今日是情人節，難得可以早放工，七點幾放工在peak season 裡是很不正常的，應該只有年三十晚和情人節才有早放的理由，不同的是年三十晚是有公司官方指引提前兩小時放工，情人節則是非官方指引但大家都很識做地早放，今晚竟然有同事上載了一張公司清場相，當時是八點幾，奇景。
今朝早返工時如常看蘋果新聞，不記得從何時起我每朝都會看蘋果的財經和生活，反而少看港聞和娛樂。今早看到這段：暉灑自如 四大會計師行員工劈炮潮
當中提及今年的人才流失問題很嚴重。哈，走人走到上報紙，這個行業真的很奇怪（可怕）吧。沒錯，過去兩個月的確走了很多人，單是我那組已走了30人（原本是大概150人左右），大部分走的都是有三到五年經驗的好員工。現在是peak season，人手不足的情況嚴重，我地都挖苦地惡搞了 活佛viva， 唱返首"其實你隻job有沒有人" （從來沒有從來都沒有。。。。）
沒有人那麼應該怎樣做？這是我每天面對的問題。本來full team應該有五個人，每個grade的staff都有一個，但現在是減一半，還要斷層，還要新手，還要一個是新人在廣州，今年的任務是mission impossible的。其實真的是見步行步，做得幾多得幾多啦，當做善事。
點解會有這麼多人走呢？ 其實我本來也是打算在peak前跳船的，很明白這裡的不好，工時超長工作量又大老細又刻薄等等，條件好的人另謀高就很正常，而我則太廢了，在找到下一個好玩的地方前還需要修行一下。
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Saturday, February 1, 2014
我的農曆新年
年初一晚，不想睡，所以來胡亂寫一篇。
我一向對農曆新年這個節日沒什麼好感，在加拿大時沒有親戚沒有假期沒有氣氛，回來香港頭兩年在研究院都還好，因為我記得我們有“收爐”這個概念，把細胞冷藏暫時不做實驗。但到四大工作後，對新年的概念就變成三個字：W－O－K，每年農曆新年就是我們最忙的時候，為上市公司客戶趕公佈業績，我試過累到初二在電視前等看煙花等到睡著，在商場的沙發睡著，感覺不太好。
其實不用等到新年，我爹地的家人仍是幾乎每周都會有聚餐的，農曆新年的聚餐不同之處是多了期間限定的食品，但很多比較傳統的中式期間限定食品我都不吃的，例如髮菜海參鵝掌蠟腸，所以我在這個節日的食品選擇比平日更少。每年都是中午去嬤嬤家，黃昏去婆婆家。（好在婆婆今晚竟然煮了雞翼，蝦仁炒蛋，三文魚！可能驚我無野食）
我不善於講拜年的祝福語（可能需要上拜年補習班），今日有位AUNTIE第一次派利是，我望著她想了一秒，除了青春常駐之外送多了一句”年年有今日“，拿到兩封利是。點知事後我偷偷打開（我以前是不會初一拆利是的，近年會TEST CHECK幾封，初十才CASH COUNT），點知發現裡面一蚊都無，連COUPON都無一張！！我怕AUNTIE會BAD LUCK（定係我會BAD LUCK？）於是我同爹地講，然後爹地WHATSAPP叫姑姐問下那位AUNTIE點解派利是封，幫我”補領“利是。其實我也不好意思，一來已經年紀不輕又有收入還要打劫一眾退休人士，二來被人知道我年初一拆利是，真的不太好啊（但我只是TEST CHECK！未埋數的！！）。真的要考慮明年買張機票避年算了。
我一向對農曆新年這個節日沒什麼好感，在加拿大時沒有親戚沒有假期沒有氣氛，回來香港頭兩年在研究院都還好，因為我記得我們有“收爐”這個概念，把細胞冷藏暫時不做實驗。但到四大工作後，對新年的概念就變成三個字：W－O－K，每年農曆新年就是我們最忙的時候，為上市公司客戶趕公佈業績，我試過累到初二在電視前等看煙花等到睡著，在商場的沙發睡著，感覺不太好。
其實不用等到新年，我爹地的家人仍是幾乎每周都會有聚餐的，農曆新年的聚餐不同之處是多了期間限定的食品，但很多比較傳統的中式期間限定食品我都不吃的，例如髮菜海參鵝掌蠟腸，所以我在這個節日的食品選擇比平日更少。每年都是中午去嬤嬤家，黃昏去婆婆家。（好在婆婆今晚竟然煮了雞翼，蝦仁炒蛋，三文魚！可能驚我無野食）
我不善於講拜年的祝福語（可能需要上拜年補習班），今日有位AUNTIE第一次派利是，我望著她想了一秒，除了青春常駐之外送多了一句”年年有今日“，拿到兩封利是。點知事後我偷偷打開（我以前是不會初一拆利是的，近年會TEST CHECK幾封，初十才CASH COUNT），點知發現裡面一蚊都無，連COUPON都無一張！！我怕AUNTIE會BAD LUCK（定係我會BAD LUCK？）於是我同爹地講，然後爹地WHATSAPP叫姑姐問下那位AUNTIE點解派利是封，幫我”補領“利是。其實我也不好意思，一來已經年紀不輕又有收入還要打劫一眾退休人士，二來被人知道我年初一拆利是，真的不太好啊（但我只是TEST CHECK！未埋數的！！）。真的要考慮明年買張機票避年算了。
Friday, January 10, 2014
充滿挑戰的2014
世界上好多煩惱都是自己弄出來，可以避免的，2014年開始不夠十天，我已感受到這一年將會充滿挑戰。
我暫時不會呈辭了。 呈辭的原因很多，不呈辭的原因也很多，為免做成太大的改變，我決定以靜制動，默默工作。
因為需要投放更多的精力和資源在另一個難題，就是爺爺的癌症復發了，這次是有兩粒魚蛋在肺部。
我暫時不會呈辭了。 呈辭的原因很多，不呈辭的原因也很多，為免做成太大的改變，我決定以靜制動，默默工作。
因為需要投放更多的精力和資源在另一個難題，就是爺爺的癌症復發了，這次是有兩粒魚蛋在肺部。
