I’ve lived in Whampoa for 19 years. I bought this camera before I went for my overseas holiday. Since my children have all grown up, I like to take the opportunity to travel and see the world with my husband. I bought the camera in 1986 in People’s Park. We were planning to go to Thailand. I wanted to use this camera to take sceneries of my travels. I’ve not taken that many photos of people. I’m the only one using this camera. It comes with me every time I go overseas. It comes with me when I leave the hotel…like a child. I ’ve taken many photos since then. 2005 was the last time I used this camera. Around that time, I noticed not many people used cameras. I felt a bit strange using mine. People were using their phones to take photos. Some people asked me to take photos using their phones, but I did not know how to do it at that time. Since 2005, I’ve kept the camera. Even though I can still use the camera to take my photos, it is difficult to find a shop to develop them now. Last time there was one near my place. I would visit the shop to buy the film and extra batteries. Usually around 4 to 5 rolls of film. The batteries do not last long. At most 2 rolls of film before I have to change them. I don’t throw the batteries away. I used them for my clocks. You cannot use the camera when the batteries are weak. The photos will not be beautiful. I’ve also started using my phone to take photos. It is more convenient. I’ve traveled to many places since Thailand. My most memorable cities are Beijing and Xiamen. I was in my 30s at that time, and I’ve traveled to many places in China- Suzhou, Hangzhou…Tangshan. I spent a lot of money developing the photos. I still have the photos in my albums. Some photos I wrote the dates, places and stories behind. I will carefully label each roll so that I can remember where I took the photos. I will make sure everything is labelled even though the trip could be rushed. I hope this camera can pass on to my grandchildren when my children have kids. Maybe they can learn how to take photos with this camera. You cannot anyhow take. With 36 photos, you need to plan and control properly. If not it’ll be wasteful. That’s the good thing with the camera. You have to focus and will cherish the photos more. Now phones can take many photos. Those you don’t like you can delete them. I have many photos in my phone. Sometimes I do not know whether to keep or delete them. I will feel sad if I don’t have them anymore. It really gives me a headache. Here is the last roll of film. It’s been around for a while. I’ve not used it yet.

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We moved to Whampoa from St. George’s road in 2012. My supervisor gave me this set of coins. I’m not sure why. Each of us received a set each. They were brand new but I don’t think we cherished the coins much in the past. We wondered why gave us these coins and I’ve kept them since 1984. I guess I liked the design of the lion head figure on the coin and the coins reminded me of him… He was a very good person and took care of us. He liked to buy us food when we had to work overtime. He treated us like his children, all twenty over of us. I had originally wanted to work in the office but my mother discouraged me. She found this printing company job for me. My task involved hot stamping of calendar, invitation cards, Christmas cards. The busiest times were the Christmas and New Year seasons. And Valentine’s Day too. We bought a small cake for him to celebrate his birthday. He was very happy and his happiness moved us very much too. I guess he was touched since he was not married and had no children. We were like a family working together…took our afternoon break chatting over tea. He loved to drink coffee and asked if anyone wanted coffee. He would give us money to buy coffee, cakes and biscuits. It was not easy to find such a person in the workplace now. One of my favorite times was the day before the Chinese New Year. We had to clean our machines and I was very happy doing it. It was a half-day workday and we left the factory once the task was completed. When work resumed on the 4th day of the Chinese New Year, we had a buffet lunch and received a red packet. Inside the red packet was this set of coins. I was told I could sell the $1 coin for $10 but I won’t sell even if it increased to $50. I will forget him if I sold the coins. I might give them to my children but what if they sold them? I kept the coins in this special purse, and the purse is locked up in the cupboard. I have not told my children this story or showed them the coins. Next time I’ll share the story with them. I can still vividly remember his face now. He was quite plump… like the Mi-Lo-Fwo. He was very jovial…he loved to laugh. Every time we came to work, we would see him at is desk. If we had any questions we would ask him. He was a Cantonese and his name was Wong. We called him Wong-san. I learned the Cantonese language from him. He even pronounced my name in the Cantonese style…he called me Ah Tum. I have not used this name for a long time. Now I used Joyce but the elders find it difficult to say ‘Joyce’. So I use Ah Tum again when I’m with them. My supervisor was also quite good in scolding us, like whenever we made a mistake. He would often doze off at his desk while wearing his spectacles. We had to be extra careful when we needed to wake him to avoid scaring him. If he were alive, he would be in his 90s. He was already in his 60s when he gave us the coins. I have not kept in touch with him since I left the printing company after working there for 9 years.

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