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足球場的躁動之外─曼徹斯特
文 楊佳瑜 譯 沈玫
曼徹斯特是座大城市，什麼樣的人都有，什麼樣的活動都有，什麼樣的工作都有。
最有名的自然是足球。英國的足球文化舉世聞名，忠實球迷可以為了買季票或年票不惜跟銀行貸款，每到重點球賽時，通往足球場的路上就會大塞車。曼城城市隊大贏時，就算是像我一樣對足球再沒興趣的人，也一定會知道，因為整座城市都會喝酒狂歡。
但是除了足球，曼城還有什麼呢？
很多人嘲弄北方的工業城市沒有文化，但我認為工業本身就是一種文化，曼城就是很好的例子。Castlefield 這區是工業革命的起點，挖煤、造運河、建鐵路，都是從這裡開始的，可以沿著運河一站一站的感受在上個世紀的工業革命期間，全城被煤炭廢氣燻的黑漆漆，人們蜂擁而至，只為找份工養家糊口的心情。可以站在運河邊，仰頭看著高架橋上的軌道，這是英國最早的鐵路，如今還在跑。科學工業博物館 (Museum of Science and Industry) 完整介紹工業發展的歷史，也展出以前的火車頭。
礦坑在柴契爾夫人時代就幾乎都被迫關閉了，紡織業也漸漸式微，但是曼城依然繁忙。多走兩條街，就會看到腳步急迫，衣著入時的上班族，這是商業中心。這一區很多連鎖的大餐廳，每到中午就會提供商業套餐，讓上班族可以溜出來打牙祭應酬。曼城的工作機會很多，不乏制度完善的大公司，但也有西裝筆挺的江湖騙士混在其中。應徵工作前，別忘了先確認是合法立案的企業！
另外一群辛苦工作的人，在中國城。中國城是法律的死角，不論法定最低薪資怎麼調，在中餐館端盤子總是四鎊起跳。錢賺得少，但中國城的租金也便宜，於是中國城裡就住滿了華人移民，千里迢迢來到異鄉，或到廚房裡炒菜、或在外場當樓面。工作也是華人圈、生活也是華人圈，他們移民不是為了融入當地，而是為了讓下一代有更好的教育機會。
除了這些現實面的打拼之外，曼城其實有很豐富的藝文活動！Oxford Road 從曼徹斯特大學以及曼徹斯特都會大學，一路到市中心，屹立在轉角的 Corner House是一間集電影院、展覽廳、書店和咖啡廳為一身的藝文中心，常播放非主流的影片，舉辦研討會。對面就是戲院，不論是話劇、音樂劇、芭蕾舞劇、歌舞劇等等，檔檔精彩。在這兩個熱鬧的場所後面，巷子裡走進去，就是曼城有名的同志村 (Gay Village)。在飛揚的彩虹旗門後，什麼樣的人都可以放鬆做自己。
High Street 是最熱鬧的逛街區，雜貨店、百貨公司、連鎖服飾店、名牌精品… 每個城市都一樣。兜售商品的小販、瑟縮著討錢的流浪漢，對比滿手戰利品的逛街人潮和櫥窗裡刺眼的折扣標語，集合在同一條街上，總是讓我有深深的無力感，即使每周都來買生活用品，每次來，都還是莫名的累。
偶爾要添購新衣服，我寧可穿過這些連鎖招牌，走到我最鍾愛的一區─Northern Quarter。這裡充滿了獨立經營的酒吧、咖啡廳、畫廊、唱片行、書店、舞蹈教室、刺青行以及我最愛的二手義賣店和骨董服飾店。英國人不大忌諱穿舊衣，反而欣賞前人賦予的歷史韻味。如果幸運的話，可以找到非常復古的衣服，在那個還不流行成衣量產的年代，每一件衣服都是獨一無二。
我最喜歡的是 Craft and Design Centre。挑高兩層樓，分割成許多工作室給藝術家創作販賣作品，一樓則是藝文展覽和咖啡廳。我剛到曼城找工作時一個人都不認識，一走進這裡，就覺得像回到西門紅樓，從此愛上這個地方，三不五時都會回去喝杯咖啡配蛋糕，寫寫東西。
曼城機能完善，生活費又不像倫敦那麼誇張，不只本地人代代留下來生活，外地人也前仆後繼地來找工作。這是一個很真的地方，人人都可以找到適合自己的角落。
Outside of the Football Games – Manchester
Written by Nathalie Yang. Translated by Rosie Seville
Manchester is a huge city, where you can meet all kinds of people, try all kinds of activities and get any kind of job.
