There is always a “First Time” 總有第一次

There are countless “First Time” in one’s life. The first time going to school, the first time taking up a job and the first time to fall in love with someone, etc. It always make people worried and nervous, no match how old you are. The same applied to me when I have my haircut today.

The last time I had my haircut was about two months ago in Hong Kong. Despite weather is rather cool in UK, having long and thick hair is something quite hot and difficult to handle. I really want to visit the barber but was a little bit concern on how to properly communicate with the hairdressers.

Being a techie, I quickly turned to Google and asked for how to communicate with the barber in English. Among the pool of search results, I like this one:

人生總有無數個 ⌜第一次⌟，第一次上學，第一次上班，第一次拍拖 ⋯，總會令人有點固慮、有些緊張。即使已經踏入七老八十的行列，亦無一倖免！就像我今天去剪髪，情况也一樣。

對上一次剪髮是在離港前，轉眼已有兩個多月。雖然英國天氣頗為涼快，但又厚又長的頭髮就如椰殼般套在頭上，又熱又難以處理，好想去剪髪但又擔心難以溝通。

作為一個科技人，當然要問問 Google 大神，怎樣同髪型師提出你的要求。在眾多的搜尋結果中，我較喜歡這一篇：

Get the Perfect Haircut: How to Talk to Your Barber

When I have my shopping in the nearby Sainsbury’s, I always come across a small barber shop. It was small and with simply renovation. Run by two rather old hairdressers and to certain extents, quite outdated.

Name of the shop is “Snappy Snips“, or “Brief cut”. Something just like “QB House” from Japan.

日常到 Sainbury’s 超級市埸購物都會經過一間理髪小店，裝修簡約，店内亦只有兩位較年長的理髪師，給人一個過時的印象。

小店名字叫 “Snappy Snips“，簡單來説，即 ⌜快剪⌟，就像日本的 “QB house“。

Other than the extremely attractive pricing, there is one major difference between Snappy Snips and the other African run barber shops, the hairdressers are white people.

除了價錢非常便宜外，Snappy Snips 亦與一眾非洲裔經營的 Barber shop 不同，理髪師是白種人。

Simple men’s haircut ranged from 8 to 12 pounds while ladies could also have their haircut done within 21 pounds.

So how good it is, let me have a try!

男仕 8 至 12 鎊之內已能簡單剪個髪，即使女仕亦只需 21 鎊。

質素如何，就讓我來試試吧！

I originally planned to show off what I have learnt from Google. But all at a sudden, I recalled the essence of the entire article:

坐下本想嘗試運用 Google 大神的教導與理髪師溝通，但忽然想起文中的重點金句：

Now quit yapping and listen to your barber for a minute…

Simply stated my requirement:

簡單説出我的要求：

Trim a little and retain my original hair style

The hairdresser started by asking me when I had my last haircut and swiftly completed the cutting within 10 minutes. I was extremely pleased with the result and all my worries were gone!

理髪師先問過我多久未剪過髪後便開始，在不到十分鐘後便完成，我亦非常滿意，之前的固慮亦一掃而空！

So, what is your comment ?

大家又覺得怎樣？

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On my way home, I bought some big tomatoes from the Kingston Old Market. They were fresh, juicy and much cheaper than those in Sainsbury’s.

Seems like I had a wonderful day today!

回家途中經過 Kingston Old Market，在攤檔中買了些新鮮蕃茄，價錢比 Sainsbury’s 便宜，質素上佳。

看來今天整體上都颇如意！