#POPSPOTS

[lillibethnougatesquirethe3rd]

fanfic

Still trembling from her nightmare, four year old Marella redek crawled into her parents bed, nuzzling up against her sleeping mother. 

Capriese’s eyes snapped open, her fearful gaze fixed on her daughter. She scrambled to her feet, and pushed Marella away. “Who are you? What do you want?”

While marella was able to identify that her mother was having one of her bad days, as her dad called them, this didn’t stop tears from reaching her ice blue eyes. “Mommy? It’s me, Marella.” She whispered shakily.”I had a bad dream.” 

“Marella?” Caprise  muttered.  “I don’t know marella.” Just then, Durand entered the room, wiping a splash of something red off his cheek. 

“Darling, go back to bed. There’s no one here.” Her father murmured to his wife. With a bit of guidance, Caprise’s erratic breathing soon fell back into the steady cadence of sleep. “Now, my little firecracker, what’s got you in a tizzy?” 

Marella had scraped her knee. She didn’t cry, thank you very much. In her humble opinion, crying was for babies. Her playmate turned around, but balked at the free flowing blood. “Do you need a doctor?” 

“I’m fine.” She said flatly. Case in point, Dex Diznee, overreacting and behaving like a baby. Marella scooted out of the way  of the steady pedestrian traffic, despite the fact that they were currently giving Crazy Caprise’s kid and her bloody knee a wide berth, and began picking bits of dirt and concrete out of the abrasion. 

“Are you sure? We should at least get my dad to look at it.”

“I said I’m fine.” She splashed a bit of cold water on it (her dad insisted on her taking a water bottle, and she heard the cold helped with cuts.)  before digging in her skirt pockets for a tissue. “I do this all the time.” 

Dex gave her a look that was mostly shock with a touch of indignation on her behalf. “You mean your parents don’t help you?” Marella returned his stare with one of her own. Although they were both nine, Dex sometimes felt so immature.  Having given up on the hanky search, she pressed into the scrape with the heel of her palm. 

Seemingly realizing what he’d said, her playmate watched silently as she wiped the blood with her shirt, before stretching and standing. 

“Tag, you’re it!”Marella thumped Dex on the back and took off sprinting. Giggling, he began to chase her, an unspoken agreement between the two misfits that all was forgiven. 

Marella was shoveling piping hot popspot hash into her mouth before she even sat down. She hadn’t had breakfast this morning, and the savory popspot berries mixed with caramelized onions, potatoes, and couscous smelled too good to wait another minute. 

When she plopped down at her usual table, a pair of frightened level ones shifted to the other side of their booth, as if breathing the same air as Marella would make their mom fall off a balcony. Although she was used to it by now, it still hurt when people whispered and stared. 

Dex had lunch detention for challenging Shayda Adel to fight him after she had commented on his siblings, so Marella didn’t bother looking for him. She hoped her dorky bisexual of a sometimes friend got a chance to talk with Keefe Sencen, who she happened to know he had a massive crush on. 

The bell rang, and marella departed for ability detecting, desperately hoping they were testing empathy today. She smoothed her blue half cape, and tried not to slip on the puddles from the level four session this morning. 

“Alright level twos!” The annoyingly peppy mentor shouted. “Who’s ready for frosting!” The whole group groaned.

Marella sprung off the Atlantis sponge, sprinting to avoid being late. Not that it would help, she was supposed to meet stina and Dex at the cafe half an hour ago. 

It wasn’t her fault, at least. her lesson with Fintan’s had run later than either intended, with the guards not bothering to tell them time was up. 

As she reached the center square, she slowed down to catch her breath. A mother tugged her kid away, and the quiet din of chatter turned to a barrage of hissing whispers.

Fractured.

Unstable.

Pyrokinetic. 

Marella flinched and looked around for an escape. The words burrowed into her brain, burning her. But it wasn’t at all like the warm, slightly smoky kisses fire left behind. This was blistering and choking and painful. She had to run, had to hide, had to- 

“Hey cinders!” Stina called out. “You’re late.” Marella looked up at her beanpole savior. She flashed a grin “Now get your singed cuffs over here before Dex turns your cup into a sentient beetle or something.” 

Laughing, marella dashed in. The tables around her still hissed with barely hidden disdain for her, stina’s  crass humor and dex’s witty puns kept her laughing too much to care. 

