September 2019

July was the month when Hong Kong’s summer of discontent got into full swing. Repeated demonstrations targeting a variety of locations including the airport rolled on into August and September. For long periods the government seemed to disappear completely, leaving the police alone to cope with the fallout from the political vacuum. Several columns on the subject can be seen in the Op Ed section.

For myself, the highlight was applying for a new job in the public sector. The odds did not seem great: I am after all 15 years older than the organisation’s retirement age! Nonetheless I flew past the preliminary vetting by the executive search consultant and made the shortlist for interview by the client. Result awaited as I write this!

In early August I flew to Phnom Penh to see the work of a charity I support there called Indochina Starfish Foundation. The organisation, I am pleased to say, does a tremendous job giving young children an education while also supporting the families. I returned wishing only I could give more support, and indeed did arrange for a radio interview to generate more publicity for the good work.

We all (wife plus children) went to Taiwan for a few days at the end of August returning 1st September. The following day, three of us flew to UK to help Alex settle into college life in Loughborough. Tiffany stayed behind in Hong Kong to finish work on a film project and is due to return to LA shortly. Our nest will be empty!

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