春天的故事 – 城市生活外一篇

图文/ 刘耀国（Stephen Low）

City Living –  Springtime stories

這一篇在原計劃中要等下一个月才能完成, 但因突發事件, 現在提前推出.

前天 (2014 四月十四日) 上午10時30分在 Kingsway 与 Joyce 附近住宅单位内被發現兇殺案 —— 華漢弒母及傷女童——兇手亦遭警方開槍射傷…… 我們 11時30分路过, 見到警車、傳媒、看熱鬧的 路人亂成一團. 拍了幾張照片,走过对面商店打聽,不得要領. 後來看CBC 和 CTV 五點新闻,才知道是精神病發的移民家庭悲劇. 今天中文电視台訪問了对面街我们時常幫襯的超市, 說疑犯是該超市的員工.

以上的事故使我想起了以下的故事. 那是電視台記者Mike McCardell 新書其中一節關於早年本省 築鐵路的華工血淚史:

1930 年代中國人來卑斯省做苦工築鐵路, 薪金只得白人人工之一半, 且專做高度危險的工作. 做夠一百天只有幾元可寄回中國的家人. 在山洞里放炸藥, 你估派誰去引爆?   在峭壁上裝纜線, 你估誰要爬上去? 鐵路軌需用大鐵釘spike 固定在橫木上, 要人扶住大鐵釘, 那个人就是中國人. 白人大隻佬举起大鐵鎚拼命擊下, 多數會擊中大鐵釘, 但不是百分百. 如有致命意外, 在路旁挖个洞埋葬草草了事, 也不通知其親人.

如今我最愛報导的是在大學的电惱科學和經濟學班上所見到的幾乎全是中國學生. 雖然我應該公平一點,但我总是喜歡說: 正!

The white men who worked on the railroad were getting between $1 and $2.50 a day. After a hundred non-stop days of back-breaking work (they had no days off) they were lucky if they had fifteen dollars left over.

Tough. But the Chinese who worked alongside the whites were paid half those wages. At the end of a hundred days they had only a few dollars to send back to their families in China, which was the reason they had left home and travelled across an ocean to come here.

But there were other problems with being Chinese. If there was dynamite to be put into a cave to blow it up to make a tunnel, guess whose job that was? If you had to climb out over a cliff to string a cable, guess whose job that was? And if you were killed, the officials of the railroad would not inform your family. They would tell the other Chinese to bury you alongside the tracks and forget you.

As for the young boys who were Chinese, well, someone had to hold the spikes while someone else with a twenty-pound sledgehammer would lift that hammer up high and then come slamming down with all his might. Usually they hit the spike, but not always.

What I really enjoy nowadays is to report on the computer science and economics classes at the universities, which are almost all filled with Chinese students.

I’m supposed to be impartial but I like to say, Right on.!

April 14, 2014
Kingsway & Joyce murder scene. 33 years old Chinese man killed 63 years old mother.
英皇大街及哉斯街發生命案. 各电視台拉大隊來採訪.

Familiar faces including Maria Weisgarber of CTV
电視台 瑪麗亞小姐現場報导. 稍後5點新闻再見到她. (对面的倫敦藥房和華人超市都是我們常到的地方)

Spring is finally here – some kids were playing outdoors.
春回大地. 孩子又在戶外玩氣球.

Dates and weeks are identical on these calendars of 1986,1997, 2003, 2014 and 2025.
這些不同年份的月歷可調乱來用.

World’s first Bitcoin  ATM opens in Vancouver at this Waves Coffee shop last October.
世界第一台比特幣自动櫃員機設于温哥華這間咖啡店内. (市中心近高等法院)

Bitcoin suppose to be easy to use but how do you know their real value?
這种 網上虛擬幣不受金融机構監管簡單方便,但難确訂真正價值.有人發達有公司破產.

Lots of users at the beginning. you use your on-line wallet to trade. No real coins come out the machine.初時很多人試机 (網照). 提款只能存入網絡銀包,没有硬幣跌出.今天所見,無人問津.

SFU Esther Tung says Bitcoin encourage social change
西门菲沙大學女生Esther認為比特幣將帶來社会性變化.(網照)

745′ aerial sculpture hangs above Canada Place for TED’s 30th anniversary celebration conference. TED short for Technology, Entertainment ,Design.
美國的科技娛樂設計國际大會在温哥華慶祝30周年. 会場外掛起空中紅網.(看尽網中紅塵皆不是, 唯有意念拔新高. -星島句)

Made of fishing net, it turns red at night.(it’s the lighting)
魚網雕塑晚上在紅光照射下更搶眼.

Official Photos -They are impressed! Will come again next year for the 2015 convention.
會場内有名人演講, 展銷、研討、交流等. 還有美食.有关人士爱上了温哥華, 已訂下明年再來舉行盛会.

Good girl!
顧客的小女孩帮手掃地.

Catch of the day – Chinatown fish market
唐人街一般生意乏善可陈. 但魚鋪是個例外. 圖見大車生猛龍躉魚運到.

Busy #3 Road, Richmond.
上住下鋪有點似亞洲城市. 最新架空列車加拿大綫最成功.

Good sense of smell. or CURIOSITY!
嗅覺敏銳是猫的本能. 嗅一下碰你一下是友好的表示.

Cat eats a lot.
為食是猫之本性. 圖中猫糧每天食三罐算是節食份量. 半價也要百多元一次.

Spring weather over the weekend. We are going to the BARAGA Gardens in South Burnaby.
上週末天睛日暖真正感覺到春的氣息. 我們应邀約走訪本拿比地區分配農地組織之農園. 在圖右方. 圖左是苗圃市場.

We are here, The Garden parking lot is on the left side of the picture. Looking toward New Westminster (7450 Meadow Ave. Burnaby, BC)
來到農場. 柳樹後是停車場.

The Burnaby and Region Allotment Garden Association [BARAGA] operates a 5.9 hectare allotment garden in south Burnaby, BC, which makes it one of the largest of its kind in North America
停車場外大片草地. 櫻花綠草,使人頓然開朗.

Beautiful cherry blossoms by the administration office.
春光明媚也是農忙季節之開始.

There are 372 of these very large plots.
本拿比市政府撥出14 畝農場分為373塊土地, 每塊約一千尺, 供本拿比市民租用.(年租一百,需当義工每年6小時)

They are tightly packed together, too: row after row forming this exotic, wonderful labyrinth of beautifully maintained gardens.
每塊有足夠地方种花和瓜菜,建温室等.耕種者多為原籍西欧人士, 也有華人.

Members of this particular collective are also permitted to erect small shelters, which may be greenhouses, tool sheds, or little shacks. As a result, the members tend to hang onto their particular allotment.
有些搭起小木屋. 更方便享受田園之樂 .新欲來者要輪侯两年.

There are 372 of these very large plots-1,000 square feet each! This one with new soil is ready to go.
這一塊領先一步泥土超靓.

No two plots are remotely similar. A great many of the members are of European descent, too, so there’s a fascinating array of vegetables and flowers being grown..
如仍要多點地方,可向高空發展.

Example of last year’s. Right: Pole beans are a big thing at the garden. Some plots are purely devoted to them, with towering hedgerows of beans growing up to 20 feet tall.
去年部分收成. 有欧式,中式,日式瓜菜和高柱式豆類(右) 高二十尺頗為壯觀.

Imports!
在等待本地農產品成熟前, 我們只好看看入口生果和蔬菜了.