Sitting under calla’s panakes, Marella was trying to focus. hard when her head could only produce thoughts containing the word Everblaze. Sophie was saying something about the plan, but was yet to get to her role. 

Marella excused herself the second it was polite to do so, lifting her secure crystal to the midday sun, she glittered away .

Marella ducked around the shocked guards, and finally let the intrusive thoughts win. She slid down the path to Fintan’s cell, somehow not hitting the thrones. She did however hit the icy bubble, sufficiently starting the murderer within. 

She clambered onto the ice seat. “I need help.” Still shell shocked, Fintan simply nodded. “I want to know how to summon Everblaze.” 

At this, he perked up. “Everblaze is a magnificent flame that will come only if it senses conviction.” Marella nodded, wishing she had a notepad. “To indicate your willingness, you curl your hand like this, and speak.”

“What do I say?” She asked, testing the hand motion herself. 

“Anything.” He said simply. “Fire has been speaking to you for almost a year now, Miss redek. Surely you know how to respond.” 

Somewhere in the rational part of marella’s mind, she knew she shouldn’t be here, learning this. She searched her emotions for a trace of fear, coming up empty. She pushed the doubt aside. The only thing left was the wanting, and the fire. 

Marella was standing on a rocky cliff. She curled her hand the way Fintan’s showed her. “Small sparks, big fires.” She whispered.

Marella was never sure what people meant when they described romance, but she thought the feeling of holding Everblaze might come close. It was power, and the surrender of control. She was perfectly content, but also wanting. The fire was destroying her, and she was loving every second. 

But that euphoria faded away, and marella  was burning. She shrieked in pain. Everblaze responded in kind by wrapping around her, whispering that she would be okay. It pulled her in. It was the best and worst thing she’d ever felt. 

“Marella!” Someone cried out. “Sophie, get frysynn.” Sophie was here? And she was bringing something to help her.

No. Everblaze crackled, I won’t let you go. Marella knew she ought to want it off, but she only pulled it closer. “Don’t worry, Elwin’s coming.” The voice said desperately. 

A cold powder splashed over her leg, and (what was her name? Did it have to do with the sea? What a funny name for a pyrokinetic!) flinched back. This didn’t deter the person from throwing it over her.  Everblaze fell away. “No,” she croaked “don’t leave me.” But it was useless, the fire was gone. It left only pain. Even so, she wanted it back. She tried to curl her fist, but felt weak from the effort. She felt something pushed onto her face, and her limbs at once felt heavy. Then she dipped into a dark ocean knowing she would surface safely. It was funny, she supposed. The star of the sea falling into it, her fire extinguished at last. 

@shut-up-i-will-burn-you

[ryanhamiltonwalsh]

Today I learned that Edvard Munch made a bunch of other paintings set in the same exact spot as his most famous painting, The Scream. Some of these paintings are simply different interpretations of the incident that inspired "The Scream" which, by all available evidence, was this: Munch was taking a walk with two friends, the sky turned bright red, and he majorly lost his shit in an existential way. "I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature," he said.

I also learned today, that the painting was set in a real location, and although it's a somewhat impressionistic piece of art, there are enough details to figure out precisely where "The Scream" was set. We cut now to Oslo, Norway:

Holy shit, right? Thanks, PopSpots. You are a hero to me.

Furthermore, the museum that now holds two of the paintings Munch set at this locale is situated in the center of the landscape itself. That's insane. Like if the Mona Lisa's background was clearly the future site of The Louvre.

I tried to find if there was, like, an Instagram or Tik Tok trend of people recreating "The Scream" at the location, but mostly came up empty. That's surprising.

Headed to Norway? Consider screaming.

[shadowland]

Manfred Mann in PopSpot, Oct 1964

[metamoonshots]

