When I arrived school in a school bus, Cindy Lo Kang-Ching came to school in a government correctional services vehicle. Come to think of it, I don’t think correctional service was the name used then. Her home was the staff quarters in Tai Lam and her father was the warden for the Tai Lam Drug Rehabilitation Institute. The staff quarter was a huge home in any standard with a fully manicured garden. In those days Tai Lam was a far away spot and without the connection of the Lion Rock Tunnel, I imagine the time spent for Cindy to travel to and from school was tremendously long.
Cindy, of course, could never return home for lunch. She and Carmen and some others were ‘lunch mates’. I had the pleasure of joining them whenever I had choir practice after a short lunch. The Chinese styled western restaurant had some good fried rice or ham spaghetti baked in cheese. I wish I could remember the name of that place. It was a good feeling to walk down Grampian Road up to Ngai Ching Wai Road and down Hau Wong Road talking amicably in no hurry. The lunch hour was longer than what students nowadays had. Our school days seemed a lot more relaxed yet we were well behaved and we got good results. What has gone wrong with our education nowadays?
Tall, demure and courteous, Cindy always gave up a serene outlook. It’s like everything was under control and no one needed to worry. A smile on her face would just be enough to calm the most nervous character down and we all know who she was.
We found out where Cindy lived when we were invited to go to her home in the summer either after we had our school cert or after F6. We also found out other than her parents, she had two dogs, an elder brother, an elder sister and possibly a younger brother if I am not mistaken. The whole gang and another girl called Mui Siu-ching spent a whole day at her place. There were inmates trimming and landscaping in the garden when we were there. Inmates in those days wore pretty much the same clothes nowadays. They had shorts and collarless shirts in brown and brown rubber sandals. It was a scene we were not familiar with so it was quite a novelty.
Cindy went on to nursing school in the UK. We kept in touch and when I planned to go back to Hong Kong in the summer of 1974. First, I went to Nottingham to visit my elder brother who was still in England then and then off to visit Cindy. I can’t remember if I had visited her in London or some place else. In my recollection somewhere, I had the A-Z London map and I was able to find her brother’s house where she was staying on my own. My recollection also included a night out to her friends and dozing off till the morning. There were Raymond Chau, Ng Shek-hei, Steve Ng and Lee Wing-fat in the pictures with us, so we must have met the whole English gang to do something together. Details of our outing have gone fuzzy now. Fat Lee always said I exhibited my good English when I was with them in some kind of situation. Details about this part will have to be filled in by various participants.
The second time I was to meet Cindy in the outskirts of London was in 1976. I graduated in June that year and was enrolled in a political science summer course in Essex. I broke my pre-arranged date with her. I believe I had not called ahead to tell her I wasn’t going to see her that weekend because I was somewhat romantically involved with a classmate from Denmark. I did call afterwards but lied instead. I said I had mixed up the weekends. We didn’t get to see each other until I went back home in 1980. But before flying back to Canada, I did manage to meet up with Patrick Wong and Steve Ng and we spent a most pleasant day in downtown London.
Cindy was working as a full time nurse at Adventist Hospital in Hong Kong Island. While I was planning to stay put with my family in Hong Kong, she was planning her exit to Canada. I guess she left in 1982 and her first destination was Edmonton, Alberta. She got married in Edmonton and later moved to set up permanent residence in Toronto. She must have gone on vacation in 1985 when my husband and I were in town for a visit in the summer, so we missed each other.
Years passed and we kept in touch albeit sporadically. She sent me pictures of her two lovely sons and told me there would still be a while before retirement.
I hope I have captured the essence of her character here. If memories didn’t serve me well in some parts, feel free to edit in your own version of the events.
When I arrived school in a school bus, Cindy Lo Kang-Ching came to school in a government correctional services vehicle. Come to think of it, I don’t think correctional service was the name used then. Her home was the staff quarters in Tai Lam and her father was the warden for the Tai Lam Drug Rehabilitation Institute. The staff quarter was a huge home in any standard with a fully manicured garden. In those days Tai Lam was a far away spot and without the connection of the Lion Rock Tunnel, I imagine the time spent for Cindy to travel to and from school was tremendously long.
Cindy, of course, could never return home for lunch. She and Carmen and some others were ‘lunch mates’. I had the pleasure of joining them whenever I had choir practice after a short lunch. The Chinese styled western restaurant had some good fried rice or ham spaghetti baked in cheese. I wish I could remember the name of that place. It was a good feeling to walk down Grampian Road up to Ngai Ching Wai Road and down Hau Wong Road talking amicably in no hurry. The lunch hour was longer than what students nowadays had. Our school days seemed a lot more relaxed yet we were well behaved and we got good results. What has gone wrong with our education nowadays?
Tall, demure and courteous, Cindy always gave up a serene outlook. It’s like everything was under control and no one needed to worry. A smile on her face would just be enough to calm the most nervous character down and we all know who she was.
We found out where Cindy lived when we were invited to go to her home in the summer either after we had our school cert or after F6. We also found out other than her parents, she had two dogs, an elder brother, an elder sister and possibly a younger brother if I am not mistaken. The whole gang and another girl called Mui Siu-ching spent a whole day at her place. There were inmates trimming and landscaping in the garden when we were there. Inmates in those days wore pretty much the same clothes nowadays. They had shorts and collarless shirts in brown and brown rubber sandals. It was a scene we were not familiar with so it was quite a novelty.
Cindy went on to nursing school in the UK. We kept in touch and when I planned to go back to Hong Kong in the summer of 1974. First, I went to Nottingham to visit my elder brother who was still in England then and then off to visit Cindy. I can’t remember if I had visited her in London or some place else. In my recollection somewhere, I had the A-Z London map and I was able to find her brother’s house where she was staying on my own. My recollection also included a night out to her friends and dozing off till the morning. There were Raymond Chau, Ng Shek-hei, Steve Ng and Lee Wing-fat in the pictures with us, so we must have met the whole English gang to do something together. Details of our outing have gone fuzzy now. Fat Lee always said I exhibited my good English when I was with them in some kind of situation. Details about this part will have to be filled in by various participants.
The second time I was to meet Cindy in the outskirts of London was in 1976. I graduated in June that year and was enrolled in a political science summer course in Essex. I broke my pre-arranged date with her. I believe I had not called ahead to tell her I wasn’t going to see her that weekend because I was somewhat romantically involved with a classmate from Denmark. I did call afterwards but lied instead. I said I had mixed up the weekends. We didn’t get to see each other until I went back home in 1980. But before flying back to Canada, I did manage to meet up with Patrick Wong and Steve Ng and we spent a most pleasant day in downtown London.
Cindy was working as a full time nurse at Adventist Hospital in Hong Kong Island. While I was planning to stay put with my family in Hong Kong, she was planning her exit to Canada. I guess she left in 1982 and her first destination was Edmonton, Alberta. She got married in Edmonton and later moved to set up permanent residence in Toronto. She must have gone on vacation in 1985 when my husband and I were in town for a visit in the summer, so we missed each other.
Years passed and we kept in touch albeit sporadically. She sent me pictures of her two lovely sons and told me there would still be a while before retirement.
I hope I have captured the essence of her character here. If memories didn’t serve me well in some parts, feel free to edit in your own version of the events.
