此時此地此刻... 活在當下 Live for the moment: My housemates 我的同屋租客

'相見好,同住難' -在香港, 我只是試過在大學時住宿舍和另一女生同住一房; 到了英國讀書,當地的宿舍跟香港不同, 是一人一個房間, 不過廚房和洗手間及浴室是共用的。

我現時住的地方, 是一間六個人住的大屋。除了在大學住宿舍時試過和那麼多人一起住, 我其實已習慣了和另一個人住一間屋。所以當初決定搬來這裡, 我都有點擔心。住了五個多月, 我總算習慣了一點!? Hmm..

原本我的同屋租客是男多過女, 不過自上月開始多了位女士。雖然我只是住了五個月, 但這裡'人來人去':

最初的兩個月, 同住的是:

1) 管家嬸嬸 - 住得最久, 差不多有十年! 全屋的水電媒氣上網廚房清潔用品由她一手包辦! 坦白說, 她一定見盡不少騎尼麻煩租客; 業主應該慶幸有她幫忙! 她喜愛烹飪, 如果一大清早嗅到任何食物香味或聽到焗爐聲, 那必定是嬸嬸在'煮大餐'! 她是我最投契的租客, 我們最愛談煮食和購物, 呵呵!

2) A君 - 澳洲柏斯來的A君非常健談! 他可以和租客由朝談到晚; 他應該做Talk Show! 不過沒那個租客會那樣花時間和他談; 我初期和他談頗多, 不過後來我發現一邊和他談, 一邊煮飯會拖慢我煮飯兼影響食物質素! 所以後期我見到他有如見鬼般! 他從不煮食, 最愛光顧附近的中式外賣店和印度餐廳! 由於他和我的房間的寬頻上網信號比較弱, 所以他最愛留在客廳上網; 客廳簡直是他的'第二個家'! 他自問做人'瀟灑'(Hmm..), 相識不夠一個月的女友他都可以放棄(實情是他怕麻煩?!)。他永遠不明白女人為什麼愛烹飪; 在他心目中, 食物是用來填肚, 他寧願花時間在其他'重要'事情上, 也不想花時間在煮食。我想, 他不懂烹飪的樂趣和意義!

3) B君 - 唯一的香港人! 不過他是在英國出生; 所以他和我是用英語交談的!(不過我聽過他說過廣東話的喎!) 他人頗友善。他那初出茅廬的氣質令我覺得他是張智霖(年輕版!)和我某位朋友的混合體! 印象中他是個體貼的男友 - 他試過在我們屋煮飯給女友!

4) C君 - 住在我樓上的他, 極少和我有任何對話。可能因為我常常跟他'爭'廚房用! 他令我最深刻的是他那急速的腳步聲。如果聽到有人極速從樓上走下來, 那個一定是他! 就連在廚房煮食他也是快速地切菜, 快速地炒, 快速地洗碗! 快速到連洗潔晶泡泡都留在Sink盤! 由於地板問題, 他房間內的所有聲音我都聽得一清二楚! 例如他和人談電話, 彈結他, 播音樂, 還有腳步聲! 唯一令我欣賞的是他會花時間弄健康食物, 例如沙律, 檸檬水; 他應該會個挺注重健康的人!

5) 菲律賓叔叔 - 印象中他是個頗沉默, 有點可憐的寂寞單親爸爸。有時我會想, 到底他平日不用上班的日子是怎樣打發時間?跟A君一樣, 他極少煮食; 我只見過他偶爾地用自己的電飯煲。

'ABC三劍俠'在差不多時候(一月底/二月底)搬走; 於是來了三位新租客:

6) 愛爾蘭哥哥 - 他第一次來我們屋時, 給我的印象是個斯文人。我想不到原來他是吸煙的! 我對大部份的吸煙人士都有點偏見!? 我受不了那種令人窒息的煙味。他有點像C君般做任何事都很急, 腳步聲很重! 他跟c君一樣經常和我同時間煮食, 最愛煮Ready meals!

7) 麥當勞哥哥 - 在嬸嬸心目中, 他是個麻煩、愛投訴的租客。還沒搬進來已說我們的水電媒費用太高。他和菲律賓叔叔一樣是在附近的醫院工作, 所以兩人特別投契!? 麥當勞哥哥像麥當勞叔叔般關心別人 - 每次見到他, 他第一合句說話都是'Are you alright?'! :P 麥當勞哥哥都頗注重煮食! 他不是天天在家, 行蹤頗飄忽!

