So, you just fly in from Hong Kong,' said the Manila taxi driver early on Monday morning.
'Yep.' 'And your hotel is . . .?' 'No hotel, here for five hours and then flying back.' 'To where?' 'Hong Kong, fly out of the old airport and later into the new one.' 'Uh, huh. Is this anything to do with the Philippine Airlines strike?' The Emirates flight to Manila was scheduled to leave Kai Tak on its last evening of operation at 8.55. But, due to turnaround scheduling difficulties in Dubai, it was delayed two hours.
So on this historic day, there was at least one passenger pleased about this, as she sat in the First Class lounge and had a prime view of the goings-on in the final hours on the tarmac that would soon be closed to traffic forever.
The late start would mean rather than the last 20, the Boeing 777-200 would be in the last eight, flying out at 11.20pm.
In front of the lounge's comfortable chairs and Baileys - with ice - the planes landed and took off much as before. Meanwhile, trucks left in convoys with buses and vehicles towing containers on pallettes.
Two mechanics stood below, each posing by a Virgin Airlines jet engine as the other took photos to show the grandchildren.
Kai Tak ticked over that night with the timely precision for which it was renowned, but the First Class lounge staff were a little over-efficient as the complimentary bottles on the bar were spirited away at about 10pm, leaving meagre offerings of orange juice and dry biscuits. Evidently the cashew nuts and other tasty titbits were already Chek Lap Kok-bound.
