Sunderland 遊戲人生-5 Panns Bank

A male flat mate from Greece, he was quite strong and interested in smoking.  He had dumbbells in his room, he treated his room as Gym room and smoking area.   

Taiwanese flat mate, called Gary, and he was the one who took to Newcastle casino. He was also a smoker and he liked smoking Cartier.   This pic was taken at a snowing night.  It's quite romantic.


Accommodation for international student.  

It was a policy of University of Sunderland that all first year international students were all entitled to a place of accommodation.   I was given a place at Panns Bank.  

I knew nothing about Panns Bank before, but I liked it very much at first sight.  It has a nice sea view, and it was newly-built and areas surrounding there offered me a peaceful and quiet room for cognitive, spiritual, social and academic development.  

The only disadvantage of Panns Bank is that it was quite far away from shopping centre and shops as well as my "classroom". 

Typical look of Panns Bank Accommodation.  It is a 3-storey building.  

I learnt to cook when I started living in Panns Bank.  

Coin-operated laundry machines were available there.   

Panns Bank 宿舍既有英國人，希臘人，Boswtnian ，星馬華人、大中華人 (台灣人，大陸人、香港人)，以色列人、塞浦路斯人、共冶一爐，法國華人。 黑人白人黃種人, 真是一個地球村。 

Sunderland 遊戲人生-4 夜遊賭場直至天亮

此乃建議圖片而已，過了廿年，我已忘記是那間Casino 了.

Panns Bank 同宿友兼台灣同胞 Gary 及其友人Gordon 某天某晚帶我到 Newcastle 賭場 "一飽眼福" 。 這賭場有個賣點就會提供免費早餐，如能控制賭欲至清晨，不用付出 (除了時間!)  勝利在望，實驗證明，我能做到，但等待期間異常奄悶。

對賭沒甚興趣，可能中學時期在鋤大D這活動中交了 "太多學費"，並證明個人性格、EQ等並不適合從事與 "賭" 有關的工作及娛樂。

如英式桌球，英國之賭場似乎會 "以貌取人"，進入賭場要穿西裝，但當時來不及全線更換我自身的 "微服"，所以退而求其次地到台灣朋友 (實情他們算是我的長輩! ) 家七拼八湊、左拼右貼後穿了一套 "半中不西" 的西裝。 這套西裝不太‘西’。 

剛巧那晚，很多賭客都是黃皮膚、黑頭髮、黑眼睛..... 龍的傳人真喜歡賭博了! 

現在去澳門鮮有進入賭場，就算入到去都能“忍手” 回來, 對我來說，忍到手的功力究竟是理性分析、百錬成鋼還是係“冇錢” 可輸? 

Sunderland 遊戲人間-3 Lotus Garden 蓮花樓工作

Inside "Lotus Garden" 

Bar in Lotus Garden, there was a CD stereo under the bar, and I used to put songs of 鄧麗君 right after we finished work.  

Dining area, decorated in a Chinese Style with traditional lanterns and Chinese paintings.  The photo was taken just before its opening. 

left, Kitchen in Lotus Garden.  Dining area of lotus Garden, its second floor was open when the ground floor was full.   Bottom, 穿上龍袍唔似太子的我，the one stood next to me was Eva.  

Candice is on the left,  吉叔 is on the right, his laughing face reminded me of "Einstein".

Perry, the one who bravely introduced me to 吉叔, was on the right.  He was a PhD student at the time.   My hairs once have attached to my head.


有幸能到一間Sunderland唐餐館 Lotus Garden工作，是大馬華人朋友Perry  (來自東馬沙拉越)　向老闆推薦我的，我萬分感激他的“善舉”，因我憑什麼能勝任此工作? 我一星期只兼職一天，並在星期五晚進行。 

Lotus Garden 的老闆吉叔給我工資25 pounds 一晚 (工作時間由下午5 時到12 時)，還有一餐宵夜贈送，完工後老細通常會與員工去賭場進行 “team building” 活動, 有時同事在賭場可輸掉當天甚至當月的工資… 

 我有時思考Gambling 是否一種對辛勤的補償、是娛樂、是消費、是外交、是逃避、是賺外塊、是填補、還是一種成癮? 我的25 pounds (大約300 港元) 工資大部份用作“長途電話” 與我身處一萬公里外的女友作“感情維穩’作用。

那時互聯還未有盛行，除了寫信，長途電話是不二之選。

10 英鎊可打10 分鐘電話。

Sunderland 遊戲人間-2 往返 Newcastle 取 Journals

Kings Walk, University of Newcastle

China Town, Newcastle.   Actually, it is not a town as such, it is a street. 


雖然 Sunderland used to be good at Pharmacy and Pharmacology (claimed?), but it's still 不夠pro, 自身圖書館館藏還是不夠多 (元化)，所以某些 "稀有 的 "Medical journal 還是要到周遭較大型的大學裡找尋，Newcastle University 是一所傳統紅磚大學，實力雄厚，其學術地位在英倫東北部來說可算是 “一哥”，由於 Final year research project 的需要，我交final year project 前的好幾個月要經常穿梭往返 Sunderland & Newcastle, 30 分鐘的火車通勤加上步行時間，一來一回連停留在 Library 都要花上至少三小時.   

實際上我也很享受這段既孤獨又寧靜的行程,它提供我單人旅遊的空間,並且可順道到Newcastle China Town 買些香港人喜歡的食材回 Sunderland, 一舉兩得。

Sunderland 遊戲人間-1 Stadium of Light

新特蘭光明球場, stadium of light! 英超聯似乎係留學港人必定捧場之體育活動. 學生可以較低廉價格購買門票, 一般約10 鎊，一些當眼的觀眾席是不會預留給手持學生票的人士。 

此外，一些頂級賽事/國際賽事或知名球隊到SUNDERLAND 作客, 球會均會以抽籤形式售出! 印象中我只現場看過兩三場賽事，其中一場是英格蘭對巴西 U16 (Aged under 16)。 

現場觀看球賽能 “擁抱”氣氛但我失去“即時”旁述的支援，所以及現場睇波大部份時間都只聽到 “踢波”聲、掌聲、噓聲及粗口聲，當然若然主隊輸波，作為小數族裔的我便要承擔額外或意外“遇襲”的風險。

“Ahead of the curve” Two years at Harvard Business School

"Harvard" could be a distant concept to me, but I don't resist in reading books about what "it" has taught to students. 

I have recently read a book called "“Ahead of the curve”  Two years at Harvard Business School, and casually made some summary out of its contents as follows: 

1.     When we look back, the big things will look small and the little things will look big

2.     Comparison is the death of happiness, you risk beating yourself up comparing with others

3.     We are all we have. No one else will rescue us. 

The victors would be those who “made change their friend”

1.     Resist the temptation to be a short-termist

2.     Be honest with yourself about what jobs are the right ones for you

3.     Keep your moral compass

4.     Maintain the proper balance between your professional career and your personal life

No career engineer, simply to learn and grow at every opportunity.

Professional happiness comes usually from being good at doing something really difficult

Education is not simply about getting a job, but putting up the structure for more interesting/meaningful life.