漏氣之後

上星期五，家裡漏煤氣，濃烈的煤氣味直衝出來，師傅拿著喉管，我忙著盡開所有門窗，然後聯絡管理員，之後我留下師資和管理員，拿著電話落街聯絡煤氣公司緊急維修，心裡從未如此驚惶，很怕會引致爆炸，很怕累街坊，又怕師傅會吸入過多的煤氣而有大影響……雖然師傅和管理員都說我很冷靜。

在樓下遇見"熟客"stephen(怎麼說呢？這位"熟客"甚少來書棧，但經常跟我通訊，似筆友多點雖然我不是每次都回覆)，他停下來跟我打招呼欲閒談，但我心繫「家園」，匆忙交帶家裡漏煤氣便走了，好像很不禮貌，怪不好意思。stephen是外國人，或許那刻我的表現讓他擔心了，事後竟然上我facebook看，他不懂中文，讀我facebook肯定要花額外的時間吧，昨天收到他的電郵，蠻溫暖。 =)

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Hi Hilda,


Just been to your FB page and have seen the photos there. What a magnificent display of books and exhibits. I trust your time there was productive and fruitful. Your FB page is a great, vibrant and colourful record of your time there. You must have met a lot of people.

It's also good news that Town Gas fixed your gas leak. Quite right that they treated it as an urgent case. I was very worried about you. I've always found that company pretty good with these things. Of course you had a lot of clean up to do after the guy put away all his tools. As you say, none of the neighbours were inconvenienced. At this time of year I sometimes wonder if the durian smell is gas, as I find the odours fairly similar. I never thought durians could be dangerous. If someone dismisses a gas leak as 'durian smell' then we could all be in a lot of trouble.

I looked and listened to that video of 'Never Let Go' that was recorded in your Cottage. When I first looked at the thumbnail of the video I thought it was you in the middle. This is Whitebase with Mimi on vocals. I see they have their own Youtube channel. I shall be sure to Perhaps they'll play at one of the events I go to.

I had a good time at the first of July demonstration. It was amazingly crowded and full of energy. There were often heavy rainfalls, but these did not put off the marchers. They just got their umbrellas out or sheltered near shops. I went up to at least the ninth floor of Hysan Place in Causeway Bay. From there I got good view of street full of umbrellas of all different colours. I wanted to get a different angle from the ones I had taken before. The rain did not dampen the event for anyone. In fact it added to the sense of fun and increased the levels of energy.

It was mostly positive. The news reports gave an impression of the 'troublemaking' but that was just one small part of it. From where I was the whole thing was very civilised.

I understand the strong wind and rain of the number three typhoon signal disrupted the Korean pop concert at the old Kai Tak Airport. Near here there was a Japanese pop star singing in Temple Street. I missed that.

It's another Hot Weather Warning today. I trust you'll keep drinking enough.

Take care and catch you later.

Stephen.