大使疫情手记 (双语9) —— 放慢脚步，闻闻花香

前澳大利亚驻华大使、艺术收藏家、经济学家、专栏作家 Dr Geoff Raby AO 原计划于二月底返回北京，后因新冠疫情爆发滞留悉尼。朱雀艺术特别开设【号外】专栏，连载大使的疫情手记。今日连载至第9篇。

大使疫情手记（九）

放慢脚步，闻闻花香（上）

我从未在悉尼久居，这里的天气变化无常令我颇感惊讶。众所周知，墨尔本才是以“一日四季”著称的城市。墨尔本人的车后座俨然是个迷你版四季衣橱，以备不时之需。 

在悉尼，说“一日四季”未免夸张，不过难免也有天气巨变。今天凌晨下起了雨，躺在床上听着雨声令人身心平静。而到了上午稍迟一些时，天空变得阳光灿烂，万里无云，只有一股凛冽劲爽的南风吹拂着海港，涌起无数海浪。
今早的大雨促使我早早开始了写作，几个小时很快过去了，我完成了1500字，接着又到了每日步行锻炼时间。当时是中午，对许多人来说，一天已经过了很久，但对我们而言，在某种程度上，这一天才刚刚开始。这正说明了居家禁闭是如何一步一步逐渐打破了我们以往的生活规律，改变了我们的生活方式。

我们在锻炼途中越来越频繁地暂停、休息，散步的时间也随之变得越来越长，只是为了尽情享受户外，“闻一闻玫瑰的芬芳” ——这是一句那些在雇佣期结束前就被企业无情抛弃的高管们常常听到的敷衍之词，“感谢我们解雇了你吧，从现在起你有更多的时间去感受生活中的美好了。”诸如此类的陈词滥调、虚情假意，总是尴尬时刻的理想托词。

在享用了一顿日本料理外卖、一瓶桃红葡萄酒并阅读了几份今天的报纸后，下午晚些时候，我在家中阳光充沛的浴室里沐浴剃须。在温暖的淋浴下，花洒喷出的水雾在窗户上折射出一道彩虹。我回忆起了20年前的一段时光，这段时光与病毒疫情下的隔离时刻有着某种莫名的联系。

当时我正在澳大利亚驻华使馆工作，偶尔会独自从北京到澳门休整放松一周。那一次也是一年中的这个时节，冬颜褪尽，春天来临。（谢谢阅读，下期待续） 

Geoff Raby’s Pandemic Journal 9

Smelling the RosesHaving never lived long term in Sydney before, I’m surprised at how changeable the weather is. This is Melbourne’s reputation – four seasons in one day. Have a look in the backseat of a car in Melbourne and it is a microcosm of the owner’s wardrobe. Clothes for four seasons are usually there.  

Sydney may not give four seasons in one day, but it can change dramatically. From the wee hours this morning it teemed with rain. It was calming to lie in bed listening to it. Then, from mid-morning, it turned into a brilliant sunny day, not a cloud in the sky, a firm cool southernly breeze roughly spread white caps across the harbour.

The heavy morning rain encouraged an early start on writing and a few hours, and 1500 words, soon passed before the daily walk. It was noon and for many people the day was well advanced, but for us in some way it was just starting. This is how confinement steadily, progressively breaks down routines and normal ways of living.

The walk gets longer with more and more stops, simply to relish being outdoors – to smell the roses in that old cliché for executives who are about to be thrown on the scrapheap well before their time ought to be up. “Be grateful we’re sacking you and you will have so much more time now to smell the roses”, or some such platitudinous, insincere statement in order to glide over an awkward moment.

A Japanese takeaway lunch, a bottle of rose and several of today’s newspapers later, I was having a late afternoon shave and shower in our sun-drenched bathroom. Under the warm shower with rainbows from the shower head projected across the window, I remembered a time from twenty years ago which had some links back to this moment of isolation in the time of the virus.

I had gone to Macao, as occasionally I did, by myself to spend a week’s R&R from Beijing where I was working in the Embassy. It was about this time of the year. The winter was rapidly giving way to spring. 

(to be continued)