Monday, December 23, 2013
呈辭
很久沒有UPDATE了，因為自從在法國回來後，一直忙著北上 五個禮拜，回港後日以繼夜不停做義工加班，不停追那個一開始我已覺得不合理的死線，終於，在兩星期前我做了一個決定，我要呈辭。
對於在四大工作的人來講，呈辭是很普遍的事，通常發生在考完專業試，工作滿三年，在開始第四年的PEAKSEASON前離開， 又或者是升到經理就離開， 野心大一點又挨得住的話就等到升了高級經理才離開，但近年好像很多人也不等了，至少呈辭的現象比早幾年提早發生了，至於點解，這個可以寫編論文來分析，暫時不寫。（題外話： 我工作的那組自從十月開始已有1/5 人呈辭，當然是很有問題的地方啦。）
對於我呈辭，其實已比我預期遲了很多。首先，我從實驗室走到四大工作，已是很不合情理的事，然後幸運地考了牌，又轉過一次部門，所有事都是賺回來的，從未想過會發生在我這個商業白癡身上， 這種見步行步的日子轉眼間過了五年。
五年，比一個DEGREE長，其實足夠唸個PHD，或者讀多一個UNDERGRAD。但在過去五年我選擇了一份需要賣命的工作，學到很多，體會很多，面對過很多奇人怪事，到過那些要不是為了工作根本不會去的鬼地方，是很充實的， 可是，這種生活節奏是不能維持下去的，因為我發現，我在每年年底看自己年初定的目標時，很多個人目標都很達不到 （唯一達到的是我的儲錢目標吧），這一點確實令我很氣憤的。 所以，我決定要RESTRUCTURE自己的人生。
對於在四大工作的人來講，呈辭是很普遍的事，通常發生在考完專業試，工作滿三年，在開始第四年的PEAKSEASON前離開， 又或者是升到經理就離開， 野心大一點又挨得住的話就等到升了高級經理才離開，但近年好像很多人也不等了，至少呈辭的現象比早幾年提早發生了，至於點解，這個可以寫編論文來分析，暫時不寫。（題外話： 我工作的那組自從十月開始已有1/5 人呈辭，當然是很有問題的地方啦。）
對於我呈辭，其實已比我預期遲了很多。首先，我從實驗室走到四大工作，已是很不合情理的事，然後幸運地考了牌，又轉過一次部門，所有事都是賺回來的，從未想過會發生在我這個商業白癡身上， 這種見步行步的日子轉眼間過了五年。
五年，比一個DEGREE長，其實足夠唸個PHD，或者讀多一個UNDERGRAD。但在過去五年我選擇了一份需要賣命的工作，學到很多，體會很多，面對過很多奇人怪事，到過那些要不是為了工作根本不會去的鬼地方，是很充實的， 可是，這種生活節奏是不能維持下去的，因為我發現，我在每年年底看自己年初定的目標時，很多個人目標都很達不到 （唯一達到的是我的儲錢目標吧），這一點確實令我很氣憤的。 所以，我決定要RESTRUCTURE自己的人生。
Sunday, October 13, 2013
the last 48 hours in france (part 2)
The next day at 8:20am, P and I went to look for a police station near the Canadian Embassy. Before we left the hotel, P's old boss, an experienced traveler who had her passport lost before, had provided us with information on what to do. (big thanks to P's old boss)
We arrived at the police station but the brown policeman sitting at the reception didn't give us a good impression. At first he refused to let me press charge and said I could just go to the embassy with the forms given by Avignon police. We refused and explained to him that we needed a proper police report (not the forms filled my us, you dim witted receptionist). Then he asked us to "wait" while five or six other polices were in the room, seemed to be working on a big case. Every few minutes a gypsy adolescent would come out with a policeman... (sigh, big problems with gypsy adolescent beggars/theives in Europe... will write more about this later).
