Did an egg tart make you think? For Hongkongers, it represented the mind of a man who offended two powerful countries to try to give us free hands to do more.
In a recent interview, he told a renowned journalist based in Hong Kong for decades that he felt deeply sorry for what had happened here. Someone reminded him he was being photographed holding a yellow umbrella. Is that a sin? Is that awkward?
Even though he is known as a famous sinner for a thousand years, he never loses his passion for Cantonese dim sum and delicacies.
He told inspiring stories of two Hongkongers having made a fresh start in the UK – the first was a young doctor from a Hong Kong family; and the second was an excellent Hong Kong chemistry teacher who joined his old school.
It is sad to let go of a place you have lived in for so long and reluctantly. His book and many of the memories are vivid in his head. You could feel the sadness on his face when he expressed his regret about not being able to return to Hong Kong in the future.
He does not seem to be a governor or a politician, just an old man with many stories to tell. Some of them are about his encounters with diplomats and officials, some relate to people he met in Hong Kong and the UK.
Time dilutes strong emotions. His love of Hong Kong egg tarts, for instance, can always touch our hearts.
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