The past two-and-a-half years have been difficult, to say the least. So it is incredibly heartening to see that the rest of the world deciding to almost co-exist with the coronavirus and carry on living their lives.
It’s a different story in Hong Kong still, however, with the city’s officials keen to keep a tight lid on infections.
But my fellow Hong Kongers and I have learnt to live in peace with these daily frustrations. We try to help each other and battle through the disruptions of social distancing, quarantines and self-isolations.
Having a large birthday party but can’t have your friends all seated at one table? No problem, the restaurant will help put up plastic separators that are translucent so you can still see each other’s faces.
Took a rapid antigen test to go to the bar (yes, that is now a requirement in Hong Kong)? The friendly staff will instruct you to use the drawing function on your phone to add your name, the date and time to the photo of your test.
This genteelness appears to be making its way to other places too, albeit with a twist.
One chap I know was recently in mandatory hotel quarantine, but his TV broke down. He called the concierge for help, and the hotel manager said he would send a worker to the room to fix the TV. The condition? He just had to hide in the bathroom to avoid contact with the worker.
This boggled me, but the chap simply laughed it off and complied. After all, beggars can’t be choosers — especially when you are stuck in a small room with no way out.