Shades Off | Why I’m staying in Hong Kong: high mobility, low crime, green spaces – and Hongkongers themselves
- After 34 years at the Post, I’m taking a much-needed break, but Hong Kong will remain my home
- Friends wonder why I’m not heading abroad for retirement; yet despite recent hardships, our city’s benefits – and people – remain unmatched
In the age of the gig economy, I am a dinosaur. I worked continuously for this newspaper for 34 years and three months, joining at 25 and, as of this column, ceasing full-time employment with retirement. Such occasions can be turning points, but my thoughts are only of a much-needed break and exercise – for how long, I can’t tell. Of one thing there is certainty, though: Hong Kong is my home.
Friends overseas and acquaintances express surprise when I tell them I’m staying in Hong Kong. I could retire to the place of my birth, Australia, or to any of the European Union’s 27 member states.
I’ve considered a unit with ocean views on Queensland’s Gold Coast, a village house in Portugal or an inner-city flat in Munich, where my father was from. But after considering the advantages, costs and otherwise, I’ve opted to stay put for now. The reason is that the positives vastly outweigh the negatives.
To start with, let’s put the politics of Hong Kong and the rest of the nation aside. Hongkongers have never had a say in the way their government is run and their ability to influence its decisions remains limited, no matter how improved we are told the system is.
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