27. France 法国 1978

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The end of our high school period was coming soon and we had to decide what we were going to do in the future. Obviously we wanted to be in the same city to study. Then we finally be free from al the obligations Barbara had with her family. It was clear that Barbara still had to go back to Histon in the weekends to help out in the fish and chip shop and to do the administration. We had two options, Norwich, my first choice and London, that had Barbara's preference. Both options were possible. The Central School of Art and Design had accepted Barbara's application. This college was known to have a very high standard, it was one of the best art colleges of England, therefore we decided for London. I got accepted for Kings college London (if I got the high scores on my A-levels).

The last weeks at school was a lovely time. Barbara was already accepted for the Central School of Art and Design and therefore had nothing to do anymore. My lessons were finished I just had to take the exams. This meant that we were spending a lot of time together. Also the weather was very nice then. It was a carefree and happy time. Even the exams didn't spoil this. The memory of Barbara waited for me outside the exam hall, sitting there on the grass still makes me smile.

Also all our friends were very relaxed and looking forward towards the new life to come. Our Chinese friends all were going to leave Cambridge. They either went to Hong Kong, Canada or London. Our English friends mostly stayed around Cambridge or went to London.

This time Barbara had no problems with her family in going with me for a holiday. She was allowed to go for two weeks. After that she planned to go with her mother for another two weeks to the English coast. We decided that we go to Holland first, to see my parents, and then from there we go on to France with my parents car.

This time we rented a sleeping cabin on the boat trip to Holland, we stayed the whole journey in that cabin. At first we stayed a few days at my parents house, then we went to France. From that journey I remember that Barbara was very disappointed that every time we passed a border she didn't get a stamp in her passport. As we didn't have much money we went camping, Barbara had never been camping before. We didn't want to travel very far, just in case Camping and Barbara was a bad combination. We went to a large nature area in northern France.

Everything went well, Barbara had no problem with camping. The weather was pretty bad, we had a lot of rain, but that didn't matter. Being together was the most important thing for us, doing what we wanted, that was all we needed. Just the two of us in a very small tent. We spend our time playing cards and badminton, walking (even in the rain), going out to eat, we didn't cook. The area where we were had beautiful nature, there was nothing else to do. No disco's or big cities nearby. One time the camping organized a local traditional French evening. Barbara couldn't speak or understand French. She had no idea what was going on. To make the evening more interesting for herself she made her own interpretation of the French words. She had great fun in doing so. Often she was the only one laughing because the French words translated in something she thought was very funny. Barbara didn't drink alcohol but I think a lot of guest that evening must have thought that she had a bit too much.

After our holiday in France Barbara and went back to Cambridge and I stayed in the Netherlands to work. It was strange first being together for two weeks and then not seeing each other for four weeks, that was difficult to get used to. But then again when I came back to the apartment in Cambridge, Barbara was sitting there waiting for me. That wonderful moment of seeing each other again after such a time and then both knowing that we were still very much in love , that feeling, I still remember very well even after more than 30 years.

I found some pictures of that holiday in France. You can see them below the chinese translation. Most of them show us playing around a small mountain stream. The camera that we used was not very good, therefore some pictures are pretty bad. But I guess that doesn't matter for a real Barbara fan, as they even want to see less quality pictures of Barbara.

法国

高中最后一学期就要结束了。我们需要决定将来要做些什么。当然我们希望能在一个城市里学习，然后Barbara终于可以不再需要承担家里的责任。Barbara仍然需要周末回到Histon在炸鱼薯条店里帮忙，同时处理一些管理上的事务。我们有两个选择：Norwich是我的第一选择，伦敦是Barbara的选择。两个方案都可行，中央艺术设计学院录取了Barbara.这所学校因为高标准而享有盛誉，也是英格兰最好的几个学校之一。因此我们决定去伦敦。我被伦敦Kings大学录取（前提是我的A level的分数够高）。

高中的最后几个星期是很美好的。Barbara已经被中央艺术设计学院录取，所以没事可做了。我的课程也结束了，我只需要参加考试。这样我们可以有大量的时间在一起。那时的天气也非常好。那是一段无忧无虑的幸福时光。甚至考试的存在也没有影响这一切。直到现在，当我想起Barbara坐在考试大厅外的草地上等着我的样子，我还是会禁不住微笑起来。

我们的朋友们也很轻松地盼望着新生活的到来。我们的中国朋友们都将离开剑桥，去香港，加拿大或伦敦。英国朋友们则多数留在剑桥或去伦敦。

那时她的家人也爽快地答应她外出度假。她获准和我一起出去度假两周。她计划了和妈妈到英格兰海边的两周假期，我们就决定先去荷兰去看望我的父母，然后开我父母的车去法国。

我们买了卧铺舱坐船去荷兰，一路上我们都留在舱里。开始的几天我们住在我父母家里。之后我们去了法国。我记得Barbara因为没有过境时没有在她的护照上留下图章而觉得非常失望。

因为我们没有钱，我们是露营的。Barbara以前从没有露营过。我们不计划去太远的地方，因为Barbara可能不习惯露营。我们选择了法国北部的一个广阔的自然地带。

一切都很顺利。Barbara很适应露营生活。天气很糟，下了很多雨，但是对我们没什么影响，能够在一起对我们而言是最重要的，我们只做我们想做的事情。小帐篷里就住了我们两个，我们打牌，打羽毛球，散步（下雨我们也去），我们没有做饭，都是出去吃饭。那里没有其他可做的事情，没有Disco，没有大都市，但有的是美丽的大自然风光。有一晚露营地组织了一场传统的法式晚会。Barbara不会说也听不懂法语。她完全弄不清状况。她就自己翻译法语单词自娱自乐。她玩得很开心。好多次她是唯一一个大笑的人，因为她想到把某个法语单词翻成可笑的意思。 Barbara那晚没有喝酒，但我想很多客人一定以为她喝得太多了。

在我们的法国假期结束后，Barbara回到剑桥，而我呆在荷兰。在形影不离两周后，又分开了四周，感觉很不适应。当我回到剑桥的公寓时，Barbara坐在那里等着我。小别后再次见面的那一刻，我们两个都感到彼此仍深爱着对方，那种感觉如此美妙。在30多年后的今天，我仍记忆犹新。

我找到了一些在法国旅行时的照片。大多数是我们在一个山间小溪边玩耍时拍的。我们的相机不太好，所以一些照片效果很不好。但我想对于真正的Barbara影迷来说这应该没关系的，他们会希望看到真实的Barbara质量一般的照片吧。

(thanks to Natalie for the translation)