After all the technology that went into the Tsing Ma Bridge - concrete that lasts 120 years, state-of-the-art computer-aided design techniques and such like - the bridge builders went back to basics to ensure the last deck segment was the right way round when it was positioned for raising into place.
Chalked in big letters at one extreme were the words 'Tsing Yi end'. Of course, the tell-tale instructions were painted over before the media arrived for the big event yesterday.
But by that time our spies had already reported back.
International broadcasters and programmers were taken aback this week by the address to the 1996 Pan-Asia Satellite and Cable TV Conference.
'Hong Kong has a transparent and fair regulatory system which sets out clearly what is expected of broadcasters in terms of programme standards and practices, and then leaves them to get on with running their business,' said Deputy Secretary for Recreation and Culture Rita Lau Ng Wai-lan.
Wait a minute . . . wasn't this the representative of a government which had just shelved a Broadcasting Bill, while it worked out what would be acceptable to China? Wasn't this the same Mrs Lau whose government had just broken its promise to open up the pay-TV market to competition? Wasn't it Hong Kong which continued to decide which satellite broadcaster should be allowed its own uplinking licence and which must pay Hong Kong Telecom to uplink programmes on its behalf? 'They've just killed Hong Kong as a regional broadcasting hub - and now they're touting for business?' came a disgruntled cry from the back. The beneficiaries of that U-turn on pay-TV will be in the news again with a little ceremony this afternoon - but we're not sure how much of it they'll be showing on their own news.