即便回到濕冷的曼城已有一段時間，想起泰瑪淑女 (Tamar Belle) 的親切好客仍讓我們滿心溫暖。
五個小時的車程，從英格蘭中部到不列顛群島最南端的重要軍港Plymouth，接著由小巴士帶著兩位勇敢的東亞人（運將先生的讚美之詞）沿著泰瑪河谷蜿蜒北行直到一個稱為Bere Ferrers的小村莊。主人克里斯就在車站迎接我們。這裡是車站，也是旅社；我們繼續窩回車廂裡，只不過這節車廂不再是熙熙攘攘的火車箱，而是我們接下來兩晚的落腳處。

還沒洗掉一身的疲累便興奮地拿起相機把我們的第一印象記錄下來；不過，更讓我們感動的是那睽違許久的電視機啊！！
客廳，所有的室內空間都由舊車廂改裝，內裝也當然是拼拼湊湊地從許多同型車廂收集組裝而來。這裡終於可以親身體驗早已逝去的英式鐵道風格。遙想狹窄的通道上與仕女相遇的尷尬，以及客室內針鋒相對的禮尚往來；當然前提是你付得起頭等票價的話。而我們現在則可以用合理的價格體驗。

  
左手邊是臥鋪車廂外觀，木造車廂與內裝，似乎是二戰前的產品。標準的外行看熱鬧觀察法。右手邊則是月台另一邊，我們的主人克里斯稱之為沙龍車廂的會議用車廂，車內當然有個小吧檯，桌椅、投影機螢幕以及一些紀念品、推廣折頁等等供旅客挑選。

一夜的休息後，隔壁餐車已經準備好早餐向我們道早安。這桌是自助吧，果汁、葡萄柚、玉米片、優格、牛奶，任君享用。

隔壁這桌則是我們的餐桌，桌上是克里斯奮鬥了一早的英式早餐，香腸、烤豆子、蕃茄、約克夏布丁、培根、馬鈴薯，還有一顆飽滿的當地嚴選有機太陽蛋。Tamar Belle也試著加入Tamar河谷地區推廣的在地生產在地消費活動，以避免當地農業與經濟在全球化及大型超商化的衝擊下而沒落消失。

既然是以火車為主題的旅館，當然少不了幾具蒸氣火車頭，這車頭就停在克里斯家（原修理機房）門口，稱之為Hilda，看來泰瑪淑女的芳名就是Hilda呢！！

  
基地上除了兩列臥車、一列餐車以及沙龍車廂外，還有一列作為展示用的貨車廂以及一列改裝為展覽館的車廂，克里斯的小小辦公室就設在這展覽車廂的尾端，小小的空間，擺上了螢幕、主機、列表機也所剩無幾了。他的熱情讓我們想起現在福爾摩莎各島上熱心且用心的文史工作者，展覽車廂裡相信是克里斯以及少數熱心朋友用上許多時間佈置的Tamar河谷歷史展，軍事、礦業、生活、鐵道等等，河谷的各個面向都在這裡詳盡地呈現了。當然大人們參觀的同時也細心地準備了鐵道模型給小小朋友玩耍呢！

除了照料我們這兩天的起居外，克里斯還親自開著他的紅色小車帶著我們在河谷四處亂鑽，若非他豐富的在地知識我們也無緣親炙這些隱蔽在樹林間的小小工業遺跡並了解泰瑪河谷的工礦產業發展史，當然也分享了一些緋聞耳語，免得一路的歷史、礦業、化學元素的讓腦袋太過辛勞。而如果我們沒有先用雙眼、雙手與雙腳認識當地的礦業史，相信我們這趟旅途的主要目標：「更多好火腿」礦業生態博物館 (Morwellham and Tamar Valley Trust, Devon) 裡豐富的內容也無法讓我們對泰瑪河谷有更深的體會與了解。

Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Hilda
廣告一下，泰瑪淑女鐵道假期及旅客中心：The Tamar Belle Railway Holidays & Visitor Centre

一日天陰，出門見一馬病氣奄奄，半臥渣滓；
夜歸，見其仍臥病不起，心生不忍，徐勸起身；未步，方見腿瘸；
稍入廳，診其後腿之疾，又見其蹄皆有損傷；
悉心照料方使緩步向前，然仍無力倒行；亦無力久立；
檢其馬具，鞍、鐙雖俱，韁、銜不備；
鞭、摩經斷為脛傷元兇，想見鐙摩、馬鞭切入脛骨當時之痛徹心扉，必去之；
一夜歇息，喜見神色漸若；
擇日入城購齊糧秣各式器具；盼漸能馳騁林野。

棲息於角樓之洛克馬

二十啪加十五啪！根本就是一面倒的不負責任、任性、愛做夢又自私的個性嘛！而且還不會有任何成就！

A couple of Belizeans joined the crowd of us in the dome two days ago. Ball daddy enthusiastically gave them a warm welcome in his very own special way, midnight-thundering treatment. Seeing him the next day survive and well from choking himself or from being chocked by someone else to die was a hard thing to believe.

They survived too, through their very first night in the city and they were lucky enough for the ball daddy checked out next morning. Others suffered at least two nights. The poorest ones were two Sydneyers, for four nights; they finally had one peaceful night on bad before continuing their gap-year journey toward South Asia.

