Canada yesterday.


The plane left the bridge at Chep Lap Kok at 12:50 p.m., but thrust into the air at 1 p.m. The sky began to rain and the jet propellers sent out not only air but rain water. We sat at the end of the plane, Economy Class. The seats were in blue colour.

Most of the seats are in 3-3-3 arrangements, but the seats we selected were twin-seats, easily accessible to toilets and the window seat suited my photo-taking. I managed to take just a few photos during taking-off and over North Lantau . The next half-an-hour we were flying in thick clouds, so there was nothing I could do with my camera. What a pity that I missed the beautiful aerial photos of our coast-line of Hong Kong.










The flight-attendants of this plane were not a “young” team. They brought us a lunch of either Chicken with rice or beef spaghetti. Of course there were others like fruit, a sweet dessert and a small piece of bread.










The small screens on the backs of the seat before us did not give surprises because there were no current films or famous ones to watch. What a poor thing that we had to nail ourselves to the seats in those eleven hours of flight.

Next we had a small sandwich and cake as afternoon tea. Meanwhile the sky outside the window dimmed and ran into completely darkness. In the last one and a half hour flight, we were served with a breakfast of either congee or scramble-egg. It was a wrong decision that I chose the former.

The last hour on the plane was the most exciting one for me because Vancouver was near. I wondered what it looked like. The scene of coastal islands or undulating lands added great fun and curiosity to me.










The last right turn from the sea brought our plane safely on land once again. The flight finally ended and we, around 300 passengers on a plane with a flying “Maple Leaf”, queued up at the bridge gate for initial check on passports by some security officers. Another half-an-hour queuing took us to an immigrating counter to answer a few questions and another half an hour for picking up our luggage. The long hours of flight, the stiffness we attained at our seats and the jet-lag would have turned us into much physical confusion for a day or two. I believe a visit to this famous city on the west coast of North America can widen my scope a great deal in the days ahead.

A Dearer kind of Cakes

I will never be their customer, but I can be their eater. What I am talking about are these colourful sweet cakes.

Much money (HK$248 per box) is gone with its gold-colour box, lovely ribbon, its container and cakes too.

From a long-distance look, one never knows that they are cakes that are edible. He or she will think it is an artist’s palette of colours for painting. Do you agree?

What are inside?

This cardboard-made boat looks very much like a Noah’s Ark. From the pictures, we know that it carries animals such as owls, pandas, rabbits, cows, monkeys, tigers, horses, pigs, rams.

What are expected to be put inside this paper boat?










Hints can be seen from the pictures of the ancient Chinese people on the deck of the boat and the words on the roof-top of the strange house on the deck.

Granville Island Public Market

Inside Granville Island Public Market, Vancouver, people can buy sausages, ham, bacon and many kinds of meat. They are expensive meat with strange names, selling at 2 to 4 Canadian dollars for 100g. The prices are equivalent to around HK$64 per pound to HK$128 per pound.












At a bakery, the loaves of bread are made into long bars, thin or thick, full of textures. They look rather like branches of trees, strange and rough, but not welcoming. The bagels (麵包圈) are better in outlook. I am earnest to try some when I have a chance to go in the coming days.

Fruits are also inviting to wife and me. No matter how expensive they are, I think we shall buy some to taste.

We expect to see more in this market when we actually step inside for the first time.

全球第一張150元紙幣

真奇怪，香港將要出現150元鈔票。該種鈔票只會由渣打銀行(香港)印製，原因今年正是該銀行一百五十週年紀念，同時具有慈善及紀念價值，因此售價特別高。

150元鈔票的特色有：

[1] 鈔票可以自訂號碼(學足運輸署車輛自訂車牌)，英文字頭一定是SC (代表Standard Chartered)。每人可以申請五組自訂號碼，若果有自選號碼出現一模一樣的話，就會採取抽籤方法去決定誰會得到該鈔票。這種自訂號碼鈔票售價每張是888元，票值當然仍然是150元。銀行暫訂做一萬張。申請人可以入表或上網申請。