It’s most famous, naturally, for football. England is famous for its football culture: loyal fans don’t hesitate to borrow money for season tickets and yearly tickets and when there’s an important game on, the roads around the stadium are blocked with their cars. When ManCity wins a big game, even those like me who have no interest in football know what’s happened, because the whole city is drinking and partying.
So apart from football, what else is there to know about Manchester?
Many people mock the industrial cities in the North for having no culture, but I believe that industry is a form of culture in itself. Manchester is a very good example. The Castlefield area was the birthplace of the industrial revolution: coal mining, the digging of canals and laying of railways – all of these things started here. Wandering along the canal today, you can imagine the how people felt during the industrial revolution of the last century, flocking to a city oozing with black coal fumes to find work and support their families.
Almost all the mines were forced to shut during the Thatcher era; the textiles industry gradually declined; but Manchester remained as bustling as ever. If you walk for a couple of blocks, you’ll notice the hurried footsteps of fashionably-clothed commuters – this is the city centre. This area has numerous large chain restaurants, which come lunchtime every day serve set meals so businessmen can come and eat their fill. There are a lot of job opportunities in Manchester – not only with the big and multi-faceted firms, but also with the smartly suited quacks that mix among them. Before applying for a job, don’t forget to make sure it’s a legitimate business!
In Chinatown, you’ll find another group of people working slavishly. Chinatown is one of the law’s blind spots: regardless of the legal minimum wage stipulated, wait tables’ hourly wage never starts from more than four pounds. The money’s not good, but the rent in Chinatown is cheap, so the area is always full of Chinese immigrants come from thousands of miles away to a foreign country to cook or serve food. They work among other Chinese, live among them too – they didn’t immigrate in order to integrate, but so that the next generation would have better educational opportunities.
Despite these harsh realities, Manchester actually boasts a very diverse cultural life. If you follow the Oxford Road from Manchester University and Manchester Metropolitan into the city centre, at a bend in the road stands Corner House: a complex of cinemas, exhibition halls, bookshops and cafes that serve as a centre of arts and culture, often showing non-mainstream films or holding seminars. There is theatre opposite that hosts everything from drama and concerts to ballet and musicals, all of it wonderful. If you walk down the alley behind these lively establishments you arrive at Manchester’s “Gay Village”. Behind the rainbow flags adorning the doorways, every kind of person can unwind and be themselves.
The High Street is the busiest shopping area, sporting grocery shops, department stores, clothing chains and designer boutiques no different to those in any other city. The street sellers peddling goods and shivering beggars contrast starkly with the hordes of shoppers, weighed down with bags, and the dazzling window displays proclaiming their discounts. Seeing them all gathered in this one street always gives me a profound sensation of powerlessness, and even though I come here every week to buy the essentials, it always makes me feel inexpressibly exhausted.
On occasion when I need to buy new clothes, I prefer to pass by these chain stores to my favourite district, the Northern Quarter. This area hosts an abundance of interdependently run bars, coffee shops, galleries, record stores, bookshops, dance studios, tattoo parlours and what I love most, the charity and vintage clothing shops. The English do not see wearing old clothes as a taboo; in fact they appreciate the historic charm of the garments passed on by their forbearers. With a bit of luck, you can find really authentic clothing from an area when mass production was not yet widespread; when every item was one of a kind.
My favourite place is the Craft and Design Centre. The two upper storeys are divided into studios where artists can create and sell their work, while the ground floor serves as an exhibition hall and café. When I arrived in Manchester on my own to work and didn’t know anyone, as soon as I walked into this building I felt like I had returned to the Red House Theater in Ximen, Taipei. From that moment I loved this place and every so often I go back there, have a cup of coffee and some cake and do some writing.
Manchester has greatly improved with all facilities covered, and the cost of living is not as outrageous as in London. It’s not just locals who remain here to work generation after generation; out-of-towners are falling over each other to come and work here. This is a very down-to-earth city, where everyone can find their own niche.
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