The wait seemed endless. Then an old couple came in and they reported loss too! The english speaking man told us they were australian and they were pickpocketed in the metro! We wanted to use the phone to ask the embassy for today's opening hour, but the receptionist (i like to call him receptionist instead of policeman because he did not deserve to be called a policeman) refused again. The australian woman could speak french so she kindly helped us ask, but it was useless again. Luckily a white policeman finally finished his case on hand and could help me with my police report. Since I had filled out the loss report form, the white policeman could easily create the report for me without having me verbally described or roleplayed what happened.
We quickly headed to the Canadian Embassy as soon as we got the police report. It was around 10am. Canadian Embassy was near Champs-Elysees, with all the high end brandnames nearby which I thought did not match the down to earth image of Canadians... Anyway, we arrived at the embassy, put down our bags, phones, and talked to the staffs there. The staff explained to us I needed the followings to make a new temp passport: 2 photos, fill 3 forms, find 4 referees, and CAD350. It was like treasure hunting! Treasure hunting was something we had been doing for the past 9 days and this was going to be the ultimate challenge of our trip! I quickly sent out a mass facebook message to my potential referees using the one and only computer at the embassy. Then we went out to have my photo taken which took almost an hour and cost 12 euro (what a ripoff).
When we returned to the embassy's computer, I was so glad to have responses from some of my referees! I needed 4 referees who had to know me for at least 2 years, 2 of them in Canada, 2 can be outside Canada, cannot be family/relatives (that was the instruction I got from the first embassy staff). So I found my friends IH, JL, VY, KC. At first I thought about using ML and JW instead of VY and KC because they were in canada and I had to fill in their addresses and phone numbers and I had ML and JW's addresses when I wrote postcards earlier! BUT the problem was.. it was midnight in Vancouver and ML and JW must be sleeping! If my referees could not respond to the agent's phone calls immediately, I would not be able to get my passport made on time to catch our flight! We had less than 24 hours to go!!!! and FYI, temp passports normally need to wait 48 hours.
