Relocating Barbara's old tombstone

Barbara's old tombstone will be replaced with a new one in two months' time

Guys, Rob Radboud and I need your help. As you may have read from the previous post, Barbara's family in Cambridge will replace her old white tombstone with a new one, where her mother's name will be scribed on as well. Rob and I think that the tombstone should be preserved instead of being thrown away... and the best place for us is Hong Kong, where Barbara's memorial tablet is located.

However, we have not found a person who can help us from the Hong Kong end. It will be a tedious task, involving surely permits and money, because transporting the tablet won't come as cheap. But as long as there is a will, surely there is a way.

Thus, please email me if you'd like to help with this endeavour. We definitely need someone who lives in HK, or at least frequently visit HK. The plan has to move forward in two months, say by mid August, otherwise the old stone will not have a place to go (i.e. will be abandoned). Considering the historical value of the stone, I highly recommend we try to raise fund and work on the bueraucracy to move the stone to HK somehow. 

Visiting Barbara's grave with Rob Radboud

Barbara's grave on Friday, 23 June 2017, cleaned and spruced

Last year in July 2016, when I first visited Barbara's grave, I wondered if I would come back there soon, if not at all. This year, I've been very lucky though, for I could come back there again. Double luck, because my visit to Cambridge coincided with the visit of none other than Rob Radboud, Barbara's former Dutch boyfriend (Thank you, Universe!).

Hannah introduced Rob and me through Facebook. Hannah was originally going to go to the UK as well. It would have been a wonderful thing to meet her for the first time in the UK, in Cambridge of all places. But, it was not meant to be, for Hannah had a personal thing to do with her family in the US. So it was that one cool Thursday summer (22 June) that my bus arrived in Cambridge and I met Rob for the first time. After some pleasantries, he directly took me to the CCAT (Cambridge College Art and Technology), now Anglia Ruskin University, and then to his old apartment where he spent a wonderful year with Barbara. The next day, we met again at Barbara's grave. This post is about the visit to Barbara's grave. I will write another post about other Barbara-related places I visited with Rob in Cambridge. (edit: click here to read that post)

Michael Miu's birthday tomorrow (Sunday, 18 June 2017)

An oil painting of Huang Yaoshi 2017 (Michael Miu) by Cheng Zhifeng(陳志峰)

Tomorrow, well, in less than two hours in Hong Kong, will be Michael Miu's birthday. He will be 59 years old tomorrow... may he always be healthy, happy and prosperous (that goes also for his family). 

I am on another (very important) deadline next week, hence I'm not sure if I can dedicate time to make something for Michael tomorrow. But just in case, just in case I cannot, at least I want to give him an early happy birthday... and a gratitude for coming into my life so early in my childhood... and reappear again recently as Chor Lau-heung, Li Sai-man, Szeto Man-mo, Tung Pang-fei, and yes, even as Yeung Hong (Michael still gives the best Yang Kang/Yeung Hong to date, IMO). And most certainly, most recently, as Huang Yaoshi, the Peach Blossom Island Master.

In this post, I insert four paintings that have been painted by at least two painters for Michael. The first one up here is an oil painting of Huang Yaoshi (LOCH 2017) by Chen Zhifeng (陳志峰), as acknowledged by Michael in his Weibo dated 6 June 2017. This might be the info page of Chen Zhifeng. I know not the identity of the painter of the three paintings after the break. Let me know if you do know. 

"The Dream on a Floating Boat" - a CLH 1984 fan fiction

Despite distancing himself from the Princess, Chor Lau-heung was just a normal man. I often wonder what he thought of when he was just alone with Siu-ching on the boat... Contains a link to the mature content. This old MV of mine has the background story...

"You're beautiful" Chor Lau Heung 1984 MV from Icha74 on Vimeo.

The waning moon was high in the sky when several coastal birds suddenly flew past the floating boat. Chor Lau-heung absent-mindedly watched the birds flew past, wondering how similar he was, just recently, to the birds. Just recently, before he met her. Song Siu-ching, the girl who turned his world upside down.

He remembered their argument, or rather, her objection to his "indifferent" attitude to her love. Then, after he made peace with her, she consoled him about his mistakes. And just over an hour ago, he managed to persuade her to sleep in So Yung-yung's cabin, because the extra cabin wasn't ready yet. Her tiredness was the only thing that made her obliging to his suggestion; she yawned as she said good night. She asked if he was going to sleep soon; he said yes.

Yet, he couldn’t sleep. Too many things in his mind that just prevented him from sleeping that night. He did try to sleep in his cabin, but after an hour of tossing and turning, he gave up and returned to the deck.