Mellow Autumn

Don't you just love it when you walk into the street in the morning, the air is crispy and the sky is blue? You can smell that autumn has come.

Some ten or even twenty years ago, that autumny breeze used to arrive in around September - when a new term just began, and the delightful weather seemed to give the new academic year a promising start. These days, thanks to global warming, autumn may not befall until November if there is any autumn at all.

It is amazing how weather affects the mood of a city. In summer, when it feels like a steaming kitchen outside but a freezing icebox indoors, our tempers are probably as fluctuating as the varying temperatures - it is easy to hover between the extremes of summer craziness and laziness. Once autumn is here, the mood changes - the city calms down and quietens; the city-dwellers' impatience disappears with the heat, and fine apparels replace loud summery attire.

I can still remember that autumn in Hokkaido, as I walked down the street, my senses fully absorbing the beautiful blue sky, the sweet crispy air and the autumn leaves - my heart was filled with both content and a wisp of inexplicable sadness that is generally associated with the season and, for a moment, I thought that life never felt so concrete before.

教化

上文談及港鐵喋喋不休的廣播後，竟即在龍應台寫在二十多年前的《野火集》裏讀到一篇文章， 控訴台灣當時的文字污染，可說是非常應景！其中一些精彩段落摘錄如下 ：

「道路， 是讓人走的，可是有人覺得路也要發揮宣導教化的功能。於是我們走路時， 眼睛還得忙碌地吸收知識；直的標語、橫的口號，像鞭子一樣抽打在眼睛上 ：尊師重道、消除髒亂、兩個孩子恰恰好……。火車，是讓人乘坐從甲地到乙地的，可是一坐下來，眼睛才閉上，耳朵就開始受訓：我們要團結合作、自立自強、努力奮鬥、自新向上，我們要……。信封，是用來裝信郵寄的，一翻過來，跳入眼裡就是『保我民族文化，還我民族自由』、『中國一定強』，我不知道寄張平信與中國一定強有甚麼關係。餐廳，是讓人享受食物的地方，可是一面喝湯，一面就躲不過紅柱上的貼條 :『注重食品安全，講究衛生習慣』，『大聲喧嘩，擾人安寧』。

......

「好，那麼到青翠的郊外走走吧！ 郊外沒有『寫』的污染。 看看遠山，啊，遠山上赫然有幾個巨大的字，由草木剪排而成，不是學校名稱就是偉人的名字。 看山不是山，看水不是水。 那麼看看近樹吧！ 近樹，被剪成魚，剪成鳥、兔、烏龜，反正就不是樹。 那麼走到岩邊遠眺吧！ 岩邊有個水泥作的涼亭，鮮紅的亭柱上，有字 : 萬惡淫為首，百善孝為先。 到空曠的海邊去吧，海邊應該只有水天無際。 不，海邊有個花枝招展的小廟，廟柱上的文字要人及早覺醒，回頭是岸。

「字字字字字字字，為什麼沒有人抗議字的污染，山不是山，水不是水，樹不是樹。 山、水、樹，對於某些人，似乎都只是宣傳道德思想的工具。......」

— 龍應台 · 《天羅地網》（原載於1986年5月17日自立晚報，後編入《野火集》）

龍先生對台灣愛之深，責之切；二十多年前已高瞻遠矚，抗議文字污染，拒受當權者的教化，提醒大眾留白空間和思想自由的重要。香港實應引以為戒，萬勿走上歐威爾社會之路！

Stop the stupid announcements!

There is no escape once stepping into an MTR station -

"When using the escalator, hold the handrail, stand firm, and don't walk."

(But everyone walks down the escalator during rush hours! Also, there are signs asking people to stand on the right to let the others walk on the left.)

Immediately followed by:
"Please use the lift if you are carrying baggage."

And without a pause, the jabbering continues to say:
"Eating or drinking is not allowed on trains or in the paid areas of stations."

And one or more of the above will be repeated non-stop in Cantonese, Mandarin and English as one journeys down to the platform, leaving no space for any peace or quiet.

