So this is actually a photo of yesterday and I’m posting it here for the benefit of those of you who have not already seen it on my Insta and Twitter feeds.

Our friend Puven is moving back to a new job in his native KL in a couple of weeks. Our other friend Tim invited us round for beverages and street tacos at his small (but well-appointed) flat on the 41st floor of a block in Kennedy Town, on the tip of Hong Kong Island, and this is the spectacular view from his small balcony. Tim sits and watches the sunset over Lantau Island and our house is directly in his line of sight so I’ll be waving at him when there’s a clear sunset from now on.

We are still allowed private gatherings here in Hong Kong I think, despite the recent ban on public gatherings of over two people resulting from our third spike of the virus. Nevertheless, we were escorted in to the concierge, who wore a badge indicating that she was the Pandemic Control Officer of the block. She took down my HKID card number and the address of the flat we were heading for, and checked us out when we left later in the evening. There was a slightly wry remark about going to a party, and a security man whom Tim had never seen before came and knocked on the door twice, asking us to move the shoe rack that Tim had placed outside for space. Maybe I’m overthinking this, and more caution than usual is commonly heard here in HK at the moment, but Tim says that this has never happened before when he’s had parties, so perhaps the pandemic has led to this further surveillance.

Anyway, socialising after such a long time made a change, though do you hug someone goodbye when you’re unlikely to see them again for a very long time? There’s no guidance about that here.