No business, and no enterprise, is a fan of financial uncertainty, and plenty of monetary specialists think about the present world market to be precarious. Whereas each enterprise has to have a look at methods to shore up operations and reduce prices in a down financial system, the trouble will be notably difficult for Web3 corporations, that are comparatively younger, could have fewer prepared sources than their extra established Web2 counterparts, and function inside an business many outsiders don’t perceive and don’t grasp the worth of. Ought to the macro-economy take the flip some are predicting, solely these corporations — irrespective of their business — which have taken steps to organize for the storm will climate it nicely (or in any respect). Beneath, 14 members of Cointelegraph Innovation Circle share their recommendation to assist Web3 corporations take proactive steps to prepared themselves and their communities for what could possibly be a troublesome highway forward. Outline your objective In an unsure market, Web3 corporations will need to have an outlined objective. Curious contributors trying to develop their monetary, social or cultural horizons by means of a novel service should first be satisfied of its utility. Discussions of worth apart, true innovation reshapes how customers spend equally treasured commodities: time and vitality. To stay aggressive, executing nicely is simply half the battle. – Oleksandr Lutskevych, CEX.IO Resolve an actual, high-value downside Engineer worth inside your product, platform or protocol and resolve an actual, high-value downside. Prospects pay for painkiller merchandise — people who resolve fast issues — not for nutritional vitamins — “good to have” merchandise. Web3 corporations should gravitate towards contemplating the magnitude of a given downside and the worth they'll add, not simply be “me too” gamers residing on hype. – Nitin Kumar, zblocks Construct a model with a transparent story and worth proposition What do Apple, Microsoft, Instagram and Slack have in frequent? All are world, household-name manufacturers that began throughout occasions of financial recession. The lesson right here is: Don’t simply construct an organization or a product; construct a model with a transparent story and worth proposition that can justify your existence even when occasions are powerful. That’s what's going to carry you thru. – German Ramirez, THE RELEVANCE HOUSE AG Prioritize rising each day energetic customers Web3 corporations ought to prioritize rising their each day energetic customers as a metric of real engagement. Concurrently, they need to lengthen their monetary runway to make sure sustainability over the following six months, even in a risky financial system. Attracting a broad buyer base might be key, however retaining them with belief and worth might be paramount. – Erki Koldits, OÜ Popspot Goal much less important areas for price reducing Cut back prices with out decreasing your upside. When adapting to troublesome market circumstances, Web3 companies ought to ask themselves which bills are most important to the corporate’s core worth proposition. Then, goal much less important areas for price reducing whereas preserving the weather which might be important on your product high quality and sustainable progress. – Wolfgang Rückerl, ENT Technologies AG Discover a manner so as to add worth to Web2 companies Goal a fundamental buyer have to de-risk your organization. I don’t consider Web3 know-how needs to be segregated from the remainder of the financial system; there’s no purpose to rebuild your complete market financial system for Web3. Discover a manner so as to add worth to Web2 companies, and plan now to scale up when it is sensible. I believe we’re by means of the occasions of straightforward cash and flash-in-the-pan successes. Play the lengthy recreation. – Stephanie So, Geeq Deal with interoperability Web3 corporations ought to deal with interoperability. Because

the financial panorama shifts, the power to seamlessly combine with varied blockchains and conventional monetary methods could possibly be a lifeline. It not solely diversifies danger, but additionally opens up new avenues for person acquisition and income. Being too insular in your tech stack could be a hidden vulnerability when the market tightens. – Tiago Serôdio, Partisia Blockchain Construct your product and your neighborhood of core supporters Now is an efficient time for a Web3 firm to reevaluate and deal with constructing its product and its neighborhood of core supporters. Because the market quiets down, lots of the high-profile, low-substance corporations will go into hibernation. Conversely, those in it for the lengthy haul have a chance to develop their person bases and have lists away from the cacophony that has come to characterize bull markets. – Jason Fernandes, AdLunam Inc. Prioritize sturdy safety and danger administration Prioritize sturdy safety measures and hefty danger administration methods to guard digital belongings and person knowledge in opposition to potential vulnerabilities and uncertainties. Within the risky Web3 house, knowledge leaks will be devastating. Implementing decentralized storage, superior encryption and steady safety audits is paramount to safeguarding each person belief and your organization’s popularity. – Anthony Georgiades, Pastel Network Keep away from spending on social influencers Web3 corporations ought to chorus from spending on social influencers. After 2022, many influencers on YouTube, TikTok, and comparable platforms fell from glory as a consequence of their paid endorsements of Luna and FTX previous to their unprecedented crashes. These social influencers misplaced respect within the business, and there's nonetheless distrust among the many public. It’s positively not well worth the potential popularity hit. – Ayelet Noff, SlicedBrand Search for extra environment friendly advertising and marketing strategies, and keep in contact with regulators There might be financial uncertainties perpetually. To cope with unseen and precarious monetary occasions, Web3 corporations ought to deal with extra environment friendly methods of promoting, like changing adverts with web optimization. Additional, they need to keep in fixed contact with regulators to hunt their help wherever attainable. This additionally helps to deal with a number of the misunderstandings that regulators have about crypto. – Abhishek Singh, Acknoledger Allocate sources to in-demand improvements, and stress high quality over amount Crucial step when sources are constricted is to establish areas which might be most in demand and allocate sources to these technological improvements. Second, provide high quality over amount to your neighborhood, and distinguish your model by constructing with objective — the Web3 house incessantly “builds in public,” which is useful and will be leveraged to bolster each of those factors. – Megan Nyvold, BingX Showcase the ability of Web3 governance fashions Occasions of financial uncertainty present a chance to showcase the ability of Web3 governance fashions. It’s time for Web3 corporations, notably DAOs, to get their ships so as and mitigate their monetary dangers in a fast-evolving financial panorama. Accountability and transparency will enable them to prioritize resilient income streams and collectively guarantee long-term viability. – Sheraz Ahmed, STORM Partners Preserve your builders and neighborhood excited As low world liquidity ranges decrease crypto token costs, conserving each your builders and your neighborhood excited will change into a problem on this bear market. Keep forward of the pack by way of know-how; don’t relaxation on earlier bull market victories. If you have to airdrop some NFTs or tokens to builders and energetic neighborhood members, go forward. – Zain Jaffer, Zain Ventures This text was revealed by means of Cointelegraph Innovation Circle, a vetted group

