September 22, 2005

家裡那個被遺忘的角落The Forgotten Corner at Home

每個人的家裡,都會有一些很少會去動到的角落,一年、甚至好幾年才會去清理一次。在我家,大概就是樓梯下被我們拿來堆放雜物的空間。
In every house, there’s always a rarely touched corner that one cleans once a year or even longer. In our place, it should be the space under the stairs where we use for storing miscellaneous articles.

「對灰塵過敏」是不打掃的好理由,家裡只要是會讓灰塵飛舞的工作,我能少做就少做,真的逼不得已輪到我動手,也只好戴起幾年前買的N95口罩…我只能在被悶死或被癢死之間選擇其一。
“Allergic to dust” is a good reason for not doing housekeeping and cleaning job. I always try to avoid anything that will raise the dust. When I’m really forced to do it, I could only take out my N95 mask… I can only choose to suffocate myself or itch to die.

上星期發現貓兒身上有跳蚤,本來以為投了藥就應該沒事了,沒想到在讀了用藥指示以後,才發現家裡只要是貓兒會去玩耍的地方,就得要清掃一番…義大利人一般是春季大掃除,沒想到我們這下子因為貓跳蚤的關係,還得來個秋掃,想著工作進度嚴重落後,又看著身上到處是被跳蚤咬了以後留下來癢得要死的小水泡,在怎麼樣也得硬著頭皮找時間打掃,趁著今天米奇剛好有空檔,也只得戴上N95上陣。
Last week, we discovered that there’re cat fleas at home! We thought that we only needed to get the medicine and apply the drops, but after reading the instructions we found a huge task in front of us. Every corner that the cat could arrive needs to be cleaned… Italians normally do yearly cleaning in spring. We’ve never imagined that we had to do a big cleaning in autumn because of cat fleas. I looked at my delayed work schedule, and then the tiny little red spots on my body left by these little bastards. No matter what we had to do it. So today we took the chance when Michele could take a break from work. My N95 was ready for work.

吃完中餐以後開始動手,整個下午四個小時,我也只是隨便把客廳那張桌子和幾個櫃子抹了幾下,並且拿著吸塵器,把粘附在椅子和沙發上的貓毛吸一吸,就已經陣亡了。米奇則負責車庫和樓梯間,貓便便和貓砂更是要整個換掉。
We started after lunch. I’ve only cleaned the desk in the living room and some shelves, plus cleaning all the cat hair on all the chairs and sofa with vacuum cleaner. It took me four hours to do it and I was exhausted after I finished. Michele was in charge of the garage and stairs. It’s also a must to clean the cat litter and change the cat sand.

家裡兩盆貓砂,一盆在車庫裡,一盆則在門口樓梯間。我一直都很想要把樓梯間的那盆換個位置,畢竟一進家裡就聞到貓便便,實在也不太舒服。趁著大掃除的機會,米奇終於決定要替那盆貓砂換位置了。也就是因為這樣,他竟然突發奇想,去動了家裡那個幾乎被遺忘的角落。
There’re two pots of cat sand at home, one in the garage and the other under the stairs. I’ve always wanted to find another place for the one under the stairs. After all, it’s not a nice feeling to smell the cat litter once you enter the house. Taking the chance, Michele decided to find another place for it. It’s also for this reason that he suddenly decided to mess around the forgotten corner.

搬到義大利五年多以來,我根本沒有去動過那個角落,所以自然也就不知道裡頭藏了那麼多好貨色,只是碰上選擇性‘健忘’又忙於工作的米奇,那種只有他能去碰的事情,向來都得要排好幾個月的隊才可能進行,交代給他的事情,如果沒有要他給個承諾,我向來也不敢冀望…清樓梯間,對我來說還真是天上掉下來的禮物…
I’ve moved here for five years and have never touched that corner. So it’s natural that I didn’t know what kind of “collections” lied inside. However, because of Michele’s “selectively forgetful character” and busy work, everything that only he can do has to queue for its chance for months. If he didn’t promise to do something, I can only hope that someday the mission would be completed… Cleaning that forgotten corner, it’s like a present fallen from heaven to me…

這可謂不鳴則已一鳴驚人,不清還好,一清把整個世界都給清出來了,三十多瓶紅酒白酒甜酒香檳(其中有好幾瓶二十多年的陳年好酒),一箱婆婆好幾年前做的番茄糊,兩大瓶從靴子跟運上來的特級橄欖油,兩箱自製果醬,加上好幾箱可以拿來裝番茄糊或自製果醬的空瓶子。
It seemed to discover a new world! More than thirty bottles of wine including some twenty-year-old red wine, a box of passata that my in-laws made few years ago, two big bottles of extra-virgin olive oil from Puglia, two boxes of home-made jam, and some boxes of empty bottles for passata and jam.

好不容易整理好了,憑空多出來五年份的番茄糊空瓶、三年份的果醬、夠整個冬天吃的番茄糊(如果還能吃的話)和一大堆好酒,我的心情好像挖到寶一樣,而且就在自己家裡…
It took a while to tidy things up. Coming out of the void is five-year quantity of passata bottles, three-year quantity of jam, and bottles of passata enough for the whole winter (if they’re still eatable) and a collection of good wine. It seemed to me that I’ve found a treasure box at home.

