Appreciating flowers - and life 賞花的隨想

Heading towards the end of autumn, May in Melbourne is not only the time for red and golden autumn leaves but, somewhat expectedly, for blooming flowers too. It may be hard to get one's head around this for those from Europe or Hong Kong, and even for me despite having lived in Melbourne for so many years - somehow I have been rather oblivious to this natural phenomenon!

五月深秋在墨爾本，除了通紅和金黃的樹葉，還有花可以觀賞，對在歐洲和香港生活過的我來說，是頗新奇的景象——雖然我在澳洲生活也有多年，我卻一直忽略了。

The roses have definitely taken me by surprise, as I have always expected them to flower only in spring and summer. They put on another good show in autumn that can rival the earlier seasons!

尤其是玫瑰，我一直以為只會在春夏綻放，但原來踏入深秋仍不欺場，更可和春天盛開的景況媲美，令人喜出望外！

Thankfully I managed to capture the best moment for this bush, because a bout of overnight rain and wind reduced many flowers to petals, leaving the bush in a rather desolate state the next day. Good times don't always last, but I also didn't expect it to be so whimsical and fickle.

幸好我捕捉到這株酒紅玫瑰最美好的一刻，過了一天，一夜間無情的風雨，來個真的「辣手摧花」，一口氣把幾朵花打得「落花流水」，花瓣散滿一地，不禁令人感嘆：美好的時光，有時會不等人，轉瞬即逝。歌手許志安《爛泥》開首的歌詞「妳　最盛放的玫瑰流芳百世　怎可瞬間枯萎」也正好形容此感覺啊。

I suddenly felt the urgency to preserve the other flowers so that they would not suffer the same fate so quickly. I picked three of them and sustained them with small 'pots' of water. That way I could also have a chance to enjoy the beautiful flowers at night.

此幕也令我更令悟到「花開堪折直須折」的重要和迫切——為免更多盛開的花朵遭殃，我挑了三朵好的剪下來，在室內插水養着，把花朵「延命」之餘，晚上也可觀賞。

Camellias are eye-catching with their plentiful flowers on often large bushes. The bushes are colourful from the ground up, thanks to the dense paving of dropped petals on the ground that resembles bright pink carpets. The juxtaposition of the abundant petals and flowers is simply spectacular.

同樣搶眼的也有茶花，不止開得茂密，而且樹長得又高又大，滿樹是花，可算壯觀。除了樹上的花朵，樹下的花瓣也一片鮮豔，密鋪地面，有如一張粉紅色地氈，襯托樹上的朵朵粉紅之餘亦展現其獨特的美感。

Everything has their moment, which ought to be treasured and preserved like the roses. And even towards the end of one's life journey, it is still possible to show one's worth and colour like the camellia petals. Appreciating flowers is also an opportunity to reflect on and appreciate the many facets of life.

萬物有其展現光芒之時，宜好好珍惜和保存，如那些酒紅色玫瑰花，而即使走到盡頭時，在最後一刻都可仍然發光發亮，為身邊甚至世界增添色彩，就像掉下的茶花瓣。賞花除了是視覺享受，也是反思世情、滋潤自己心靈的時候。

Travel advisories 旅遊忠告

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issues travel advisories for all countries in the world, and the list is nothing short of exhaustive. Obviously Hong Kong’s perpetual air pollution gets a mention (and it touched the nerves of the local media), as well as the haze that descends upon Singapore between July and October. But Australian major cities are not totally spotless in regard to air pollution. Last Saturday I was quite surprised by the reduced visibility on the roads when driving under the broad daylight of noon. Since it was not supposed to be a foggy day, the only possibility was a haze or smog of some kind. I never thought that it could occur on a day with lighter traffic like the weekend. The lab where I am working now is located on the 8th floor of a hospital building adjoining the main building of the research institute, and we have to go through an outdoor stairway whenever we want to enter or exit the main building. The stairway offers an unhindered vi...

A nosy foodie 隔鄰飯香

My colleagues usually bring their own lunch to work and we gather in the tea room for lunch every day. When I have lunch together with the Chinese group, we all like to peek into each other’s lunch boxes, sing praises of each other’s food and exchange a few cooking tips. But when I sit with the locals, we hardly pay attention to, let alone comment on, other people’s food (although I still carry the bad habit over from the Chinese group!) I guess that’s partly because there isn’t so much to talk about on sandwiches or the standard fare from the hospital canteen, and partly because it’s probably only kids who are so nosy about other people’s food! One of my colleagues is a mother of two and both children are attending primary school. In their school, pupils are only allowed to have lunch in classrooms under supervision so that they won’t be able to swap food and eat something wrong in so doing (especially food that triggers allergy or other undesirable reactions). With so many people cro...

Signs of modern China 看標語，知國情

My trip to mainland China allowed me to have an appreciation of what's going on in this vast country, although it may not be very deep in such a short time. 這次到國內一遊，除了遊山玩水外，也可瞭解一下國情——那管祇是匆匆一瞥，不是太深入。 The slogans and government advertisements offered glimpses into what life was like and the concerns of the populace in the various places we visited. Interestingly, the focusses were all different depending on the part of the country, according to my local friends. 祇要留心四周的標語和宣傳，大概對不同地方的民情和關注的社會問題都可以略知一二。當我嚮導的朋友說，在國內不同地方的題材都有所不同。 On our way from Shanghai to Xitang , we changed buses in Jiashan County which was full of publicity for the military. We wondered why that was; could it be that there were many military personnels living there? 從上海往西塘，在嘉善縣倒車時，到處都看到支持軍隊的宣傳，究竟是不是那裡軍人較多？ Translations: Top left - wide, deep and continued effort to support the military, care for relatives of the personnels, support the government and care for the ordinary people. Top right - your love for the count...

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