I was so glad IH responded so quickly, and she woke her husband JL up, so I had 2 referees for sure. Then VY and KC also replied! I was so surprised coz usually they reply our groupchats very slowly (haha). Rescue Steph from France mission was officially kicked off! After I filled out the 3 forms, the agent took P as one of my referees too (just in case I couldn't find 4). I must thank P for helping me settle the payments for my temp passport. When you lose your passport, you need a rich friend who has a credit card or lots of cash. Then it was lunch hour. I will skip what happened during lunch hour, which was another unfortunate incident of us versus the gypsies, which I will write later.
When we returned to the embassy after lunch, the agent started phoning my referees. P and I had done everything we could do, and it was the showtime for my referees. You know what, at that time, I had 100% faith in my four referees. I knew I had chosen the best four persons who knew me well and were smart enough to handle questions from the agent. However, I was still a little panicked since things were out of our control and all we could do was to "wait".
At 3:30pm, P and I started to prepare for the worst thing that could happen: what if the passport could not be issued before they close the embassy at 5:30pm? We started to call our airline to see if we could change our flights (failed, because we had very cheap tickets), searched for one way ticket back to HK (which costed us minimum 870 euro per person!!!), travel insurance policies (which did not clearly state the amount covered), etc etc etc. We were getting very tired and depressed. And at that time, I finally decided to write a facebook msg to my brother, told him the story and we were safe at the embassy and we might have to delay our flight. I told him to pass the msg to my parents who were in montreal at that time thinking I must be having a good time in france.
It was also the same time when I saw my referees exchanging information in the group chat about what the agent asked them. It was hilarious and ... I was really thankful to them, facebook, internet, everything... and updated my fb status even though we were still waiting for the "result".
At around 4:30pm, the agent called us into the room, and said she had "good news" for us. The temp passport was READY!!!!! She said the forms were filled out nicely and the referees were easy to reach, and emphasized at least 3 times how lucky i was!!!!!! The rescue Steph from france mission was a complete success!!!!
I really want to thank IH, JL, VY, KC for their efforts and concern! (What were you guys doing at that time??) P, my "bestest" travel buddy, for her unconditional financial and physical support! P's old boss for sharing her experiences! SS for being my online support to help me search some info! Canadian Embassy for their speedy rescue (who could have thought canadians could work so efficiently all of a sudden)! and everyone on fb who concerned about our safety (it must be like watching reality tv while eating popcorn/peanuts, thanks for watching)! and of course, thanks for reading this long story of our last 48 hours in france, I hope it was entertaining enough.
Oh yeah, what happened after 5pm? We celebrated by rushing to Galaries Lafayette (enough churches!), had a nice dinner near the hotel, and visited the Pont des Arts the next morning before leaving Paris using my white temp passport :)
PS, Good luck to the Winnipeg girls who were pickpocketd in Provence and the Toronto couple who had their things stolen in front of Louvre, we met them at the Canadian Embassy! Good luck to all canadian travelers! beware of the cheap french thieves who like to steal our things!
We arrived at the police station but the brown policeman sitting at the reception didn't give us a good impression. At first he refused to let me press charge and said I could just go to the embassy with the forms given by Avignon police. We refused and explained to him that we needed a proper police report (not the forms filled my us, you dim witted receptionist). Then he asked us to "wait" while five or six other polices were in the room, seemed to be working on a big case. Every few minutes a gypsy adolescent would come out with a policeman... (sigh, big problems with gypsy adolescent beggars/theives in Europe... will write more about this later).
The wait seemed endless. Then an old couple came in and they reported loss too! The english speaking man told us they were australian and they were pickpocketed in the metro! We wanted to use the phone to ask the embassy for today's opening hour, but the receptionist (i like to call him receptionist instead of policeman because he did not deserve to be called a policeman) refused again. The australian woman could speak french so she kindly helped us ask, but it was useless again. Luckily a white policeman finally finished his case on hand and could help me with my police report. Since I had filled out the loss report form, the white policeman could easily create the report for me without having me verbally described or roleplayed what happened.
