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On Friday evening my the apartment became a meeting place. Not that I was such a good host but because I had an own bathroom. Most of our friends lived in student houses and they shared facilities that weren't very clean, especially the bathrooms.

As I had my own bathroom one of our girlfriends asked if she could use the bathroom to have a good bath on Friday evening. Once the rumor spread that my bathroom was available and reasonable clean, more friends asked if they could use this bathroom. This way the tradition of the Friday bath evening started. Especially the female friends were happy with this tradition.

We ate together and played games like Chess, Risk and Buccaneer, and of course we had long discussions. I didn't have a TV. The whole evening we drank endless cups of tea. During these activities there was continue someone having a bath. Every Friday we ate the same food. We started with instant chicken soup from a packet, then we had baked beans in tomato sauce with toasted bread and butter. The dessert was an instant pudding out of packet mixed with milk, most often banana flavor. I only had a one pit cooker, therefore elaborated meals for many people wasn't an option.

Barbara never joined these evenings as she had to work on Friday. Friday was one of the busiest day in the fish and chip shop. They normally closed about midnight and then they had to clear up and clean everything. Barbara didn't go to bed till 3 am on Friday or Saturday night. Such a pity because Barbara would have really enjoyed those Friday evenings.

On Sunday afternoon we organized the typical English tradition of the Sunday afternoon roast. This took place in the house of Steve and Di (after Diana), our only friends who actually lived together. At the end of the afternoon we all came together. While the diner was prepared, we played games again. The diner was a typical English diner consisting of roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding (which didn't always work out well), roast lamb or roast turkey with mice sauce, and of course the peas and carrots. And again the discussions with lots of cups of tea.
This tradition we continued till 1980. When Barbara lived in Histon she could only join us when she found a good excuse to get away from home. When she lived in London, Barbara joined every sunday.

I think for most of us the bath evening and the Sunday roast was a substitute for the family life (none of our friends lived at home, Barbara was the only one).
We always had ridiculous discussion. I still remember topics like, can the milking machine for cows solve the toilet problems at pop concerts, or does God exist at -273 degrees Celsius, or why does Barbara ends her sentences with a elevated AA when she is getting excited (I saw that she also did it in the videos I have seen of her, I recognized it immediately when I heard it).

I still have the Sunday afternoon tradition with my family now. Everybody likes to join in but unfortunately nobody wants to cook, therefore we normally end up eating chips and drinking wine. The feeling is the same though.

 

 

洗浴夜和周日晚餐

到了周五晚上,我的公寓就成了大家聚会的场所。不是因为我是个很好的主人,而是我拥有自己独立的卫生间。我大多数的朋友住在学生公寓里面,他们一起用不太干净的学校设备,特别是卫生间。由于我拥有自己的卫生间,我的一个女性朋友问我能不能在周五晚来我家的卫生间好好地洗个澡。当关于我卫生间可以使用,并且很干净这句话流传出来后,越来越多的朋友询问能否使用卫浴。这就是周五晚上沐浴传统的开始。特别是,我的女性朋友们很喜欢这个传统。

我们一起吃饭,玩像象棋,海盗之类的游戏,当然,我们也有很长的讨论。我没有电视。整个晚上,我们和无止尽的茶。在这些活动期间,总有人在不断地洗浴。每周五我们吃同样的食物。先是袋装的速食鸡汤,然后我们享用用番茄酱做的烤豆子,伴以面包和黄油。甜点则是从袋子里混合着牛奶的布丁,大多数是香蕉口味。我只有一套厨具,因此为许多人做大餐是不现实的事情。

翁美玲从未参加这些活动,因为她必须在周五晚上工作。周五晚上是店里最忙的时刻。他们通常深夜才关门,然后清理到扫一切。翁美玲从来都没在周五或周六凌晨三点之前上床睡觉。真可惜,因为翁美玲本可好好地去享受这些周五夜晚。

周日下午,我们组织英式传统的周日下午烧烤活动。地点在斯蒂夫和戴安娜的住所,我们唯一住在一起的朋友。下午的最后时刻,我们来到一块。当晚餐在准备时,我们有一起玩游戏。晚餐也是典型的英式晚餐,由烤土豆,约克郡布丁(总是没法弄好),烤羔羊肉或者烤火鸡组成。当然,有豌豆和胡萝卜。谈话中,我们又有许许多多杯的茶相伴。

这个传统我们一直延续到1980年。当翁美玲住在希斯顿时,她只有找到合适的借口离开家,才能加入我们。当她住在伦敦时,翁美玲每周日都参加。
我想,对于许多人,洗浴夜和周日烧烤是家庭生活的代替品。(我的所有朋友都没住在家里,翁美玲是唯一的一个)

我们经常有很搞笑的讨论。我现在依然能记起这样的一个话题,挤牛奶的挤奶机能否解决在波普音乐会上的洗手间问题,或者,上帝能否在-273摄氏度里生存,为什么翁美玲在兴奋时总是以高调的AA结尾句子(我见过她这样,同时,在她的录像里我也看过,我能马上辨别出来,当我听见这种语调)

周日的传统,我和我家庭现在依然延续着。每个人都想加入,但是很不幸,没人愿意下厨,因此,我们最后都是吃薯片或者喝酒。但是,那种感觉依然是一样的。

(translated by Zhi)

 

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Alan
4 years ago
Happy birthday to barbara!
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Roger S
4 years ago
"I saw that she also did it in the videos I have seen of her"

Could you please name a video example? Thanks!
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Hey
12 years ago
missing pic here. :)
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Hannah
13 years ago
Awesome, hehe.
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Guest
13 years ago
Barbara looked so happy in this picture. Rob you have brought so much more fun into Barbara's life! You were both gifts to each other!
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Guest
13 years ago
Shouldn't it be "Bath evening and English afternoon?" :lol:

Another wonderful story full of sweet memories.
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Guest
13 years ago
You're right, I changed it.
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Guest
13 years ago
"Barbara ends her sentences with a elevated AA when she is getting excited "

dont quite get what you mean, rob...do u mind to explain?
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Guest
13 years ago
It is difficult to explain and maybe hard to notice. If we were watching a video together I could point out to you "there she does it". What I mean is that sometimes Barbara ended her sentences with 'aah' slightly higher in tone. Maybe it is just normal Chinese.
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Guest
13 years ago
It's probably normal Cantonese, but I'm Mandarin so I can't tell. :P Anyone?
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