IF the last meal of the Governor, Mr Chris Patten, at Queen Mary Hospital was a sign of things to come, he has some lean times ahead of him.
Before he was discharged from the hospital yesterday morning, Mr Patten had a breakfast of one cup of skimmed milk and two slices of wholemeal bread spread with low-cholesterol apricot jam.
The Governor, who has been ordered to diet after undergoing an operation to widen two of his arteries, went without butter or margarine.
When he appeared at the entrance to Block J of the hospital at 9.05 am, Mr Patten smiled and waved to the waiting crowd of reporters and photographers and announced he felt ''fine, much better''.
He stopped to shake hands with the doctor who treated him, Dr Michael Tsang Tse-shu, and Ms Teresa Lui, nursing officer in charge of the coronary care unit, before stepping into his government Daimler along with his wife, Lavender.
''He told me he was tired yesterday. Not today - he's fine. He's walking well this morning,'' said Departmental Operations Manager Ms Eva Liang, a senior nursing officer.