We quickly headed to the Canadian Embassy as soon as we got the police report. It was around 10am. Canadian Embassy was near Champs-Elysees, with all the high end brandnames nearby which I thought did not match the down to earth image of Canadians... Anyway, we arrived at the embassy, put down our bags, phones, and talked to the staffs there. The staff explained to us I needed the followings to make a new temp passport: 2 photos, fill 3 forms, find 4 referees, and CAD350. It was like treasure hunting! Treasure hunting was something we had been doing for the past 9 days and this was going to be the ultimate challenge of our trip! I quickly sent out a mass facebook message to my potential referees using the one and only computer at the embassy. Then we went out to have my photo taken which took almost an hour and cost 12 euro (what a ripoff).
When we returned to the embassy's computer, I was so glad to have responses from some of my referees! I needed 4 referees who had to know me for at least 2 years, 2 of them in Canada, 2 can be outside Canada, cannot be family/relatives (that was the instruction I got from the first embassy staff). So I found my friends IH, JL, VY, KC. At first I thought about using ML and JW instead of VY and KC because they were in canada and I had to fill in their addresses and phone numbers and I had ML and JW's addresses when I wrote postcards earlier! BUT the problem was.. it was midnight in Vancouver and ML and JW must be sleeping! If my referees could not respond to the agent's phone calls immediately, I would not be able to get my passport made on time to catch our flight! We had less than 24 hours to go!!!! and FYI, temp passports normally need to wait 48 hours.
I was so glad IH responded so quickly, and she woke her husband JL up, so I had 2 referees for sure. Then VY and KC also replied! I was so surprised coz usually they reply our groupchats very slowly (haha). Rescue Steph from France mission was officially kicked off! After I filled out the 3 forms, the agent took P as one of my referees too (just in case I couldn't find 4). I must thank P for helping me settle the payments for my temp passport. When you lose your passport, you need a rich friend who has a credit card or lots of cash. Then it was lunch hour. I will skip what happened during lunch hour, which was another unfortunate incident of us versus the gypsies, which I will write later.
When we returned to the embassy after lunch, the agent started phoning my referees. P and I had done everything we could do, and it was the showtime for my referees. You know what, at that time, I had 100% faith in my four referees. I knew I had chosen the best four persons who knew me well and were smart enough to handle questions from the agent. However, I was still a little panicked since things were out of our control and all we could do was to "wait".
At 3:30pm, P and I started to prepare for the worst thing that could happen: what if the passport could not be issued before they close the embassy at 5:30pm? We started to call our airline to see if we could change our flights (failed, because we had very cheap tickets), searched for one way ticket back to HK (which costed us minimum 870 euro per person!!!), travel insurance policies (which did not clearly state the amount covered), etc etc etc. We were getting very tired and depressed. And at that time, I finally decided to write a facebook msg to my brother, told him the story and we were safe at the embassy and we might have to delay our flight. I told him to pass the msg to my parents who were in montreal at that time thinking I must be having a good time in france.
It was also the same time when I saw my referees exchanging information in the group chat about what the agent asked them. It was hilarious and ... I was really thankful to them, facebook, internet, everything... and updated my fb status even though we were still waiting for the "result".
At around 4:30pm, the agent called us into the room, and said she had "good news" for us. The temp passport was READY!!!!! She said the forms were filled out nicely and the referees were easy to reach, and emphasized at least 3 times how lucky i was!!!!!! The rescue Steph from france mission was a complete success!!!!
I really want to thank IH, JL, VY, KC for their efforts and concern! (What were you guys doing at that time??) P, my "bestest" travel buddy, for her unconditional financial and physical support! P's old boss for sharing her experiences! SS for being my online support to help me search some info! Canadian Embassy for their speedy rescue (who could have thought canadians could work so efficiently all of a sudden)! and everyone on fb who concerned about our safety (it must be like watching reality tv while eating popcorn/peanuts, thanks for watching)! and of course, thanks for reading this long story of our last 48 hours in france, I hope it was entertaining enough.
