March 2023
Into the new year with fresh hope. In January when we returned from UK we found the mask mandate still in force, a situation which persisted throughout February as well. Indeed late in that month the government announced it was to be extended by a further two weeks well into March. I felt so frustrated I even sought legal advice whether there was any way we could challenge the decision, on the grounds there was no longer an emergency and the pandemic was essentially over.
Son Victor visited Hong Kong soon after our return, with wife Lisa, their son (my grandson) Dan, plus Lisa’s other two children Haiwen and Kailai (hope spelt correctly). Great to see the whole Beijing arm of the family. On return to the mainland they could of course remove their masks at the border.
Reached out to niece Rachel to discuss her plans for study in Canada. Hope I can help get that process back on track.
Goddaughter Hedwig with her family visited Hong Kong on their return from Indonesia where they now live, via Macau where they were trying to get some paperwork sorted out. Not sure when I will see them again, perhaps if I win the Mark 6 I can go to Surabaya for a few days!
Finally on 26 February Macau scrapped the outdoor mask mandate, which story appeared in the HK Standard the next day under the title “Macau scraps outdoor mask mandate as HK dithers”. Stung into action at last on the following day chief executive John Lee announced the mask mandate here would be completely scrapped from 1 March. The humiliation of being overtaken by our smaller neighbour pushed him to overrule the Health Minister. Hallelujah! I emailed the Standard editor to congratulate and thank him.
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