Another Year

剛看了Mike Leigh的Another Year，覺得年老無依真可怕。Mary年華老去，生活不富裕又不討人喜歡，孤單得連個說話的人都沒有，得仰仗朋友施捨的溫暖和憐憫，活脫就是我將來的寫照，教人心寒。

戲倒是一流的好戲。

April 2011 Trip

I will depart for Milan on 15 April for a two-week trip. Here is my initial travel plan –

• Bologna (4 days) with day trips to Ravenna/ Rimini/ Modena etc
• Urbino (2 days)
• L’Aquila (2 days) [I am not sure if the city has recovered from the earthquake in 2009, so I am not sure if I should go there at all.]
• Lecce (2 days) [recommended by the B&B owner in Rome]
• Bari (2 days) with a day trip to Matera
• Rome (2 days) [Not sure if I should do Rome again. My consultant has invited me to join her in Venice. I think Venice is not a bad idea, but I would rather not meet with someone from work during a vacation.]

I have not yet worked out how to go from one place to the next. And I am a bit worried about the crowd during Easter.

二月三日 - Granada

傻瓜般晨光熹微便往Alhambra去逛，越逛越覺寒氣刺骨，大衣圍巾手套似乎都不太管用。離開那皇宮後竄進美術館取暖，全副武裝地連逛兩館寒意始消，這才彷彿明白何解韓劇主角冬天進屋時都不脫大衣......

一月三十一日 - Cadiz

啤酒冰冷美味，發現竟然是San Miguel，但味道跟印象中的生力啤完全不同，有點難以置信。酒醉飯飽後頓感精力充沛，覺得在Cadiz要太陽就有廿三四度的陽光，要海水就有三面的大西洋，不可謂不幸福……

一月三十日 - Sevilla

重訪 Sevilla，天氣一如所料地不太冷，正好。抬頭就看見果實纍纍的橙樹和藍天。但我一點都不興奮，只覺得走了一整天的路，累死人。連Sevilla都不能讓我興奮，糟糕。

藍眼睛好看

1942年柏林生的人，照片中非常俊朗，眼睛湛藍湛藍。以為是舊照片，豈料真人跟相中人並無兩樣，毫無老態，眼睛藍得厲害。長這模樣，除非性格有問題，女人緣一定極好（可惜手上老大的婚戒）。說甚麼古來稀，他65歲時因國家規定退了休，正好轉個崗位再闖另一番事業。

(而我，最想立刻就退休……)

Investment

Somehow I find it difficult to make investments these days. There are all kinds of barriers to discourage you. The banks do not want your money. They want you to borrow from them, not put money in them. So unless you have a lot of cash to spare they don't really care. They give you close to zero interest, and they don't give you any service.

So I think I should invest my money in something. I go to a bank to ask for information and advice on their investment products. Now you don't get any info/advice unless you go to the designated officers in a designated area and fill out several questionnaires plus do a recording of your consent for their access to your info and giving you advice. Voice recording, as if you are a criminal under interrogation. Phew! They don't care that you don't have the time or the patience. They need you to do all these so that you won't be able to sue them for cheating you. And prices are high. And risks are high.

But if you don't do anything, your money shrinks. I used to be able to get 40 apples for HK$100. Now I can only get 25 apples for the same amount of money. I am going to starve!

意外

在住所的大堂摔了一跤，右腳突然一扭，雙膝着地，立時痛徹心肺，坐在地上動彈不得，把管理員給嚇傻了。現在膝頭紅腫熱痛樣樣齊，不知明早能否走動。

沉默

剛看了The American。意大利，George Clooney，孤寂的角色，教人想起Heat裏的Robert de Niro。電影節奏沉穩，故事的前文後理已不重要，重要的是George Clooney的沉默、他迷人的眼睫毛、和最後拍打方向盤的悔恨。戲裏還有瑞典。最近好像看了不少瑞典的小說、電影和演員（例如那些Skarsgårds……）

保暖之道

我是南方人，長住在亞熱帶的香港，每年最冷最冷的幾天也不致零下。我沒在寒冷的地方生活的經驗，所以每次在秋冬旅遊時好像總是穿不夠衣服。譬如說今天吧，慕尼克天氣晴朗，可是早上的氣溫只有幾度，我穿了：牛仔褲、頸巾、貼身薄汗衫、抓毛外套和連保溫夾衣（聲稱能抵五度低溫）的及膝gore-tex外套。幾乎是全副武裝了，略顯臃腫，可是走在街上仍然感到陣陣寒意 。我見當地人多數相當瀟灑，男人只穿襯衫、毛衣、一件外套和頸巾，女人更有穿短裙的，於是相當困惑：究竟我跟他們有甚麼不同？是衣服種類不同、還是穿衣方法不同、還是體質不同？還是通通都不同？

回想起來，我有一件在上海買的長羽絨外套，在北海道和克什米爾下雪時穿過，很保暖，但也很臃腫，而且不防水，雪融在肩上時挺不舒服。

天氣寒冷時（五度以下）到底應該怎樣穿衣呢？我通常是在旅行，所以總是在戶外、街上走動。根據經驗，如果穿衣太多，或是多穿了一條褲子，進到室內有暖氣的地方就會很不舒服，怎麼辦呢？