So a 19-year-old is driving along Queens Road Central ‘towards Sheung Wan’. This is the correct direction along this one-way street, but fear not – from this point things get satisfyingly worse. He’s in a pricy Porsche. (Ideally, it would be the latest model, but we’ll let it pass. It cost HK$1.13 million in 2001.) It’s 4am. (Sounds promising!) And then, you will not be surprised to hear, he ‘crashed into the cafe at the corner of Wellington Street … breaking the windows and plowing inside’.
(For denizens of absolute core Central: Wellington Street mostly runs parallel one or two blocks uphill from Queens Road. But in the far western fringes of existence, it intersects downhill across Queens Road where it officially continues for a few yards before merging into Bonham Strand. The poor Greenfield Café has a Queens Road address.)
More essential detail: ‘Witnesses said the driver wore an Audemars Piguet watch worth HK$200,000’. (Even in the darkness of night, nothing escapes bystanders’ alertness and powers of observation.) He was over the alcohol limit. And he suffered a head injury, which will quite possibly be an improvement. The café is seen to the right of the charming pink bus – you would hit it if you, sort of, turned right instead of left.
Normally, daddy would have sent a minion to claim to have been behind the wheel and take the rap. Sadly for the young driver, this did not happen. In some places, driving drunk means automatic jail, but I suspect Hong Kong laws are more understanding.
The owners say their café needs HK$100,000 worth of repairs (my eyes roll in despair at their niceness and honesty – any sane person would treble the claimed damages without blinking). They add that the sidewalk barriers usually stop vehicles in mid-crash before smashing into their premises, but failed to do so this time.
Onto something more dependable – links to interesting commentary on worldly affairs.
A brief background on Huawei’s role as state intelligence-cum-consumer products hybrid; how China views international rules not of its making; and why Ms Meng was arrested and what it means for the law and foreign policy.
The Guardian’s mega-feature (co-written by Louisa Lim) on how China is trying to infiltrate and influence international media. A transcript of a discussion with David Shambaugh on the opening-and-closing cycle in China.
I declare the weekend open with a new insult I learned this week…
“In some places, driving drunk means automatic jail, but I suspect Hong Kong laws are more understanding.”
Unless you’re part of the political “opposition”.
Audemars Piguet is Swiss for “pretentious twat”.
From the Grauniad piece:
Surely a Chinese Degree in Journalism has all the authority, weight and usefulness of a Sentielese Degree in Hospitality Management?
Much like “Dr.” “Hon.” Elizabeth Quat, BBS, JP’s doctorate, it’s a qualification that — if touted — actively works against your reputation.
> The Porsche “Belonged to another man with the same surname.
Who’s your daddy Mister Leung ?
> The owner’s address was listed as a flat in Sai Ying Pun.”
160 Connaught Road W ?
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=21&ved=2ahUKEwia96a91J7fAhWPPXAKHffuCHEQt9IBMBR6BAgJEEQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fm.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DtJ8Q3QQfa5g&usg=AOvVaw0bOdSkWQ6n46Mta7R1TPKV
Fear not! Our dashing young driver will find a taste for high cuisine.
Goatboy
Nicholas Tse is still young?
I had it on v good authority long ago he would have gone inside save for his supposed asthma (the smoking supposedly not being known) Why asthma should keep a convicted felon out of chokey is not clear to me, but perhaps some of those currently being tried should develop the condition, unless times have changed.