Charlotte - Architect 建築師

Feb 9

我母親從她的教母身上學會了這個，她是一位集優雅和格調於一身的法國女仕。
My mother had learnt this from her godmother, she was an exquisite and classy French lady.”

我母親年輕時和她的教母很親近，她教母出身於一個古老的法國家庭，是一位古典優雅、風韻猶存的女仕，總愛在手腕至手臂上戴著很多不同粗幼的金手鐲。教母當年喜愛抽長細的香煙，每當手臂搖曳時這些金手鐲便撞擊在一起發出清脆的聲響並閃閃生輝；彷彿有著一種獨特的吸引力。我母親很崇拜她教母那種高雅的姿態，所以她逐漸也開始戴起了金手鐲，並把這種著迷傳承了給我。

My mother had a close bond with her godmother when she was younger. Coming from a traditional French family, her godmother had inherited an elegant and exquisite style from the inside out. She had always loved putting on gold jonc of different widths all across her arms. Whenever she waved or gracefully smoked her skinny cigarettes, the jonc would knock on each other giving this distinctive crisp sound. Together with her posh manner, she deeply enchanted my mother as she looked up to her as a female figure. My mother had then developed also the habit of wearing jonc in the hope of becoming as appealing as her and she later imbued me with this obsession as well.

不論做任何事情甚至是洗澡我都會戴著它們，唯一是在需要改造維修或是通過機場安檢時方會摘下，而每次摘下都需要花費很多的氣力及時間；用大量精油和肥皂潤滑摘除。到現在，我已經太習慣它們的存在了，它們的重量、觸感和聲響好像經而成為了我身體的一部分，當沒有佩戴著時反而會感到格外不安，好像缺少了什麼似的。

I seldom take them off of me even as I shower. Only exceptions are when I had to get them repaired or go through the airport inspection. And it would always take me a tremendous amount of effort and time, I even had to use a jarring amount of essential oil and soap as lubricant to have them off easier. As of now, I have already gotten too used to them on my wrists. Their weight, touch and sound have almost became a part of me. I would feel a sense of uneasiness without them, as if something important went missing.

從能記事的那天起我手腕上就一直戴著金手鐲，直至今天一共擁有三個粗的和一個幼的。粗的三個分別在約三歲,十一歲和十八歲由母親、外婆和教母贈送，而幼的那隻則在約十八歲由教母贈送的。當然它們起初要比我現在手上戴著的小很多，但隨著年齡的增長，她們都會再贈送給我更多的金用以將手鐲改大，讓我可以在成長的過程持續佩戴著，這彷彿已成為我們家庭的一種獨有習俗了。

I have been wearing gold jonc on my wrist ever since I could remember. I have now altogether three thicker ones and a thin one. The thicker ones were given to me at approximately age three, eleven and eighteen respectively by my mother, grandmother and godmother. And the thin one was given to me by my godmother at around eighteen. Of course they were much smaller in size comparing to what I now have on my wrist. Since I grew, they had gifted me different amounts of gold for enlarging the “jonc" so that I could keep wearing them. This had turned into an almost unique family tradition of ours.