THE elegant folk of the garrison were in high spirits as they boarded a landing craft for the official opening of new holiday chalets at Lantau by Major-General John Foley yesterday.
With military precision the ramp was lowered as they approached Lantau, and the 60 or so guests prepared to step on to the sand.
Then, crunch! With three metres to go, the landing craft did what landing craft are not expected to do: it stopped well short of its intended target.
Despite the ingenuity of some of the best brains in the garrison, the only solution ultimately was to have everyone wade through the water.
Off came the trousers, but not the expensive skirts - they were hitched up - as something not even remotely close to a marine assault began with participants wading, giggling, and stumbling their way on to terra firma.
Some of the more dignified members of the party were initially reluctant to take appropriate action: preferring to spend an afternoon on the craft than suffer the indignity of revealing the shade of their underwear.