of senior executives and specialists within the blockchain know-how business who're constructing the longer term by means of the ability of connections, collaboration and thought management. Opinions expressed don't essentially mirror these of Cointelegraph.

[popbee]

#POPSPOTS in Seoul：首爾新景點正式開幕！夢幻玻璃植物園夠搶眼

深受韓流文化的影響，不少人喜愛到韓國旅遊，但行程不外乎是購物、品嚐料理和追星，你是否也感到悶透了？即將正式對外開放的首爾植物園，或許可以帶給你與眾不同的新體驗！

首爾植物園由 2013 年開發，耗時超過 3 年多才完成，當中更斥資 2150 億韓元於這項計劃。整個首爾植物園總面積約 50.4 萬平方米，園内共分為主題公園、開放森林、湖泊花園和濕地花園四個園區，每一個園區各有千秋，所目睹的景色也截然不同。當中更有全韓國最大規模的溫室，外型以花型平頂玻璃屋為主，充滿異國風情。內部更有一條空中步道橫跨溫室花園，眺望半空更有一些小型熱氣球，漫步空中步道，以不同角度欣賞大自然所賦予的禮物，別有一番風味。園區共展出超過 3,100 個不同品種的植物，溫室更引入來自 12 個城市特別品種的植物，這代表着 12 個不同城市的氣候特質和地理環境，可見園中的精心構思。

其實首爾植物園不同一般的植物園只有觀賞價值，當中為韓國提升了城市的生態價值、市民和旅客體驗和探索到大自然的奧袐，更承載了環境保育和教育意義。首爾植物園已於 5 月 1 日正式開園，即將到韓國旅行的你，不妨考慮參觀，度過一個青蔥悠然的假期吧！

延伸閱讀： 不用飛韓國也能吃得到，人氣吐司店 Issac Toast 終於來港了！ POPBEE 編輯部推介：饞嘴編輯私心推介辦公室必備的 4 款日韓零食！ 最夢幻的雪糕！Häagen-Dazs x agnès b. 首度跨界��作，紅白圓點設計也太美！ 史上最矜貴的飲品！KITH x Versace 這回推出聯乘抹茶飲品！

Follow us on Facebook: fb.com/POPBEE Follow us on Instagram: Instagram.com/POPBEE

[advancingretail]

Solving Out-of-Stocks for Retail Grocery

Special Guest Blog by Donald Oelke, COO, Popspots

The grocery industry struggles to manage out-of-stocks and planogram compliance. Popspots is using in-store hardware with AI to solve this $26 billion problem.

Since its inception, the retail industry has struggled to manage out-of-stocks and planogram compliance. This problem is especially pronounced in grocery, where high customer throughput and tight margins make it difficult to dedicate resources to product management. It’s estimated that this lack of oversight costs retailers over $26 billion a year in the US alone.

There are dozens of companies trying to address the out-of-stock problem, but their solutions are either too expensive or impractical. At Popspots, we’ve made it our mission to provide these services at an economical price point, and we’re starting at the checkout.