[2] 至於非自訂號碼的150元鈔票由十月一日起在渣打銀行及灣仔會展公開發售，賣280元，數量有75萬張，先到先得。



[3] 紀念鈔票亦有四連張(模仿郵政署的售賣郵票方式)，有一萬套，每套售1888元；還有令人作舌的三十五連張(共6000套)，售價達18888元，用抽籤方式發售。

[4] 市民要在9月9日至9月15 日申請。

[5] 一些幸運號碼如SC888888、SC999999等等要入申請表競投。

[6] 鈔票以渣打銀行的藍綠色為主調，背面有百幾年前衣著打扮的人物在太平山頂去欣賞今時今日的景色(由時光機把古時的香港人帶往現今的香港去看一看)。

Fortune Villa vanishes

For over 3 decades, we lived at Fortune Villa, Kowloon Tong. Our Wat’s family eventually branched out into four in the 60’s and 70’s. One by one, 6 Small children were born in this order, BGBBGB. They entered famous kindergartens, primary and secondary schools and we, adults and children, lived happily together in different flats of Fortune Villa. To us, this villa is a paradise, although supermarkets and markets are not near.

My family said good-bye to it in March, 2002 (My brothers and their families left earlier) because we found new flats in Shatin and moved into them.

Recently Fortune Villa is being pulled down and will be rebuilt. Our original flats have disappeared already, leaving behind only debris of concrete and twisted iron bars. From now on, we cannot see our flats at Fortune Villa anymore, but their images have firmly been embedded in our mind for long and the photos of this past “Watsland” can always remind us of the old days of laughter, joy and pride of our families.

Sea Food at Steveston

The fishes sold at Steveston are usually big and heavy. They are sold for a large sum of money. If a large fish, say 10 pounds, the cost will reach C$40 if it is sold at $4 per pound. That means its cost is equivalent to around HK$300. The pay for the fish is one thing, treating the fish and cook it is another thing.

Prawns are different. Their sizes are rather small. They can be steamed at home easily. If I have a chance to be there, I would buy some home for salad or cooking or steaming.


Another choice of eating fish is here is by purchasing the fried fish with chips or fish burgers at the wharf.










Although the fried fish and chips at Steveston are not cheap, but I suppose they are tasty to some extent because there is always a long line of customers queuing before the sale window.

I remember that the wonderful fish and chips that my wife and I ate at Manly Beach, Sydney. The boss of this beach-lunch was one of my primary school classmates. I guess the fish and chips here at Steveston should be as good as those at Manly.

Fisherman’s Wharf at Steveston

Recently, I saw from TV and read from Wikipedia about the Fisherman’s Wharf at Steveston, Richmond, Vancouver. What’s more I learn from is a clip of this wharf from You-tube.

These are what I observe about this wharf:

[1] The wharf here really facilitates the fishermen who bring home their catches from the sea, fish or prawns or lobsters.

[2] There is a long bridge linking the street level to a very long parking platform where fishing can park alongside and fresh sea food is sold there directly into the hands of the tourists or buyers or housewives.

[3] On the shore, there are big restaurants, obviously serving mainly sea food.
[4] Some of the boats, not stream-lined, looking like old toys floating in the water. I guess they still work. Time cannot change their look or uses.

[5] Among the fish sold, dogfish is the cheapest, C$1 per lb., while Halibut is the dearest, C$7 per lb. If I were a buyer, I prefer C$4 to 5 fish.

[6] Prawns that are sold here are bright orange to red in colour. Tourists or buyers can have free tries. How generous are the fishmongers.










[7] There are three flags at the wharf. The tallest is the Canadian flag. One looks like the Japanese flag with a big red circle in the centre. I think it is the flag representing this wharf. The last flag may belong to the fishery union at Steveston.