8) 樓上阿姐 (Miss Upstairs) - 跟C君一樣, 她房間內的聲音我是聽到的; 所以愛聽音樂(搖滾!?), 愛和人上Skype聊天的她令我明白原來噪音真的可以令人發瘋(雖然幸好我還未發瘋!), 令人煩躁。她的飲食習慣令我覺得她是一個挺年輕而又懶惰的女孩 - 她每星期會大量入貨, 買了很多乳酪, 芝士, 火腿, 漢堡包, 杯麵, 香蕉等; 最經典的莫過於是她每星期至少一次會將整個有意粉/飯的煲和平底鑊放進雪櫃數天。

'It's more difficult to live together than just to hang around' - in HK, I only had an experience of living with another girl in a room in the student hall; in the UK, their student halls are different, with each person having their own room while sharing the kitchen and bathrooms with others.

The place that I'm currently living in is a house shared by six people. Except for when I had to live with many people in the same hall, I got used to living with another person in a house here. So when I decided to move in here, I did feel a bit worried. Having been living here for five months, I guess I may have got used to that a bit?

Initially most of my housemates were men, but since last month there was one more female tenant. Even though I have been living here for five months, there has been many people moving in and out.

In the first two months, these were people who lived in the house:

1) Mrs. Housekeeper - she's the one who has been the longest living here, almost ten years! From water, electricity, gas, broadband, to kitchen cleaning stuff, it's her who sorts them out. To be honest, I'm sure she must have seen a lot of weird, trouble-making tenants. The landlord should feel lucky to have her help. Mrs. Housekeeper likes cooking. If there's any nice smell or any sound of the oven, it must be her who's making a big feast! She's the one who I talk most with. We like to talk about cooking and shopping. Hehe!

2) Mr. A - Mr. A who comes from Perth of Australia was very talkative. He could talk to people from day till night. He should do a talk show! :P But unfortunately no tenant would like to spend so much time chatting with him. At the beginning I talked with him a lot, but later I found that talking to him while doing my cooking would delay my cooking and affect the food quality! So later I started seeing him as a ghost! :P He never did any cooking; he liked to get food from the nearby Chinese takeaway and the Indian restaurant. Since his and my room received very weak signal of the broadband, he liked to stay in the living room for internet access. The living room was his second home indeed! He said he liked to be 'unrestrained' - he could give up a girlfriend whom he only got to know for less than a month (the fact was, he didn't want any trouble from her!). He'd never understand why women love cooking so much. In his mind, food was just used to fill our stomach. He'd rather spend time on other more important things than on cooking. I don't think he understands the fun and meaning of cooking!

3) Mr. B - He was the only tenant from Hong Kong. Actually he was born in the UK, which was why he and I communicate in English (but I did hear him speak Cantonese!) He was a nice guy. His temperament make me think he was a mix of 'Cheung Chi Lam' and a friend of mine! He was also a considerate boyfriend; he cooked for his girlfriend in our house before.

4) Mr. C - He who lived above my room rarely talked to me. Maybe because I always competed with him for the use of the kitchen? His quick footsteps impressed me most. If anyone walked down very quickly from upstairs, it must be him! Even when he cooked, he did things very quickly, such as cutting vegetables, stir-frying stuff and washing dishes. He did things so quickly that the bubbles of the washing up liquid remained in the sink! Because of the 'thin' flooring, I could hear clearly any sound made in his room, such as his talking to people on the phone, playing guitar, playing music and also his footsteps! The only thing that I appreciated about him was he'd spend time on cooking healthy food, such as salad and lemon water. He must be a person who pays attention to his health.

5) Mr. Philippines - In my mind, he is a quiet, pathetic and lonely single dad. Sometimes I do wonder, how does he spend his time when he's off work? Just like Mr. A, he seldom cooks. I only saw him using his own rice cooker occasionally.

Mr. A, B, and C moved out about the same time, there came three new tenants:

6) Mr. Irish - My first impression of him was he was a nice person. I can't imagine he's a smoker! I think I'm biased against most of the smokers. I can't stand the smoke that is so suffocating. Just like Mr. C, he does things very quickly and his footsteps are heavy. Also he often cooks at the same time as I do. His favourite are ready meals!

7) Mr. MacDonald - in the mind of Mrs. Housekeeper, he is a trouble-maker and a tenant who likes to complain. Before moving in, he already said our utility bills were too expensive. He and Mr. Philippines work in the hospital and so they get along quite well?! Like McDonald's, Mr. MacDonald cares about others - every time I see him, the first thing he says is, 'Are you alright?'! Mr. MacDonald does pay attention to cooking. He's not home all the time.

8) Miss Upstairs - Just like Mr. C, any sound made in her room can be heard by me. That's why she, who likes to play music (rock and roll!?) and likes to talk with friends on Skype, has made me understand the fact that noises can really drive one crazy (even though luckily I'm still not mad yet!), and make one lose temper. Her diet makes me think that she must be a young while lazy girl. Every week she buys a lot of yoghurt, cheese, ham, hamburger, pot noodles, bananas, etc. A classic case of hers is, every week at least once she'd put the cooking pot with pasta/rice and pan into the fridge for a few days.