街头补鞋匠

 

阿光，约30岁，戴着一顶鸭嘴帽，脸部轮廓，咋看之下，像是外国亚裔人士。我用马来语说：我可以拍照吗？他却用广东话回我：影啦！还说时常都有人来影像。

 

他的摊位就在芙蓉大街，在一个空置的店位，原建筑物早已拆了。从前风光一时的金店，如今空荡荡的，除了野草和一些拆店时所遗留下来的碎砖瓦块，只有左右两边店两层楼高的砖墙，委屈的隐藏在闹市中。不是我步行而过，不容易发现阿光的摊位。

 

阿光倒很善谈，原来他是在新加坡工作的，有事回来芙蓉老家，却没想到因新冠病毒的肆虐，回不去了。疫情又不知何时才放缓，不知何时才可以回新加坡工作。为赚取一些生活费，只好暂时在街边摆摊为人扑鞋。

 

新冠病毒，搞乱了许多人的生活作息！

 

Ah Guang, about 30 years old, wears a baseball cap, looks like a foreigner to me at first glance. I asked in Malay: Can I take pictures? He answered me in Cantonese: sure, and said that people often come here to take pictures.

 

He is operating a makeshift shoes repair stall at Jalan Dato Bandar Tunggal, Seremban. His stall is in front of a vacant shop lot where the original building has long been demolished. The shop lot is now empty, except for the weeds and some broken bricks and tiles.

 

Ah Guang is very friendly. He told me that he was working in Singapore and came back to Seremban to visit his family. And due to the outbreak of pandemic Covis-19, he is now stranded and does not know when he can go back to work in Singapore again. 

 

“while waiting, it is better for me to earn some living expenses”, he said. I think many people like him were faced with this kind of predicament during the outbreak of the Covid-19!

 

 

久违了，茨厂街

 

10月的复苏行管令期间，在一场豪雨后，我来到阔别已久的茨厂街。我看不到昔日的繁华，游人寥寥无几，不像我想象中的茨厂街。从街头到街尾，不到15分钟就走完了。另一个发现，这里的许多老字号，好像都已消失在时间的洪流里。还好这里多了一个鬼仔巷，把老店从新装饰，加上应景的壁画，还可追忆早日的街景。置身其中，好像又回到了上世纪7，8十年代的吉隆坡，总算不虚此行。