Letters | What Covid-19 hotel quarantine brought home to me

Name: Sounds of the city: a Hong Kong audio engineer’s eye-opening mission to capture moments of life
Uploaded: 2020-10-26T16:20:08.000Z
Duration: 3 min 55 s
Description: Sounds of the city: a Hong Kong audio engineer’s eye-opening mission to capture moments of life

Reading Time:2 minutes

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Hong Kong residents returning from overseas enter Regal Oriental Hotel in Kowloon City on April 22. The hotel was converted into a quarantine centre for Hongkongers waiting for the results of their coronavirus tests taken at the airport. Photo: Felix Wong

Letters

Published: 12:20am, 27 Oct 2020Updated: 12:20am, 27 Oct 2020

The decision to settle my daughter back into university in the United Kingdom and visit my ageing parents seemed a natural one at the time, albeit having to fly during Covid-19. However, within a day of my arrival, the Hong Kong government announced its imminent intention to introduce mandatory hotel quarantine for residents returning from the UK.

Any sense of self-pity was short-lived as my daughter commented, “Surely a 14-day staycation without mum can’t be all bad?” Parental experience dictated no response but to simply accept the inevitable and focus on getting my daughter’s newly rented accommodation into some order. Some readers will know this can be quite an experience compared to the efficiencies of Hong Kong.

Having survived a week mingling with the residents of Exeter, most of whom were not wearing face masks outdoors, and trying to give fresher students a wide berth, I headed to London following a negative Covid-19 test to spend some quality time with my parents.

And here I am now, safely back in Hong Kong, the city that has been my home and workplace for the past 30 years. This time, my return is rather different as I commence day eight of my compulsory hotel staycation, sadly without “mum”.

I now appreciate some of the simple things I normally take for granted: not walking into a wall after nine paces, feeling the breeze in my hair, the warmth of the sun on my face, physical interaction with family, friends, work colleagues and even clients – many of whom have become friends over the years – home-cooked food, walking the dog, just walking, painful sessions in the gym, even more painful sessions on the golf course now and then, and navigating the daily hustle and bustle of our vibrant city.

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Sounds of the city: a Hong Kong audio engineer’s eye-opening mission to capture moments of life

So take a moment to stop looking down at your phone today. Instead, look around you and try to savour the simple things in life, whatever those may be for you.