Coronavirus and all is quiet

The rest of the world seems to be moving on.  There seems to be less and less talk about covid as the virus becomes endemic and people seem to have become used to living their lives with it.  Speaking with friends overseas, there seem to have been a countless number of people I know who have caught it.  Most interestingly though is that even with all the people I know who have caught covid, I can say that thankfully not a single one of them has had any serious symptoms.  Flu-like symptoms seem to be the worst of it and for many, the symptoms have been even milder.

Hong Kong is sadly for most of us, taking a very different approach.  It continues with a tightening of measures.  Social distancing requirements are being increased and thousands of people with few to no symptoms are being sent off to quarantine without any fixed time for leaving.  It's all leaving people here incredibly frustrated and the anger is now starting to swell.

I went into the office to arrange for some documents to be signed.  It had been a while since I had physically into the office.  With the restrictions, most businesses were implementing work from home policies.  I did my work in the nearly empty office and I went out to get some lunch.

It was a shock.  The normally busy halls of ICC leading into Elements shopping mall were nearly deserted.  It felt like something out of an apocalyptic story.  Every step I took echoed slightly as I found my friend waiting for me.  She was one of the few people in her office as well.  There wasn't a need for any booking today, so we just walked towards the restaurant of our choice.  
 

Coronavirus is never ending in Hong Kong

The rest of the world is starting to open up again and Hong Kong remains trapped in a never ending cycle of incompetence.  There's really no other way to describe what is happening other than a complete failure of government.  There is neither any progress towards a return to normality, and recent events have demonstrated that even preparation for the continued approach didn't actually happen.  It is mind boggling that when given the choice of two paths, it turns out the Hong Kong government decided that it would do nothing instead.  It's reached a point where even the leadership of China has now come out with a rebuke against them, going to show that they have achieved the truly incredible outcome of angering every group with a stake in Hong Kong.  It takes a special level of idiocy to be able to do that.

Everything was closing up, and the weather was horrendous, so Veronica and I thought we would visit Habour City over on the TST side.  With increased restrictions seemingly just around the corner, we wanted to get out and about whilst we still could.  We walked around some of the shops (most of which were heavily discounted) and were shocked by how few people were around.

 

Rainy days on a weekend in Hong Kong normally mean that the malls are completely packed with people wanting to get out whilst still being sheltered from the elements.  Walking through the sparsely visited mall was off putting.  It was like seeing the city slowly losing its life and purpose.

Since there was almost no one around, we thought we would try and take advantage of that by going to the Cheesecake Factory for some lunch.  Since it's opened its only outlet in Hong Kong, the lines have been incredibly long.  Waits of several hours are common and the last time we tried to visit, we were told that so many people were waiting for a table that they had run out of the buzzers they give to people in the line.  With those waits, we haven't bothered and have generally gone off to find other food.

This time, things were very different.  A short ten minute wait was all that was needed.  It didn't even seem like there was anything stopping us from getting a table immediately other than the need for the table to be cleared and set.  Once inside, it was clear that the restaurant was not full.  At best, it was three-quarters full.  It was one small benefit to the annoyance of dealing with restrictions that were making increasingly less sense.

We ordered our food.  It had been years since I had been to the Cheesecake Factory and I hadn't forgotten about the enormous portions.  As expected, we received our enormous servings.  I looked at what was in front of me almost like a challenge.

The food was "OK".  It was not fine dining or anything approaching that, but that's not what it was about.  This was for me, a celebration of "Americana".  The bountiful approach to food and eating that the US had become strangely famous for.  The cheesecake wasn't bad though.

Veronica barely finished half of her lunch (we would take it away and have it for dinner).  Somehow, I forced myself through the pain and managed to eat all of my plate.  I didn't feel great.  Looking at the empty plate, I questioned why I had bothered to put myself through such an ordeal.