Bringing your Piano to UK 鋼琴也移民
One of the most important tasks of our immigration is to ship my son’s piano to UK.
You may wonder why we did not buy a new one in UK?
移居英國當中一件很重要的事就是把兒子的鋼琴帶到英國。
你可能會問為什麼不在到步後另行講買?
Category: Family
Getting Your Home in UK 英國找居所
Quite a lot of the families planning to move to UK are struggling whether they should buy or rent a house / apartment
移居英國，好多家庭都會糾結在應否自置居所還是租屋。
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.
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。
Self Isolation 自我隔離
We’ve been to UK for two months and most of the times were spent on arranging those bits and pieces of living here. Quite a lot of the works could only be done one at a time and not much shortcut are available for speeding up. With the amount of planning and arrangement, I didn’t have much spare time and couldn’t afford to timely update my blog.
Given that most of the works needed to be done had been settled recently, let me resume the sharing of my UK immigration.
到了英國有兩個多月，大部分時間都花在租屋，搬遷，日常生活及孩子找學校的安排，很多事都要一步一步做，沒有太多㨗徑可走，閒著的時間不多，更提不起勁去更新自己的網誌。
最近要辦的事也完成了七七八八，終於可停下來繼續寫我的移居體驗了！
A Sun Never Set Journey 日不落的旅程
Taking long haul flight is definitely not my cup of tea and the only times were those trips to Europe. Due to time zones difference, most of these flights leave Hong Kong in midnight. Passengers normally went to sleep shortly after the take-off and rushed to the immigration upon arrival next morning.
In consideration of the adverse impact brought about by covid-19, our mid-night flight to UK was rescheduled by BA to the afternoon.
過往甚少乘搭長途機，記憶中只有飛歐洲的數次，通常都是夜機，而大部份乘客一上機就抱頭大睡，早上醒來便匆匆下機。
今次飛英國的航班亦可能在疫情影響下，由深夜提早至同日下午。
Times Up! 夠鐘啦！
If you are fond of photography and used to surf the internet for latest information, you should be aware of DigitalRev TV, Kai as well as Lok. DigitalRev TV was once an extremely popular YouTube channel with around 1.9 Million subscribers and total page views exceeding 430 Million in its glorious days.
如果你對攝影有興趣，閒時會瀏覽網上最新資訊，相信對 DigitalRev TV，Kai 同 Lok 也會有一定的認識。當年這個 YouTube 频道及這對好拍檔極受一眾攝影愛好者所追捧。全盛時期，頻道有190萬的訂戶，瀏覽率亦超過4億。
ABRSM Performance Grade Exam – Final Stage 英國皇家音樂學院表演評級考試 – 終結篇
Once the booking of the ABRSM Performance Grade Examination has been made, candidate or his/her guardian has to upload the performance examination recording to the ABRSM Portal.
完成了 ABRSM Performance Grade Examination (英國皇家音樂學院表演評級術科考試) 的預約後，考生需要於選定的限期內呈交錄影到 ABRSM 的考試網站。
2020 Review 回顧 / 2021 Resolutions 展望
Back in early 2020, I had not written any review post for year 2019 or resolutions for the coming year. Partly because I was very busy running my own takeaway shop, but the major reason was that I was feeling down at that time, couldn’t charge up to work out any plan for myself.
2020 年初，我沒有為已過去一年埋數，更沒有訂下新的一年目標，除了是忙於食店的事務外，主要是因心情低落，提不起勁去思考來年的方向。
ABRSM Performance Grade Exam Online Booking ABRSM 英國皇家音樂學院表演評級考試網上預約
Time flies and its December, ABRSM Performance Grade Examination finally opened for online booking in Hong Kong.