Oh yeah, what happened after 5pm? We celebrated by rushing to Galaries Lafayette (enough churches!), had a nice dinner near the hotel, and visited the Pont des Arts the next morning before leaving Paris using my white temp passport :)
PS, Good luck to the Winnipeg girls who were pickpocketd in Provence and the Toronto couple who had their things stolen in front of Louvre, we met them at the Canadian Embassy! Good luck to all canadian travelers! beware of the cheap french thieves who like to steal our things!
the last 48 hours in france (part 1)
At first I wanted to write a detailed story of our Tour de France 2013 starting from Day 1. If you have been following my facebook, you would have noticed a series of unfortunate events happened in the last 48 hours which deserves to be recorded first. Here we go...
On day 8 of our tour, P and I packed our luggages in early morning and checked out the hotel as usual, headed to the TGV station and took the train to our next destination. Avignon was our final stop before going back to Paris in the evening on the same day. We planned to store our luggages at the train station and spend a couple of hours visiting the historic monuments on foot. As soon as we arrived at Avignon train station, we faced our first problem: our luggage could not be stored. We knocked on the doors at the hotels nearby and were rejected without an explanation. Even the staffs at the tourist information centre failed to provide an explanation. What could we do?
We went into a pharmacy store, like shoppers drug mart in Canada or Watsons in Hong Kong, and were looking at some local skincare products. A store manager approached us and then an idea came to us.. hmmm...we decided to ask if she would allow us to store our luggage at the store if we purchase a certain amount! At last, she was kind enough to let us store our stuff if we purchased 50 euro worth of products (which was easily achieved!). She even let us use the spa room to store our luggages and explained to us the city does not allow storage of luggage for tourists due to avoidance of bomb attacks. We thanked her and started our walking tour thinking that we had finally met a nice (english speaking) person in south France!
After we finished lunch, we started our walking tour... visited the church, bridge, blah blah blah. Then we went to this street called Rue de la Balance, which was a quiet street with around 8 to 10 souvenir stores right next to the Palais de Papes (the most famous tourist attraction). I bought a nice Avignon magnet at the first souvenir store and window shopped at four other stores. When we were about to exit the street, I found that my backpack was UNZIPPED and my small hello kitty bag was MISSING! and the worst thing about it was that my PASSPORT, hkid, credit cards, cash (not much coz it was near the end of the trip) were in the bag!
P and I panicked and quickly ran back to the shops to ask the shop owners if they had seen anyone with the stolen bag. But of course, the thief must have ran away immediately. So we asked for the nearest police station. When we ran to the municipal police station inside the walls of Avignon, the fat french speaking policman couldn't speak a word in english (fucking useless). Having just 1.5 hours before our arranged train ride, we immediately ran back to the pharmacy to get our luggages, ran to the federal police station outside the walls. From the pharmacy to the police station was a 15 mins walk, but when we were speed walking with two luggages each weighing at least 13kg, it felt like a 30 mins walk.
When we arrived at the police station, the french speaking chubby/blond policewomen asked us to fill some forms for reporting loss, and wait to press charge. But there were 10 people in front of me waiting to press charge (jeez! why were there so many people at 4pm?!! were there so much crimes in Avignon??) Then we decided to go back to Paris first since all the embassies were all located in Paris and we had to catch our train anyway! So we went to the train station and found that... our booked train ride was supposed to depart from another train station! It was the first time we got our train station wrong! Who could have thought such a small town had two train stations with similar names! We were destined to be unlucky on that day.