Checkout aisle sales may seem insignificant, but the checkout is the only department that every customer passes through, with yearly spend topping $6.5 billion in the US. The products at checkout also have, on average, 52% higher margins than other grocery products. US grocers lose an estimated  $400 million per year in the checkout aisles due to out-of-stocks alone.

Our flagship product, the Popspot device, is an internet enabled smart-display that sits on top of each checkstand merchandiser. Every device has embedded sensors and processors that allow us to prevent out-of-stocks, ensure planogram compliance, and reduce dated products.

Here’s how our product works:

Our devices take pictures of the checkstand planograms

Those images are processed by AI algorithms on our server

Out-of-stock or planogram issues are compiled into a report and sent to the store manager

Our system follows up automatically to confirm that the issues are resolved

We also give retailers access to an online dashboard that they use to monitor their stores, track improvement over time, and identify top and bottom performers.

The grocers that are adopting Popspots are seeing incredible results. The improvement in out-of-stocks is almost immediate, and for every 10% reduction in out-of-stocks, we’ve seen sales increase by 3%. For one grocer with a 19% out-of-stock rate, we reduced the number of issues by 50% in the first month alone!

When we first introduce our product to retailers,they often ask why they need this technology. “The store managers can already see the checkout aisle,” the retailers say, “so why do we need a system that tells us something they can already see?” In short, they can’t. Store managers and employees are constantly bombarded with other tasks, and almost never have the attention necessary to individually examine each planogram. And even if they did, the overhead cost of such a practice would be cost-prohibitive. Popspots is able to provide this service economically by using artificial intelligence to drastically improve identification times and reduce employee involvement.

Although we’re starting in the checkout aisle, we designed our technology so that it can analyze images of any product in the store. This capability allows us to expand our system to the rest of store over time and address the $26 billion lost every year in grocery.

Popspots launched last fall and we’re already in hundreds of stores across the country. We serve big and small grocers alike, and over the next six months we’ll be serving hundreds more. Retailers have confronted this age-old problem for too long, and we’re thrilled to be leading the charge towards a technology-driven solution. If you’re interested in learning more about Popspots, please reach out to me directly at donald@getpopspots.com. I look forward to hearing from you

Donald Oelke, COO, Popspots

At Popspots, we’re committed to providing the best service and insights to help grocers and brands reach their full potential. After launching in late 2017, we’ve rapidly expanded our presence in stores across the country. The Popspots network drives sales by increasing brand awareness and monitoring inventory levels for front-end products.

Popspots is a finalist in the CART Spring 2018 Retail Innovation Pitch Event

[popdecks]

took a whole bunch of hours to build this first #popSPOT that can be purchased by anyone.. The ramps are made from a german oak which i cutted,stored for years and then sanded. The massive wooden base has been laminated with exotic rootwood. It is not as big as it seems.. should be perfect for a desk to and you can easily put it aside if you need to.. (more pics soon) #popdecks#popdecksofficial#handmade#handcrafted#wooden#fingerboards#fingerboardpark#miniature#skateboarding#scaled#skate#skatepark#unique#luxurious#beautiful#pop#spot#follow https://www.instagram.com/p/Btn2wPtH6M1/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=nf2exlnjpcvg

[porterdavis]

The internet knows everything

Sleuths have tracked down the exact locations of iconic album cover photos.

[H/t - Dairy Gary]

[solarphilstem]

3 mins of random DnP {2/100}

[nihaloyovic]

nyc’de geçen filmlerin albümlerin geçtiği yerlerin şimdiki zamanlaeı.baya bi emek var burada

[yahootravelhk]

速食文化衝擊 巴黎露天小酒館欲申請非物質文化遺產

如果在旅途中能品嚐��用地道美食，會是一場貼地的旅行經驗。來到巴黎觀光，旅客要做的事不會只是看看巴黎鐵塔、參觀美術館，如果你願意走多兩步，穿越熱鬧街道，繞過特色小店，其實就會看見許多個性小店及美食小酒館的影子，而在這些無名小酒館與巴黎人的相遇才是到那趟旅行最重要的一部分。

