RINGING IN THE NEW

Before those Maui trips, I would never miss a festive season in Hong Kong with friends. Christmas was non-stop dinners, parties and events, and I recall 1988 being like a coming of age. It was the year of the first Hong Kong Philharmonic Opera Ball, a debutante gala where I met many lifelong friends. New Year was the crescendo: we had a drinks party at my friend Alison Lusher’s (née Falloon) incredible house on Lugard Road, then spent the countdown on a boat on Victoria Harbour, then went back to shore to make appearances at different New Year parties in Central. Then, we went to Lan Kwai Fong and, in the morning, we all gathered at the old Mandarin Grill for a fry-up breakfast. We returned home late morning, had a snooze, then had the youthful energy to do it all again on New Year’s Day.