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Extravagance to no avail-Abbey Lane podium Work

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yP89t90TWaD3_Vh22uCmgsayHOPmue1_S68ZMKv2ZDk/edit?usp=sharing Alan Sze / #105 present Dec 2, 2025 Observations on Abbey Lane complex podium waterproofing make-over - 2025 Abbey Lane, 55 East 10th Vancouver Discussions The garden-on-podium landscaping feature has long been a marvel of green Vancouver building clusters pioneered by the late architectural icon Arthur Ericsson. Technology advances, yet a major flaw of planting on manmade concrete surfaces remains unresolved, viz. that of waterproofing when substrates are continuously under the combined assault of long rainy season, and penetration of woody plant rooting system. The below grade reinforced concrete box of the Abbey Lane had suffered from water penetration for some time such that water dripping from, and sights of effervescence on the ceiling of the subterranean  car parking stalls was becoming unsightly; however, it would  take several years before the affected  ...

Summer reading: the pagan Christ

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Summer Reading Series I The Pagan Christ: Recovering the lost Light, Tom Harpur, 2004, Thomas Allen Publisher, Toronto. When Christianity is abandoned with disdain and the church desperate in juggling a place of relevance in the modern world, Tom Harpur chooses to shake it from the bottom and provide interpretations that may give religion in general a new lease of life. Harpur comes from a deeply religious Judeo-Christian background, with ten years of Anglican priesthood training, and for about another ten years, teaching as a professor of the New Testament and Greek at the Toronto School of Theology's Wycliffe College. Influenced by Northrop Frye, and drawing on findings and resources of Orientalists & Egyptologist Godfrey Higgins(1771-1834), Gerald Massey(1828-1908), and Alvin Boyd Kuhn (1880-1963), Harpur develops a profound new understanding of religion. Sigmund Freud determined that the Bible was a total plagiarism of the Sumerian and Egyptian mythologies. Ha...

六七感言 翟惠洸

一九六七年八月九日,我的父親翟暖暉被港英政府六名武裝人員於凌晨四時帶備長槍短棍,拍門入屋,抄家逮捕。當時父親對於究竟犯了何罪獲此「厚待」,是無甚頭緒的。而從那一刻起,我們全家便正式被捲進這場風暴了。 那時的我,是一個活潑單純的十六歲女孩,剛中五畢業,準備念中六,對升讀大學充滿憧憬。轉眼之間,現在的我,已經是一名白髮蒼蒼的老婦人。當年一切,仍歷歷在目。   父親被捕當晚,我們一家表現得異常鎮靜,維護了人的尊嚴。連年老體弱的外祖母和照顧我們的歡姐,亦沒有絲毫的慌亂。面對手持長槍的警察,我甚至有點兒興奮,把自己代入紅色小說《紅岩》的場景,腦際浮現許雲峰、成崗、劉思揚等革命英雄形象,感到經受考驗的時刻終於來臨了。這正是當年許多人的精神支柱。   然而刺激過後,回到現實生活,家裹的氣氛便變得如那年盛暑天氣般翳悶侷促。父親被捕後,母親對外要頂住大局,處理四間商業機構的運作,以及親朋戚友的流言蜚語。她溫文柔順,但很堅強,沒有在我們跟前流過淚,不過,此後就更加沉默寡言了。妹妹在金文泰中學念書,成績優異。校長李思義是父親的朋友,被當時左派「革命群眾」斥罵為黄皮狗,母親害怕妹妹出事,便安排她與一起被捕的李少雄伯伯的三名子女一同到澳門濠江中學就讀。我頓時感到很孤單,很徬徨,但亦漸漸懂得體諒母親。   「我不自卑,只自覺是個異類」   暑假過後,我回到被稱為「奴化教育重鎮」的聖公會轄下名校上課,我的「革命豪情」開始消減。我仍然以父親為榮,但又想到他的事件上了報章頭條,全校都知我是囚犯的女兒了,一踏進校門,總覺得師長和同學們銳利的目光射向我。任教中六生物的劉克明老師,是父親經營的出版社的一位作者,學校採用的生物課本,就是他撰寫的。我為了避開他,退修了生物科。那年的中六生活,每天都渾噩度過,學習成績大受影響,自不待言,我對此耿耿於懷了好一段日子。   後來得知,李思義其實很關心我的妹妹,他表示不明白為何這麼優秀的一個學生要退學,看來他沒把父親視為暴徒。如今回想我校的師長和同學,其實對我亦無甚異樣,校方從沒有找我談話,同學亦沒有離棄我。畢業音樂會仍選我擔任鋼琴獨奏,表演完畢,校長還微笑鼓掌。但在當時,我卻無法衝破那道心理障礙,我不自卑,只自覺是個異類。這就是政治對一名適逢敏感年齡的少年所造成的負荷。最後,我在「同路人」(即左派)的圈內找到慰藉,那似乎是處於那種心理狀態之下的必然的出路。 ...