天文台的一具老傢伙 - 劉天賜先生撰文
An Old Friend from the Hong Kong Observatory
Mr Lau Tin-chi

少時，大約三年班下學期，父親從天文台退休，從山林道四十七號四樓頭廳搬遷住紅磡漆咸道四佰二拾四號，政府華員會的漆咸大廈，新的獨立單位屋宇裡。父親仍然放置一張『鋼製寫字檯』於窗前，檯邊牆壁掛上了一具四方立體的東西，大約只有六吋乘六吋面積(圖一)。這四四方方的東西由外邊木框與及內鑲了兩個儀表組成。右邊長形儀表，我懂得是什麼，那時大家都叫『寒暑表』。正確一點稱為：『溫度計』，一條約四英吋長的玻璃管，很幼很幼，管兩旁都有度數，便是攝氏度數及華氏度數。那時候，香港仍用英制，天文台報氣溫用華氏表度數的。
When I was young at Primary 3, my father retired from the Observatory and we moved from the upper room on the 4th floor of 47 Hillwood Road to a flat in Chatham Building of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants’ Association at 424 Chatham Road, Hung Hom. In our new home, my father had kept his steel desk and placed it by the window. On the wall next to the desk, there was a square object measuring approximately 6 inches by 6 inches (Figure 1), made up of a wooden frame and two meters. I knew the rectangular meter on the right. People called it, in Cantonese, a “meter showing summer and winter”, but its proper name was “thermometer”. On either side of a very thin glass tube about four inches long, there were scales marked in degree Celsius and Fahrenheit. At that time, the British system was still in use in Hong Kong and the Observatory reported temperatures in Fahrenheit.

『寒暑表』的左鄰，儀表面積比較大，有三枝『針』，表上有些英文字，以當年小學三年級才學a man and a pen的英文水平，不知是什麼一回事。
To the left of the thermometer was a larger meter with three “pointers” and some English words on it. Given the fact that I was in Primary 3 and “a man and a pen” pretty much summarised my English proficiency, I had no idea what this meter did.

圖一：前台長Mr Heywood夫婦贈送給劉天賜的父親劉伯華先生的退休禮物 - 家居用的溫度及氣壓計。
Figure 1: Mr Heywood, former Observatory Director, and his wife presented this home thermometer and barometer as a retirement gift to Mr Lau Pak-wa, the father of Lau Tin-chi.

父親掛上這具小小儀器之後，珍而重之，我未夠高度，根本『摸不著』儀器的屁股，遑論騷擾它了。平日，父親不多看它一眼，只有『打風』時節，才躬身細看這具小東西。
My father cherished this small piece of instrument that he had hung on the wall. I could not reach the bottom part of it even on tip toe, let alone mess with it. On a typical day, my father would not pay much attention to the instrument, but he would look at it closely during the typhoon season.

原來它的兩枝指針，不像時鐘長短指針活動的，平日靜靜地，只有『作打風』的時候，其中左手邊一枝便向下活動了。『作打風』這個名詞，近年來漸漸從老百姓生活中淡出了。普羅大眾在沒有空氣調節（冷氣）的空間生活，對環境溫度變化敏感得多。某天，感到很悶熱，風扇，人力撥扇愈撥愈熱，空曠地方吹來的是『悶熱的風』，入黑，飛出了飛蟻（白工蟻），有時，蟑螂也肆意滿場飛，大家心裡口裡都知道：『作打風了』！
I realised that the pointers did not move like the hands of a clock. Normally the pointers stayed quiet, but with the approach of a tropical cyclone, the pointer on the left would move downwards. While people in Hong Kong used to say “typhoon is coming!”, fewer and fewer people use the expression in recent years. In the past when there was no air conditioning, people were much more sensitive to temperature changes. On a certain day, it was exceptionally hot and stuffy, even with electric fans and paper fans, and the breeze was hot even in open areas. After dark, there were flying termites everywhere; sometimes, even cockroaches flew, and everyone knew “typhoon is coming!”.