I've met a Belizean dancer, one diplomat before them in this city, and they enhanced my good impressions of their culture through great conversations, despite sometime being lost in translation and constantly interrupted by our poor English. One of them is documentary director and the other one is ballerina. A project has been working on before he came here and a luggage of raw images, tapes and hard-drives that flew with him will be edited after he finds place to move in. Yes, they are two of many others who come to this city looking for better opportunity. The film could be their chance.

The film he is working on discuses the ideas of freedom. People being interviewed, but how he will organise the debates was left out of our chatting-before-badtime. But before that, they must be able to find ways to feed themselves before their funds running out. Any job contributing to that will do at the movement, but eventually an ideal career for him is still focused on the image-related business.

Another warm-hearted Spanish I met earlier this year was also part of the group that actually runs the city. I can read the glow of hope in their eyes, and deep in their stomachs, a mixture feeling of excitement, worry and Mc Donalds (their very first meal in the city) will put them together through the following difficulties. A typical story we watch in every Hollywood movie with the Status of Liberty.

Before I checked out, I forgot to ask him the question that what does freedom mean to him. But I don't need to do that to be sure of the answer that to be here, is their way of freedom already.

One comment from the panel for you to consider:

'My only concern is that he might get overwhelmed by the archive work, and thus lose sight of his more critical agenda'.

Anyway, that's also what I'm concerning since I landed on this island, if not at the movement. I guess I can say that I've received thesis-writing training programme, which I didn't experienced at my homeland, although it was not, as a matter of fact, lectured by tutor but my classmate (who knows what a PhD candidate signed up thesis writing lecture for??). Nonetheless, it might be easy to understand the general idea of so-called critical writing, but structuring a thesis scholarly and critical enough, that, is different story.

From the prospective of the entire work of a PhD thesis, organising chapters in an order of debates-activating could be my present worries; after that, there might be smaller scale of criticism within chapters, and it will be going on and on and on. However, I can hardly find an example that similar to my ideal design of thesis from which I can copy, if not learn. One highly possible explanation is that is a bad design. Oops!! At least that's how I understand a rational, academic and logical thesis should be.

On the other hand, I can understand how important the critical thinking means to the scholarly works, but it is also difficult to convince me, in the field of historical research, of the idea that without seriously studying the governmental or personal records could produce a criticism on the ideologies that is intellectual enough. Although there is infinity of ways and angles when examining an object, it's still difficult to be critical without materials to form debate, isn't it?

While digging and photographing documents in the archives (you must see what the panel means now…. G.), I start to consider maybe it's time to concentrate on activating debates with the materials I have right now instead of endlessly collecting and reading those terrible, stomach-up-side-down, running-hands.

自中世紀起，礦業便是Calstock週邊地區相當重要的產業；然而，自十九世紀發現銅礦後，這個銀礦村不僅一躍成為Tamar河谷的重要礦藏轉運城，也因為工業革命的交通擴張，水運、鐵道的完備而成為維多利亞時期的旅遊景點。維多利亞女皇及其夫婿更在1846年造訪該鎮。不過在礦脈枯竭後，原本煤煙瀰漫、人聲鼎沸的Calstock也再度萎縮為隱身河谷間的安靜小鎮。

© The Magic of Cornwall
Ashburton Hotel便是為了服務這些維多利亞旅客而落成於1859年，三層樓的建築物，坐落位置不僅特地選擇距市鎮上游一段距離可以遠眺熱鬧景象卻不受喧囂打擾的河灘地，在地面層及二樓也設有木造陽台供旅客欣賞Tamar河谷上往來的蒸氣輪船、悠遊於空中與水面的各色水鳥、忙碌的火車及雄偉的鐵道橋。

或許無心插柳，或許有意，在百年後的今天，即使旅館早已歇業，房子成為私人住宅，這座英國少見的陽台建築似乎仍隱隱地道出，當時英國人依樣畫葫蘆地在世界各個角落的殖民/半殖民地興建類似的建築，在加爾各答、在新加坡、在天津、在臺南、在橫濱。即便在這看似與殖民地毫無任何直接關聯的小小市鎮，都可以意外地看到這些標準的文法與字彙在這棟建築上用如此清晰的方式書寫在這溫帶氣候的土地上。

然而即便是相同的語彙與結構，讀者卻可以因時代、地區的差異閱讀出不同的語意來。不列顛島上的讀者有多少人在讀到這棟帶著殖民地風情的建築物同時心中牽起印度那豐富華麗的色彩與人民那遙遠的帝國夢，或是茶耳廝王儲與未來的康瓦爾女爵幽會、遠眺大橋的三人成虎式謠傳呢？而亞洲的讀者在遙遠的百年前第一次見著這類的建築物鶴立雞群的同時，又是如何看待站在陽台上納涼遠眺的人呢？

Bodleian Group Libraries: Old Bodleian Library, Gate

"The wall of my Master is several fathoms high. If one do not find the door and enter by it, he cannot see the ancestral temple with its beauties, nor all the officers in their rich array.

"But I may assume that they are few who find the door. Was not the observation of the chief only what might have been expected"?

Yet, even Sphinx was off for Easter.

Easter journey to Bodleian libraries, pt.1
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