Partying during CNY

As I had expected, my last blog did not attract too many readers. I am not disheartened, though.  Life goes on even as the Government announced more severe social distancing measures.  This must be the most severe measure ever, the object of which is to discourage everyone leaving home or having physical meetings with anyone, unless they are absolutely necessary.

It has meant that since the first day of the Lunar New Year, Su and I had only been to the Ricci Hall chapel once, visited the family of a very good friend and Su’s parents’ home where we also met Su’s siblings and family and had a family lunch. My sister had flatly refused all visits, while one planned by our nephew and niece to take place at Mei Foo failed to materialize. We did go for a mild walk last Friday with and planned by my Rotary Club members – which ended up with more than 18K steps though – at Nam Sang Wai and its environs, rounding up near Kam Sheung Road. It was a sunny day and a very pleasant walk. Finding that we were rather close to Su’s good friend Andrew’s place and that he was home, we parked ourselves there – I took a shower – had a quick bite and a few drinks, but ended up having dinner and more drinks there. Su had a great time with Andrew’s young Labrador. The next day we visited our Aberdeen Boat Club and ran into Andrew and his sister’s family. We later went on a boat piloted by Andrew to the Middle Island and stayed until the Club closed for business, at 6 pm.

We had another ad hoc party last Monday. I had walked about 6 km in our park downstairs while Su was trying to make the flat tidier. On my way back, I went to the supermarket to pick up some meat at Su’s instructions. She was worried that more severe lockdown measures would be coming up. I also picked up some ready-to-eat comfort food. Back home, I saw a message from Andrew who recently had a brush with the law and had just had his first Court appearance. I asked whether he would come up for a drink, which he gladly accepted and was at the door in 20 minutes. We ended up opening a few bottles, encouraged by the food which Su continued to put out. We were joined at 9 pm by another young friend who required little encouragement to have more bottles opened. Soon we forgot why Su had asked the young man to come up. Well, such cross-family parties would not be possible from tomorrow, which was just as well we had one.

Today, Zetland Hall announced total suspension of meetings till 24 February, meaning that I would probably not go near the place in between. Parties in the next two weeks would only be held in Mei Foo and restricted to parties of two – Su and I – or at most plus another friend, but only on very justifiable grounds. It certainly adds a new dimension to how parties are defined.

It would also seem that we would spend more time each day eating, sleeping and drinking, going to the park for exercises or to the markets for the necessary food. Su is always keen on getting good food, particularly meat and fresh vegetables. She said that was the key to keeping up our immunity and staying healthy. I can’t and won’t argue with that. I have certainly slept longer hours, now that the churches are closed. Indeed, I have got accustomed to staying in bed longer in the morning, so that I now seldom get up before 9 am, when I used to get up early and leave Mei Foo by 6:35 am to make the morning Mass at 7:30 am in Ricci Hall, either by MTR or driving. I have found that driving won’t necessarily be faster, particularly on days with bad traffic.

Now that we are accustomed to watching YouTube on TV, rather than on the phone, we have spent more time watching TV and in fact TV programmes, including re-runs of Harry Porter and other movies, and of late the Beijing Winter Olympics. We have also caught up with news around Gu Ailing Eileen and her background including the controversies some Americans have tried to generate and perpetrate and were pleasantly surprised by how the 18-year old young lady fielded questions at her first post gold medal press conference, with diplomacy and confidence. If only our local politicians would perform a fraction as well as she did. I have also picked up some skiing lingo which I find rather fascinating. There were clips of Gu practicing in Whistler which Su and I could recognize and which we both missed since our last trip almost two years ago.

I hope to talk to you again later.