Luckily the TGV staff there helped us arrange the next available train so we could make it back to Paris on the same night. On our 3 hour train ride, I cut my 2 credit cards, P and I brainstormed a list of things we had to do in Paris to manage this crisis. One of the most urgent things was to open the lock of my luggage because my key was stolen too! If the luggage could not be opened, I would be stuck in my sweaty clothes and pants for the next 48 hours and my glasses were in the luggage! We thought about cutting it open and then buy a new luggage at Carrefour or wrap it back in saran wrap. But a less damaging way would be to destroy the lock. As soon as we got off the train, we ran to the information centre to find the train station staffs for help because they must have tools for repair and maintenance. And it must be Gare de Lyon, the huge train station that we were getting off, not the small station near our hotel.
I spoke to the black lady staff who didn't appear to be friendly (maybe because her english wasn't very good), she only asked me to "wait". I stood there, listening to her speaking in french to someone on the phone, but her hand gesture of describing the size of the lock ensured me she knew what she was doing. A few minutes later we saw an old man in uniform with a big pair of orange scissors in his hands. At that moment I really wanted to cry. I never thought a man with a pair of scissors could be so charming. The scene reminded me of Ben Affleck / Bruce Willis in Armageddon. We thanked the black lady and the scissors man and rushed to our hotel. It was already past 9pm and was too late and dangerous to find a police station.
On day 8 of our tour, P and I packed our luggages in early morning and checked out the hotel as usual, headed to the TGV station and took the train to our next destination. Avignon was our final stop before going back to Paris in the evening on the same day. We planned to store our luggages at the train station and spend a couple of hours visiting the historic monuments on foot. As soon as we arrived at Avignon train station, we faced our first problem: our luggage could not be stored. We knocked on the doors at the hotels nearby and were rejected without an explanation. Even the staffs at the tourist information centre failed to provide an explanation. What could we do?
We went into a pharmacy store, like shoppers drug mart in Canada or Watsons in Hong Kong, and were looking at some local skincare products. A store manager approached us and then an idea came to us.. hmmm...we decided to ask if she would allow us to store our luggage at the store if we purchase a certain amount! At last, she was kind enough to let us store our stuff if we purchased 50 euro worth of products (which was easily achieved!). She even let us use the spa room to store our luggages and explained to us the city does not allow storage of luggage for tourists due to avoidance of bomb attacks. We thanked her and started our walking tour thinking that we had finally met a nice (english speaking) person in south France!
After we finished lunch, we started our walking tour... visited the church, bridge, blah blah blah. Then we went to this street called Rue de la Balance, which was a quiet street with around 8 to 10 souvenir stores right next to the Palais de Papes (the most famous tourist attraction). I bought a nice Avignon magnet at the first souvenir store and window shopped at four other stores. When we were about to exit the street, I found that my backpack was UNZIPPED and my small hello kitty bag was MISSING! and the worst thing about it was that my PASSPORT, hkid, credit cards, cash (not much coz it was near the end of the trip) were in the bag!
P and I panicked and quickly ran back to the shops to ask the shop owners if they had seen anyone with the stolen bag. But of course, the thief must have ran away immediately. So we asked for the nearest police station. When we ran to the municipal police station inside the walls of Avignon, the fat french speaking policman couldn't speak a word in english (fucking useless). Having just 1.5 hours before our arranged train ride, we immediately ran back to the pharmacy to get our luggages, ran to the federal police station outside the walls. From the pharmacy to the police station was a 15 mins walk, but when we were speed walking with two luggages each weighing at least 13kg, it felt like a 30 mins walk.
When we arrived at the police station, the french speaking chubby/blond policewomen asked us to fill some forms for reporting loss, and wait to press charge. But there were 10 people in front of me waiting to press charge (jeez! why were there so many people at 4pm?!! were there so much crimes in Avignon??) Then we decided to go back to Paris first since all the embassies were all located in Paris and we had to catch our train anyway! So we went to the train station and found that... our booked train ride was supposed to depart from another train station! It was the first time we got our train station wrong! Who could have thought such a small town had two train stations with similar names! We were destined to be unlucky on that day.
