We are entering the final month of British rule not with a whimper but with a bang. Some Cassandras, particularly the Democrats, have predicted apocalypse with shrillness or glee.
But, alas, the economy which was supposed to collapse in 1996 and into 1997 has been buoyant. The stock market is breaking records and approaching the 15,000 point mark.
The other omens are just as rosy. Those here and abroad wishing us evil, while publicly rooting for our salvation, are left scratching their heads.
The pathos about the decline of the rule of law is also fizzling out with the unanimous selection of virtuous jurist Andrew Li as the chief justice which bodes well for the Court of Final Appeal and a truly independent Special Administrative Region (SAR) judiciary that will give the Chinese language equal say.
Soon for the first time litigants may hear justice done in their language which has not been available, except for a recent couple of experimental trials, for a century and a half.
The civil service, which was expected to demoralise entirely just about now, is carrying on without missing a beat after every senior official was assured of his job in the SAR.
The provisional legislature, while not a design product but a creation of last resort because of British reneging on diplomatic pledges of co-operation, is doing its work with a method and a purpose.