每天都能這樣過的話,該有多好…
I just wish that things like this could happen everyday…

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

(留言處應該是這個沒錯了^^)

妳是真挖到寶了,可是別期望經常如此。別忘了,這是很很很辛苦之後的驚喜。
天上不會天天掉下禮物來的。^^

Thelma said...

新發現的寶藏, 它們在這個家的時間比我還久勒, 所以我才說是天上掉下來的寶藏...我搬過來也不過五年, 那些其實都是我搬過來以前就存在的東西. 我是坐享其成啦!

今天開了一罐白酒, 因為老公說白酒比較不能放, 原本還在懷疑那些白酒到底能不能喝, 我就順勢開一罐來品嚐一下. 平常沒有習慣喝酒, 還真的一杯就醉了~~~

DuduAline said...

Dear Thelma
義大利人都是春季一次到掃除嗎????其實妳們只要週末有空 騰出一鍾頭打掃就夠啦 因為不常整理 所以雜務灰塵越來越多是當然 而且現在快冬天了 很多小昆蟲都會進到家裡過冬喔 所以平時的整潔是很重要的(SORRY 廢話一堆)
妳的貓咪廁所是開放式的嗎?我家的貓咪廁所像小屋一樣 是有門的 這樣牠進出 沙子才不會到處飛舞~~ 而且貓沙是每星期都要換的啦 對牠重要 對妳的屋子也很重要喔 下次我再拍牠的房子給妳看(當然妳若需要的話啦):)

Thelma said...

Cara Aline,

春季的大掃除跟我們農曆年的大掃除, 意思是一樣的. 這也就是為什麼一到春初, 很多超市都會推出清潔用品的優惠.

呃...至於貓勒, 清貓便便不是我的事, 因為不是我要養的. 我家的貓是不出門的, 了不起到後院玩一玩而已, 大部分時間都在家, 所以一到換季的時候, 三隻貓一起掉毛, 吸塵器早上清一清, 下午就恢復原狀, 加上我和老公兩個人工作都挺忙, 兩個人都是接案子的free lance, 沒有所謂的週末可言, 只有"有工作"和"沒工作"的差別, 有工作的時候向來都是昏天暗地, 記得煮飯餵自己吃就不錯了, 哪還有時間打掃?!加上我家總共三層樓, 真要認真打掃起來, 兩個人都得做一天工...我趕稿子的時候, 就是奢望了...

DuduAline said...

Dear Thelma
可憐的孩子~~妳家還三隻貓ㄚ????我一隻就夠我昏天暗地了說@____@
啥?三層樓ㄚ??那真的是不掃則已 一掃起來 大概要三個禮拜勒~~
不過妳和"3"真是有緣喔:)

Thelma said...

呵呵, 去年還四隻勒! 不過一隻生病死了...

三層樓: 一樓是車庫(被拿來當倉庫)和庭院, 原來也有個taverna, 不過被我老公改建成他的工作室. 二樓是廚房和客廳. 三樓有主臥室, 客房和一間被我們拿來當衣櫃的小房間. 這種是平常嫌小, 自己一個人清起來卻會要人命的空間... 所以每次請人來家裡都是大工程, 從頭到尾掃一遍真的得耗掉兩個人一整天.

Karin said...

Hi Thelma,
That is one very nice cupboard to find! Does everyone have one? In that case I would like to find mine. I normally only find fluf and horrible junk in my corners. Mind you a nice clean up once in a while is really good - the amount of stuff I keep...
Kx

Anonymous said...

呵~~真是意外的發現呢
我通常都是在要搬家時
才會意外發現自己失落已久的東西
所以現在每次東西找不到
我就安慰自己說"等搬家時就會出現了"~~呵

Anonymous said...

我倒是對你挖出來的酒很感興趣呢
到英國住以後吃飯都習慣小酌一翻
最近喝到一些朋友推薦的義大利紅酒
真是很不錯說.....

我好想認真的計畫一下義大利之旅
但照目前學校忙死人的行程看來
我又要等好一陣子勒

Thelma said...

to Karin,
Michele is also a "great keeper"... you just imagine how many "treasures" that are kept at home. Sometimes I really want to put everything in a bag and throw them away... I agree that once in a while a nice clean up is necessary, but when you're so busy with work it's something that you "sacrifice" first...

to Sally,
通常是找的時候找不到, 不找的時候自動會跳出來. 在我家也常常發生... 小一點的東西,有些時候根本就是被貓咪玩到某個角落藏起來, 整理的時候常常會有"這東西怎麼會在這裡"的狀況哩!

to Jessie,
我和我老公都不太喝酒勒...上次開的白酒, 喝了一個星期才喝完... 喜歡品酒的話, 義大利絕對是天堂, 酒可是便宜得很. 我比較喜歡喝餐後的甜酒, 平常拿來佐餐的紅酒白酒倒是比較少碰.
至於妳的義大利之行, 就慢慢計劃囉...