Luckily the TGV staff there helped us arrange the next available train so we could make it back to Paris on the same night. On our 3 hour train ride, I cut my 2 credit cards, P and I brainstormed a list of things we had to do in Paris to manage this crisis. One of the most urgent things was to open the lock of my luggage because my key was stolen too! If the luggage could not be opened, I would be stuck in my sweaty clothes and pants for the next 48 hours and my glasses were in the luggage! We thought about cutting it open and then buy a new luggage at Carrefour or wrap it back in saran wrap. But a less damaging way would be to destroy the lock. As soon as we got off the train, we ran to the information centre to find the train station staffs for help because they must have tools for repair and maintenance. And it must be Gare de Lyon, the huge train station that we were getting off, not the small station near our hotel.
I spoke to the black lady staff who didn't appear to be friendly (maybe because her english wasn't very good), she only asked me to "wait". I stood there, listening to her speaking in french to someone on the phone, but her hand gesture of describing the size of the lock ensured me she knew what she was doing. A few minutes later we saw an old man in uniform with a big pair of orange scissors in his hands. At that moment I really wanted to cry. I never thought a man with a pair of scissors could be so charming. The scene reminded me of Ben Affleck / Bruce Willis in Armageddon. We thanked the black lady and the scissors man and rushed to our hotel. It was already past 9pm and was too late and dangerous to find a police station.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
講故事時間
今日我想講個故事。
從前有四兄弟姐妹，最小的弟弟很會賺錢，送了一部舊款的HTC手機給他的大哥，大哥是個宅男，在得到新電話前是用很基本的2G機的。有一日食完晚飯後，很臭寸的三妹問宅男大哥有沒有試過新電話的功能。內容如下：
三妹：有沒有試過用Google Map?
大哥：我點解要用Google Map?
三妹：可以幫助你去找地方。
大哥：[認叻地]你覺得我唔識自己去地方咩？要這部機教？你覺得佢識去鴨寮街咩？
大哥的老婆：[溫柔地]可以帶你去唔熟悉的地方。
大哥：[決絕地]唔熟悉的地方我就不要去。
我看到想爆粗卻忍住了。這位大哥太宅了，不會去新的地方認識新朋友都算了，連接觸新玩意新科技都抗拒，人生還有甚麼意義？難怪到了這個年紀還是。。。(我很harsh的，下省五百字)。有一個謎一直解不開，點解大哥會有個正常的老婆？
我經常覺得這家人是我生命裡的反面教材，要面子愛認叻但又唔係叻。這種對話經常出現在晚飯時段，如果有小朋友或年青人在場的話肯定要輔導，如果有外人就會很尷尬。
Btw, 有沒有發覺沒有提及二哥和四弟？他們不在香港，很難想像如果他們也在案發現場。
從前有四兄弟姐妹，最小的弟弟很會賺錢，送了一部舊款的HTC手機給他的大哥，大哥是個宅男，在得到新電話前是用很基本的2G機的。有一日食完晚飯後，很臭寸的三妹問宅男大哥有沒有試過新電話的功能。內容如下：
三妹：有沒有試過用Google Map?
大哥：我點解要用Google Map?
三妹：可以幫助你去找地方。
大哥：[認叻地]你覺得我唔識自己去地方咩？要這部機教？你覺得佢識去鴨寮街咩？
大哥的老婆：[溫柔地]可以帶你去唔熟悉的地方。
大哥：[決絕地]唔熟悉的地方我就不要去。
我看到想爆粗卻忍住了。這位大哥太宅了，不會去新的地方認識新朋友都算了，連接觸新玩意新科技都抗拒，人生還有甚麼意義？難怪到了這個年紀還是。。。(我很harsh的，下省五百字)。有一個謎一直解不開，點解大哥會有個正常的老婆？
我經常覺得這家人是我生命裡的反面教材，要面子愛認叻但又唔係叻。這種對話經常出現在晚飯時段，如果有小朋友或年青人在場的話肯定要輔導，如果有外人就會很尷尬。
Btw, 有沒有發覺沒有提及二哥和四弟？他們不在香港，很難想像如果他們也在案發現場。
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