『打風』是當時生活中一件大事！普羅市民戰戰競競如臨大敵，儘管是石屎樓，窗戶多是木框鑲玻璃。『打風』須做好防風措施。用繩索縛緊木窗，用膠紙打十字貼在玻璃面上，如窗戶有滲水情況，又要堵塞好。防風防雨忙過不亦樂乎。更不論那些住在僭建天台上、山邊，陸上艇戶等的居民了。大家心裡都不希望『打成風』，打得成，可能家破人亡，可能損失慘重。真與四十年後的香港市民心情大大不同了。
In those days, typhoons were a big deal. People were particularly anxious, as if they were facing a formidable enemy. This was because even in concrete buildings, the windows mostly had wooden frames and it was crucial that precautionary measures were taken before a typhoon struck. Wooden windows were secured with ropes and the glass was taped, while window leaks were sealed. It was indeed a lot of work getting prepared for heavy rain or the typhoon. Meanwhile, it was worse for people living in unauthorized rooftop structures, close to a hill or on boats. Everyone hoped that Hong Kong would not be caught in the path of a typhoon, because if it was, homes might be destroyed and lives could be lost. Forty years later in Hong Kong today, people feel completely different about typhoons.

『作打風』前夕，父親忙於看這小東西，並且將其中銀色小針調校，以便觀察另外一枝指針的走勢。幾小時後，便可能發現另一指針再往下走，他便會肯定的預言：『這場風打成啦！』小孩子不知什麼原故，打成風可怎樣？除了不用上學外，悶坐家中不好受的。
Before the arrival of the typhoon, my father would be busy looking at this small instrument. He would adjust the small silver pointer and observe how the other one moved. A few hours later, if the other pointer moved further downwards, he would announce with absolute certainly that, “the typhoon is on its way!” As a kid, I did not understand all the fuss about typhoons. Although I would get an extra day off from school, I would be stuck at home and it was rather boring.

年長，知道這具儀器是『氣壓計』，不必用電池或其他動力，內裡『機關』感應大氣內的氣壓，推動指針活動的，原理須問科學官了。父親離世之後，再細心看這陪伴我家數十年的『老傢伙』，是當年天文司Mr. Heywood夫婦贈送給家父的禮物，木框下一塊小銅片，刻上受物人贈物人名字和日期。『老傢伙』由家父退休哪年『服務』至他辭世，我做了它的主人後，不知如何使用，只放在案前裝飾。及有緣認識了天文台岑天文司和高級科學主任宋小姐後，知道設有一個歷史室，冒昧將這具家中呆了六十多年的『老家人』送去更有意義的地方(圖二)。當市民參觀天文台歷史室時，這『老傢伙』可能給觀眾一個新鮮的面貌，原來當年家居氣壓儀是這樣子的。
As I grew older, I learnt that the instrument was a barometer. Not requiring any batteries or other power sources, the “mechanics” inside senses the atmospheric pressure and causes the pointers to move. For details of the principle, you need to ask a scientific officer. After my father passed away, I had a good look at this “old friend” that had been in our family for decades. It was given to my father by the then Mr Heywood, the Observatory former Director, and his wife. The names of the givers and receiver, along with the date of presentation, were inscribed on a small plate under the wooden frame. Our “old friend” had served our family since my father’s retirement up till his passing, but after I became its owner, it was treated as an ornament on my desk because I did not know how to use it. Therefore, when I met Mr Shun, the current Observatory Director, and Ms Song, the Senior Scientific Officer, and learned from them that there was a History Room in the Observatory, I offered to send this “old friend” that had been with our family for more than six decades to a place where its existence would be more meaningful (Figure 2). When members of the public visit the History Room, hopefully our “old friend” can show them what a home barometer in the past looks like.

圖二：劉天賜(右)把父親的天文台退休禮物「温度及氣壓計」贈送回天文台，由岑智明台長(左)接收這件歷史文物。
Figure 2: Lau Tin-chi (right) donated his father’s retirement gift, a thermometer and barometer, to the Observatory. Mr Shun Chi-ming, the Director of the Hong Kong Observatory (left), received the instrument from him.


圖三：五十年代初，劉天賜父親劉伯華（右）在天文台工作，抱年幼的劉天賜坐上香港第一個測量站石墩上留影；今天劉天賜（左）再走到同一位置，笑說從前巨大的石墩縮小了。（相片提供：蘋果日報）
Figure 3: In the early 1950s, Lau Pak-wa (right), the father of Lau Tin-chi, worked in the Hong Kong Observatory. This photograph shows him with the young Lau Tin-chi sitting on a stone pier at Hong Kong’s first survey station. Today, Lau Tin-chi (left) revisits the place, and he says the giant stone pier has shrunk. (Photo courtesy of Apple Daily)