轉眼又到十二月，ABRSM Performance Grade Examination (英國皇家音樂學院表演評級術科考試)終於開放網上預約服務給香港考生。
ABRSM Practical Exam Updates ABRSM術科考試最新安排
我家兒子原先報考了今年四/五月舉行的 ABRSM Grade 8 Piano Practical Examination (英國皇家音樂學院八級鋼琴術科考試)，但因應年初疫情，考試被迫取消。為免浪費數個月的試前準備(其實是高昂的學費)，我亦跟隨學院的建議，申請了年尾的考試。
Biwaichi Cycling 琵琶湖單車遊
要到日本作深度單車旅遊，兩個入門級的行程就不得不提。第一個是連接廣島及四國今治的 島波海道 (Shimanami Kaido)，另一個則是 滋賀縣的琵琶湖 (Lake Biwa)。
Lunar New Year Hiking 農曆新年行山活動
During the Lunar New Year Holidays, most of the shops and restaurants will be closed. Even you can find restaurant that is open for service, it will definitely include a 10% surcharge. Other than visiting relatives or friends, hiking is believed to be the most cost saving activities. Not only we can consume some of our free time, it will also bring good health to us and that’s why we had two hiking trips in this holidays.
農曆新年期間市面非常淡靜，商舗和食肆大都休息，即使照常營業的很多時都會有加一的安排。假期間除了拜年外，最慳錢的活動相信是行山。既可一家人消磨數小時，也對身體健康有裨益。就像今個新年假期，我們一家就走了兩轉了。
Short Hiking Trip & Leisure Space in the Heart of the City 短程行山路線與鬧市中的悠閒空間
非假日的行山路線，我們都會集中在港島區的短程路線，這樣會有較充裕的時間接送家中小孩下課。像近期行過好幾次的金督馳馬徑便是其中一個很好的選擇。
Our weekday hiking routes are normally focused around those short trails in the Hong Kong Island where we can have adequate time to pick up our little boy after school. The Sir Cecil’s Ride located in the eastern part of the Hong Kong Island that we hiked recently is one of the great choices.
2018 回顧 Review / 2019 展望 Resolutions
時間比我想像過得更快，2018年尚有不足一小時便成歷史，回望這一年，部份的目標叫作落實了，但也有些尚未開始，更有些事情完全是意料之外; 好的、不如意的，我也會照單全收。
2018 will be leaving us within an hour, looking back at what all those targets that I had established for 2018, seems like some of those had been achieved while the rest are not yet started. In fact, there were other things that came all out of expected. Anyway, this is life and I have to accept them all.
10 Things I Have Learnt from MasterChef
My wife, my boy and I are fans of the Gordon Ramsay’s MasterChef series of TV Shows.
Having watched a number of the MasterChef seasons in the past few years, other than knowing some of the cooking skills and innovative ideas in elevating dishes to the MasterChef level, we have also learnt somethings from the show.
Gem in the Hidden Mountain of Shigaraki
Miho Museum (美秀美術館) is a private museum managed by the religious group Shinji Shumeikai (神慈秀明会). It is named after the founder of the group, Mrs. Mihoko Koyama and initially housed the vast collection of tea ceremony utensils and Asian antiquities collected by her. The collection was subsequently grew into a vision of an art museum, aligning with Koyama’s vision of promoting beauty, peace and joy through art.
The museum is a place that I have been longing for a visit.
Yes, for a very long time.
In fact, I had been there before but not exactly visited the museum. Why?
Summer Holiday 2018 – Shiga, Japan
My wife and I are not those die-hard Japanophiles who always visit Japan as a kind of worship. Instead, it is the excellent culture and the friendliness of Japanese that make us not tired of visiting Japan.
For this summer holidays, we continued to explore other parts of Japan – The Biwako area in the Shiga Prefecture.
This was a downshifting journey for us to enjoy the beauty of the Lake Biwa, the country life and the cultural side of the Shiga Prefecture.
Shimanami Kaido – Wonderful Ride with Trace of Regrets
Today’s journey started at the Tatara Shimanami Park in Omishima. Major reasons are availability of bus service from Imabari and the Rent-a-cycle Terminal. Moreover, it is close to Setoda Sunset Beach where we would have our lunch. The only downside is that we have to ride the Tatara Bridge twice just like what we had for the Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge in yesterday’s ride.
It took around one hour to arrive at the Omishima BS. Quickly we picked up our bikes at the Rent-a-cycle Terminal and started our ride towards the Tatara Bridge.