It does not get better on the platform. "The train for Sheung Wan is arriving. Please let passengers exit first." (The train arrives; people crowd in and passengers cannot exit.) "Please stand back from the doors." "Please do not block the train doors when they are closing." and so on and so forth.

It was the last straw when they tried to spice things up - a simple message to hold the handrail on the escalator became "Be my friend and hold me tight.". Who is my friend?! Whom am I supposed to hold tight on my way to work on a Monday morning?! It did not come across clearly at all that passengers were meant to "befriend" the handrail by holding it tight. It is a relief that they seem to have stopped using this version of the announcement now.

The announcements become pointless as they are generally ignored. They certainly do not stop people from running down escalators, blocking train doors or eating and drinking on trains. On the other hand, their unnatural tones and repetition like nagging parents may actually defy disobedience. If I were a tourist in Hong Kong, I would question the sophistication of the city - do the people here really need such non-stop reminders for simple things like holding the handrail? A sign will do. In fact, I do not remember the undergrounds of other cities having similar repetitive announcements.

It's time to stop and let passengers have some peace!

即棄（附筆）

昨天談及壽司店停用即棄木筷，今天讀報竟見到相關報道，真巧。元綠「轉用可再洗筷子後，初步發現成本減半 」，這真令人興奮。
http://www.mingpaonews.com/20081013/gom1.htm

即棄

最近乘飛機，航空公司是我之前從未光顧過的，想不到竟遇到一個小驚喜。無他，只因這公司的飛機餐所附的餐具，並非即用即棄的那種。

即棄餐具的普及，常令我覺得很苦惱。在這個污染嚴重、廢物過盛的年代，卻有越來越多食肆的堂食都轉用紙杯木筷，實在是一個諷刺。有人說，即棄木筷經過消毒，比較衛生。但即棄木筷普及之前，倒不大見有人因筷子不潔而中毒啊。況且，許多即棄木筷都被驗出含有對健康有害的化學物質呢。

又有人說，即棄餐具不需清洗，可省點水。可是，那點水跟即棄餐具每天造成的大量廢物，大概不可比擬吧。日積月累，堆填區只有更快填滿。扔一對筷子容易，廢物卻是不會自動消失的。

曾幾何時，飛機餐都是附上可再用餐具的；九一一事件後，人人變成驚弓之鳥，於是飛機都轉用膠刀叉，卻顯得矯枉過正。飛機上可用來襲擊的東西，又何止區區餐具。

最近，地球之友成功游說一些連鎖壽司店，不再用即棄木筷，實是一喜訊。希望未來有更多食肆響應！

Under the Name

"Once upon a time, a very long time ago now, about last Friday, Winnie-the-Pooh lived in a forest all by himself under the name of Sanders.

('What does "under the name" mean?' asked Christopher Robin.

'It means he had the name over the door in gold letters and lived under it.' ...)"

-- A. A. Milne, Winne-the-Pooh

***
Sometimes, I guess we just shouldn't ask too much. Say when we learn something entirely new, or when we listen to a story - too many questions can be quite obstructive. On the other hand, it strikes me that I never challenged the expression "under the name" - perhaps we shouldn't have taken certain things for granted either!

「一個城市和他的書店」

由梁文道以國語主講。

由於時間關係，沒有留足全場。梁的觀察，現略作筆記如下：

· 一個城市的二手書市場是否蓬勃，往往跟那城市的年齡有關。在歷史較悠久的城市如倫敦、東京，二手書市場很具規模。年輕城市如深圳，則只有大書城，卻未見二手書市場。

· 在書量特大的書店，如紐約的Strand，人只能「碰」到一本書，很難去找一本書。

· 一間書店本身就是一座城市 -- 高崇的書架就如摩天大廈，店內的書就如城市的文化縮影。

· 臺灣的誠品，能二十四小時營業，在其他城市並不多見，成為一個話題。誠品甚至是越夜越擠。有些旅客特地兩三點才去逛誠品，因為在其他城市不能半夜逛書店。梁最喜歡誠品的木地板。

· 深圳的書城給人的感覺像Walmart，書是很多，但排列的形式，卻令人覺得書種貧乏。反而「二樓書店」，能反映主人的性格。

北海道札幌一家書店的一隅