黃發權
上世紀的四十年代末期，當共產黨剛從國民黨的手中奪過政權的時候，我還住在中國廣東省惠陽的郊區。那時的我還是一個年輕的小夥子。新中國成立不久，政府來了一個大規模的土改運動，地主富農隨而成了鬥爭的對象。我們家屬於貧農，沒有田地，所以沒有受到直接的鬥爭。但由於當時的環境很亂，農村的情況很不穩定，找工作做十分困難。於是在我十六歲的那年，便離開家鄉到香港謀生。我在香港這個殖民地呆了大約二十年，這其中我四處奔跑，幹了好幾種粗重的活兒。當然由於我讀書不多，我是無論如何也無法找得到理想的工作的。不管怎樣，我仍然活得不錯，而且還成了家。 一九七二年，我以勞工移民的辦法來到英國，在裏丁的一位親戚所開的餐館裏打工。在餐館裏我是廚工，漸漸地我開始學會打理外賣擋生意的基本方法。
我在英國各地好幾間餐館打了好幾年工後才開始做外賣擋生意的。我在倫敦的肯鮑威區、離英皇醫院不遠處弄了一間外買店。二十世紀的七、八十年代，我們的生意還不錯，因為店子就在該區的鬧市旁邊。我們的店子雖小，但那時候在倫敦，甚至在整個英國， 中式外買店還不多，生以上的競爭還並不很激烈。打理外賣擋的工作很繁重，但正如我在先前在香港一樣，我除了做外賣擋外幾乎沒有別的選擇。無論如何我還算是能夠自食其力的，無需到福利部門去領取救濟金。在此之前我還把尚留在香港的妻子和兩個孩子領了過來。孩子來了後入學讀書，後來還進了專業學院。數年後我們又添了三個小孩。
到了九十年代中期我們決定把店子賣掉，解甲歸田。其中原因是經過二十年的辛勞，我真正感到很累了。再者，我們的孩子中沒有一人願意繼承飲食行業的工作。他們都受過大學教育，希望做一些能發揮自己專長的事業。如今他們都在電腦公司、商業機構做事：兩個在香港，三個在英國。其中一個人任職於英國的一間航空公司，由此出差的機會特別多。另一個在電腦企業當專家，也經常來回在倫敦 - 紐約之間。我們家人因之中關係還時常買到廉價機票。其實自從退休後，我們夫妻倆經常回香港去探親，歐洲大陸也去了好幾個地方。我們還搬進了一間位於離奧肯大道不遠的房子。如今，隻要不去旅遊，我便到倫敦各區的長者俱樂部去找朋友熟人拉家常、打麻將來打發時光。我有六個孫兒女，四個在英國，兩個和他們的父母在香港。每個星期六我都接送一個孫女到林拔芙華文學校學中文。英國的生活方式很平淡，但這我也習以為常了。如果你問我對這幾十年走過的路怎麽看，那麽我會對你說的就是：“光陰似箭！”。當你埋頭苦幹時，你並沒有時間去享受一切；而當你變得較為空閑時，你又覺得太老了，享受好像沒什麽意思。而且，你會覺得有點兒孤獨，因為你的孩子已經變了，他們都有了自己的個人世界和理想追求。他們的生活習慣甚至對你來說是陌生的。好像以前我們認識的事物已經不複存在。也許，大多數老人都有這樣的體會吧。
How time flies!
I was a young boy in
Huiyang, Guangdong
Province,
China
, when the Communists took over power from the Guomingdang in the late 1940s. Shortly after the founding of the new
China
, the Government carried out a massive land reform so that the landlords became the targets of the so-called ‘class struggle’. My family was poor and we did not owe any land, but because of the on-going political struggle the situation was rather unstable in the countryside, finding work for example wasn’t easy at all. So at the age of sixteen I left Huiyang for
Hong Kong
to seek my luck. For nearly twenty years I stayed in the former British Colony working in all sort of places and doing all sorts of jobs, of course all of which were manual. Since I had had very little schooling, there wasn’t much for me to choose anyway. Life in
Hong Kong
wasn’t plain-sailing either, but at least I felt free and was later able to start and support a family. In 1972 I sought a work permit to come to the
UK
, working for my relatives who had a small catering business in
Reading
. I worked in the kitchen as a cook, from where I gradually gained the skills for handling a small Chinese takeaway food shop.
I had moved to different places across
England
and worked for quite a few restaurants for several years before starting my own business. I settled in Camberwell, south
London
with a takeaway shop a stone’s throw from King’s
College
Hospital
. Business wasn’t too bad in the 1970s and 1980s as we were located just on the edge of the local commercial district there. Ours was a small business but in those days there weren’t many Chinese takeaway shops in
London
, even in
England
as a whole, so that you didn’t feel much competition or things like that. Running a takeaway shop is hard work but since I speak no English, again, like when I was in
Hong Kong
, there wasn’t much choice for me except working in catering. In any case I was able to make a living without having to beg from the Social Security people. Earlier I was able to arrange my wife and our two oldest children, who had stayed in
Hong Kong
when I first came, to come over here with me. Here the kids went to school and then college. Later we had three more children who were born in this country.
In the mid 1990s we decided to sell the business and retire. Part of the reason was that after over two decades working in the kitchen, I felt physically exhausted. Moreover, none of our children bothered to engage in catering business. All of them have a degree and want something that they can use the skills they have acquired. Two of them are now working in
Hong Kong
, the rest in the
UK
, for companies dealing with computers and so on. For this they get to travel a lot. One of the boys, who is a computer expert, actually travels to
New York
quite often. And a daughter who works for a
UK
based airline occasionally gets us cheap flight tickets too. Indeed since retirement I have visited our relatives in
Hong Kong
almost every year, and have also been to quite a few places in continental
Europe
. And what is more, since retirement I have moved into a house near Old Kent Road
. Now, while not travelling, I spend my time mostly with other older people in the Chinese community centre, where we play majong, or simply chat away the time. I have now got six grandchildren, four of whom in the UK., the rest in
Hong Kong
with their parents. Every Saturday morning I would have the job of taking a granddaughter to the
Chinese
School
to learn Chinese and then pick her up after the lessons. Life seems very quiet here. But I am used to it anyway. If you ask me what I think of the years that have gone by, then I’d say ‘How time flies’. When you work you don’t have time to enjoy life much. But as you become freer somehow, you are too old to enjoy it, or get the most of it. And you also feel a bit lonely since your children are so different from you in many ways. They have their own ambitions and a different life to lead. They even have their habits that seem so different from what you used to be familiar with. Things we used to know in the past have now gone, somehow. Maybe this feeling is common among all older people.
