IT looks like it should be everyone around for drinks at the home of the Commander British Forces, Major-General Bryan Dutton.
We have learned that in the British military the good general, with his diminishing forces, is second only to the commander of the British garrison on Cyprus, General Alexander Harvey, in the amount he spends on entertainment each year.
While General Harvey spends GBP11,888 (HK$142,656) a year on such events as cocktail parties, General Dutton manages to make do with a more modest GBP11,147 (HK$133,764).
Much of the fun obviously takes place at Headquarter House, destined to be the residence of China's military supremo in Hong Kong after 1997.
Major-General Dutton lists the Chief Secretary and the US Consul-General as neighbours of his in Barker Road.
It is probably the most magnificent house in the road, with an impressive dining room which boasts a real log fire. David Tang once described it as having an atmosphere rather like that of a mess at Sandhurst.