Category Archives: Hemlock

The mood on the Mid-Levels Escalator this morning is one of calm resignation. Hong Kong’s industrious and uncomplaining middle class may or may not be on the verge of calamity as Europe’s visionary cheese-eating surrender currency collapses and some rich-kid … Continue reading →

The delicate, crisp crunch of Ferragamo black patent-leather low heels on frosty pavement heralds the break of day in an otherwise silent Central. In a swirl of cold breath, cashmere and fur, beguiling Administrative Officer Winky Ip opens the door … Continue reading →

Thurs, 30 Nov 2006 So joyous is the mood on the Mid-Levels Escalator this morning that everyone bursts into song.  “Here in Hong Kong we are one big family,” we chant, “and we’re proud of this place we all call … Continue reading →

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 The Big Boss drags me into a meeting with a fellow tycoon, ‘Dr’ Tai.  The proud owner of an honorary doctorate from a little heard-of university in a distant land, Tai straddles the generations of the … Continue reading →

The scene is one of the ferry piers in Central. It is somehow noticeably less shabby than the rest of these mostly indistinguishable facilities. The plastic seats seem a bit classier, the floor a little less dusty. A shiny Perspex … Continue reading →

  Click to hear ‘Number 33’ by Jan and Lorraine!   3.07 “I shall now turn to the subject of our six pillar industries in which we have a clear competitive advantage, and therefore the opportunity to develop…” A moment’s … Continue reading →

Night falls over Perpetual Opulence Mansions, and I have unplugged the telephone to avoid the barrage of complaints from Administrative Officer Winky Ip. That ‘stupid website’, as she terms it, doubted the sexual desirability of female civil servants with extreme … Continue reading →

The mood on the Mid-Levels Escalator this morning is one of balmy indifference to just about everything. It is 7.45, and not one, not two, but all three 7-Elevens between Soho and Queens Road have still not had the South … Continue reading →

Another calm and relaxing morning in Perpetual Opulence Mansions. The building’s breadwinners have glided down the hill on the wondrous, semi-high-speed transport infrastructure that is the Mid-Levels Escalator to their bustling offices in the central business district of Asia’s leading … Continue reading →

Aujourd’hui, l’ordinateur est mort – as a novel jointly written by Albert Camus and Isaac Asimov might have begun. I sit and stare, paying my last respects to the lifeless screen before me in the gwailo’s lair on the top … Continue reading →