The coronavirus has put many of us under self-imposed semi-lockdown at the moment. Government advice is not to travel or frequent crowded places unnecessarily. With many sports and cultural venues closed, there’s not a whole lot to do in our free time.

I feel most sorry for the poor helpers, Foreign Domestic Helpers (FDH) to give them their full official designation. They have a right to one day off per week, though I’ve heard cases of employers abusing this. Those who don’t have their own rooms in their employer’s house often congregate together on the many raised walkways in Hong Kong. Some helpers are not permitted to stay around their employer’s house on their day off so they have nowhere else to go. Using folded-down cardboard boxes as mats and windbreaks, they catch up with their mates, eat, drink, dance, sing videoke and sometimes just use the time to catch up on sleep away from the children, elderly parents and pets for whom they care.

I find this Sunday gathering fascinating and I’m dying to take some pictures of this aspect of Hong Kong life, but I’m still reticent about taking this sort of street photography image. I feel that I should ask first given that so many of these (mainly) women have so much dictated to them and also because of the belief in many Asian cultures, that taking someone’s photograph removes a part of them. I’m shy of asking them even though I’m pretty sure they would consent.

Last Sunday, after having spent over a week confined to Discovery Bay, I was desperate for a change of scene so I decided to go over to Central on the ferry and take some pictures. Sadly the pesky virus has meant that many helpers have stayed away either of their own will or because they have been told to do so by their employers. The usual throng on the bridges was sadly depleted and I only managed to take a couple of pictures.

Our MsJ was not taking any chances with the virus last weekend, however. It was chilly and she decided she’d spend the day in her room watching Korean soaps on Netflix, eating Macaroni Salad, the concoction in the header picture, which is a staple pudding at every gathering of Filipino people, she tells me. I didn’t manage to try it but the ingredients are:

Macaroni

Fruit: here it’s canned fruit cocktail and bottled palm nuts

Cheese

Mayonnaise

Condensed Milk

Double cream

You cook the pasta and mix it all together and then let it steep in the fridge so that the pasta absorbs the sweet, creamy sauce. A real Filipina comfort food recipe.