馳名蛋撻

昨天(九月一日)驟見沙田中心平台上有一間泰昌餅家。我心動，慕其名上前看一看。 店舖小小，不難看見馳名中環而以前要排隊才買得到的蛋撻。它們全被放在透明的膠罩下，以保持溫度。
最初我打算買兩件蛋撻、一件燒餅及一個雞批，但店員甲向我說買五件則有紙盒送。這麼的笑話，令我笑了出來。我問她若果我買四件將會是那麼一回事，她說會用膠袋，我立即反問她「會不會收膠袋稅呢？」店員乙說不會，若要都會算在價格上。

以下是我對其泰昌餅家餅食的評價:

[1] 蛋撻 (四塊錢一個) ─ 有微溫，味道像吃燉蛋似的，尚算不俗，不肥膩；我相信末代港督愛它的原因與我的相同。

[2] 燒餅 (四塊半一個) ─ 從小至大未曾試過買一個來吃，只聽過武大郎(武松的兄長)是在街上賣燒餅的。餅身微軟，有點肥膩，餡料是叉燒，多多少少像吃著叉燒酥，味道不俗。

[3] 椰撻 (四塊錢一個) ─ 體積纖細，沒有甚麼驚喜，下次不須要再試了。

[4] 雞批 (六塊錢一個) ─ 體積中型，不大不小，餡料有雞肉、粟米粒、紅蘿蔔碎、青豆及蘑菇碎，味道很好。

以下是維基百科全書提供的資料:

泰昌餅家(Tai Cheong Bakery)，是香港一家傳統餅店，位於香港島中環擺花街蘇豪區內，以蛋撻馳名。

泰昌餅家於1954年開業，現時東主是歐陽天閏。泰昌餅家最馳名的食品包括蛋撻、沙翁與菠蘿包等，全部以傳統方法人手製造，與現時香港普遍餅店採用機製方式生產相比，除了更有特色，也多了一點點人情味。

香港最後一任總督彭定康，十分喜愛泰昌餅家的出爐蛋撻，更多次親自前往品嘗，餅店內亦掛有店主與彭定康的合照與致謝信。因此，餅店被認為算是香港人集體回憶的一部份。

2005年5月，泰昌餅家曾因業主加租而暫時停業。2005年7月28日，泰昌餅家正式註冊為有限公司。2005年9月30日，泰昌餅家於香港中環擺花街35號地面之新舖重新啟業，除以停業前原價發售蛋撻、沙翁等餅食外，亦引入芝士蛋糕、咖啡等西式餅食，復業首天門外大排長龍，至今當蛋撻出爐時仍可見人龍。2005年11月11日在旺角新世紀廣場的分店開張。當時身在香港的彭定康亦參加餅店的開幕。2006年7月，在香港的觀塘物華街開設第二間分店。2006年9月，在澳門的俾利喇街開設當地第一間分店。2006年11月中，由於湖北省發生「蘇丹紅雞蛋」事件，十多年都使用廣州蛋的泰昌餅家也受牽連，生意跌一成多。2007年11月，稻香集團以逾100萬港元入股泰昌餅家20%股權，有權於3年後按照已定的價格作全面收購，並積極開設新店。2008年初，在香港的銅鑼灣渣甸街開設第三間分店。2009年3月，稻香集團增持泰昌股權至80%，成為單一最大股東。

相中鳥

記起兒時，閱讀益智書籍時常見到一些圖畫特意地隱藏了一些動物或東西，叫小朋友找尋出來。今天的我攝製了一張相來示範一下。

相中有一隻美麗的雀鳥，你是否找得到呢？想清楚地看見牠，左Click你的「老鼠」兩下便可！

Beautiful Hibiscus

This morning at Shatin, I was happy to find a beautiful Hibiscus flower hanging down from a very long green stalk near the pavement. The flower grows out from a pod-like flower-bud formed from sepals.

The beauty of the flower comes from its lay-out. To me, it looks like a parachute. The fountain-like curly red petals look as if it is the parachute while the stigmas and anthers together look like the hanging parachutist. From another perspective, some people may imagine that these flowers look like ear-rings hanging down from ladies’ ear lobes.