巴黎小酒館與露天咖啡座在法國人日常生活中扮演的「知識與文化」角色

相片來源: 69shadesofgray@ Tumblr

說到法國餐，一般都會聯想到精緻昂貴的餐點。但其實隱身在法國小巷隨處可見的小酒館 (bistro)、 咖啡廳 (café) ，反而是最受法國民眾喜愛的用餐地點，但是受到速食文化衝擊，近年這些小酒館的數量銳減，一群餐廳老闆、法國演員等，都積極爭取申請「bistro」列入聯合國教科文組織的「非物質文化遺產」，而巴黎市長也支持此計畫，這個案件將會在2018年9月送到文化部審核，決定是否進一步送到聯合文教科組織，以拯救這個逐漸消失的飲食文化。

巴黎的小酒館 和 咖啡廳  正在爭取世界文化遺產的資格。

相片來源: bruwho @ Tumblr

活動組織發起人認為這些物美價廉的小餐館，不僅受到觀光客喜愛，也同時創造了一個空間，讓不同背景、宗教信仰、年齡、階層的人們可以聚在一起，為所有巴黎人民提供負擔得起的餐點，是當地人不可或缺的生活日常。

近年不斷飆漲的房租、連鎖餐飲的進入以及人們飲食習慣的改變，對這些小本生意的餐館造成威脅。

相片來源: ninasclicks@ Tumblr

不論請願最終會否成真，爭取的過程已經焦點聚焦在這些小酒館身上了，如果有機會造訪巴黎，別忘了找間小酒館或cafe坐下來，好好品味一下什麼是巴黎人「生活的藝術」吧！

更多相關文章:

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拍出濃厚復古味 日本三大有形文化財星巴克

歐洲「浪漫假象」？法國警方提醒遊客提防行李被盜

【立即讚好】全新 Yahoo 旅遊 Facebook 專頁 Yahoo 旅遊以全新樣貌登場，Facebook 專頁當然同時煥然一新！立即讚好，每日睇盡旅遊新資訊！

[artdjgblog]

Album Cover Location: After the Gold Rush by Neil Young

Photo: Joel Bernstein, Greenwich Village, 1970 / Source: PopSpots

[unmesde]

Según Bob Egan, del sitio PopSpots, este es el lugar donde se hizo, en 1970, la foto de tapa de Déjà Vu, el disco de Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

(Este post corresponde al 31 de enero. Algo hice mal, porque no apareció en su momento. Así que ahora viene a contaminar el febrero de los libros. Perdón.)

(Ximenez.)

[oldnewyorkpictures]

The diner at the lower left that can be partially seen was the Jefferson Diner, on the west side of Sixth Ave. at the conjunction of Greenwich Ave., Village Square and Eighth St in the heart of Greenwich Village. The photo was part of a long, wonderful article trying to make the case for the diner or coffee shop that was the model for Edward Hopper's famous painting, "Nighthawks." (Since links are discouraged, you can find it by Googling "Nighthawks" and "Popspots" which is the name of the site. It has a lot of interesting photos and diagrams). The writer believed the model for the painting was at 70 Greenwich Ave., now occupied by the Village Florist and he dismissed the Jefferson as a candidate. But the Jefferson has its own literary distinction. I was searching for it because I am a huge fan of the former New Yorker writer and chronicler of the city, Joseph Mitchell. If you are familiar with his work, one of his most famous articles was "Joe Gould's Secret," about an itinerant denizen of the old Village who claimed to have written an "Oral History of the World" running to millions of words. Mitchell's first face-to-face meeting with Gould was in 1942 at the Jefferson, which Mitchell described as "one of those big, roomy jukeboxy diners ... [that] stayed open all day and all night and ... was a popular meeting place" with a long counter, wobbly-seated stools and a row of booths. The article did not date the photo but it was no longer there in 1962 when Mitchell wrote his follow-up to his 1942 article, so I'm assuming this photo is from the 40s.

[popbee]

旺角鬧市中的一間樓上小店，竟可讓你回到過去的世界各地走一轉！

假如你認同 My Little Airport 所寫的歌詞，發明「上班」的人都是值得唾罵的話，那發明「旅行」的人就應該好好受千古歌頌了吧！的確，生活在繁忙而具競爭性的社會中，旅行成為了很多人咬緊牙關撐下去的理由，努力賺錢就是希望能走到世界不同的盡頭，看盡不同的風景。不管你儲好了金錢或假期沒有，在你下一趟旅行來臨前，你也不妨到旺角的這兒先嘗嘗旅行的滋味，望梅止渴一番。

西洋菜南街的一個小角落

雖然位於繁華的旺角西洋菜南街，但堆填區 Rubbish_B 卻擁有著獨有的寧靜空間。打開紅色的門，看到小店的空間不算大，但絕對夠你花上半天時間，因為在這兒擺放了上百件林林總總的 Vintage 小物，每一件都有著它們的故事，就躺在那兒等著你發掘。在這兒，大概你能數出的古物都能找到，衣服、手袋、飾物、手錶、香水、化妝品、玩具、擺設、紙品等，全都是店主阿包在外國逐件逐件搜羅回來的，每件都是阿包的心頭好，某些更要搜羅 2 件以上阿包才捨得割愛出售。

讓人自豪的收藏

外行人看 Vintage 物品，大多會被它們的外貌所吸引，只要有「古舊」的風格就大讚「很美很美」。不過要確實懂得欣賞一件古物，除了外表，還是懂得品嘗其內涵。「我每次找到那些舊物品，其實不論是它們的功能性或外表性設計，只要在現在已經不再有的，對我來說是另一類新鮮感。」看著以前年代的人所遺留下來的生活用品或藝術品，阿包都總會幻想著他們以往的生活方式，透過物品來體驗一下舊年代的生活。不論是前人聰明的設計還是巧妙的創作，都總能讓阿包驚嘆。

小小的店內藏著大大小小的古物，不但是年代歲月流逝的見證，也是阿包到處旅行所搜羅的戰利品。有些物品一放出來，一下子就會被有緣人買走，但有些物品卻已經放在堆填區 Rubbish_B 多時，卻還未遇到伯樂，說的就是店內牆上掛著一個個富有 60 年代味道的手袋。「這些手袋全部都是 60 年代在香港製造的，我自己相當喜歡。我在英國很容易找到 Made In England 的東西，在法國找 Made In France 的東西也不難，但 Made In Hong Kong 的東西，常常都不知道哪兒可以找到，所以每逢在外國找到 Made In Hong Kong 的物件我就會立即買，好像有種情意結一樣。」阿包更指，這些手袋手工絕對不會亞於外國的出品，甚至有過之而無不及，這是作為香港人值得自豪的。

一切由失而復得開始

阿包收藏古物的習慣，由一枚在盧森堡看到的手錶開始。當時她在盧森堡逛市集，看見這枚小鳥手錶很喜歡，但價錢讓還是學生的她卻步了。走了一個圈，還是念念不忘，於是回頭決定乖乖付錢。不過，這時檔主卻已經在收檔，阿包就很緊張地問他可否賣給她，但因為檔主不懂說英文，就只敷愆回答「No No No」。這時旁邊一檔的檔主也幫忙翻譯，加上一番遊説功夫才讓阿包買得心頭好。「這個經歷非常深刻對我意義很大，教曉我���錯過了就會失去』的道理 ，亦奠定了我收集古物的習慣 。」

生活在旅行當中

大概在店內隨便點出一件古物，阿包也能跟你侃侃而談物件背後的故事，以及她旅遊時候的經歷。也是這份熱愛旅遊的心，促使了阿包開這間店。「我旅行時會跟外國人聊天，有一次我問他們對自己的地方有什麼感覺 ，他們會說對於自己的國家覺得每天也很驚喜。這個答案讓我很 surprise， 因為我之前當上班族時在香港每天都生活很沉悶。當時的我就想，我能否也可以像旅行般生活在香港？」去旅行除了逛市集，阿包最喜歡就是四處找尋不同的特色小店，這也讓她立心開始一間自己喜歡的小店，也讓它成為吸引遊客的地方。

很多人都說，去旅行時看到最美的風景其實是當地人。在堆填區 Rubbish_B 也一樣，你除了可以在這兒找到不同的特色古物，開朗健談的阿包也會樂於跟你聊天。對阿包來說，每天遇見來自不同地方的人，認識到不同的朋友，也讓她好像生活在旅行當中。每個人都有自己的工作和社會上的崗位，但在每天在過著營營役役的生活的同時，也該適時讓自己出走一下，放眼世界，拓闊眼界之餘也能讓生活找到一個平衡點。下一趟旅程還未知道該去哪兒？不如就先到旺角尋寶吧！

堆填區 Rubbish_B

地址：旺角西洋菜南街 66 號 8 樓 電話：6686 1209

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