Goodbye and best wishes
My wife and I are shortly to leave Hong Kong at the end of my time as British consul-general here, after more than three years in this most exciting of places.
We have had a chance to say au revoir to many of those we have come to know here. But inevitably, we are leaving without seeing others. I simply wanted to crave the indulgence of your columns in order to say thank you to all those who have helped us, in so many ways.
We had nothing but friendliness, help and co-operation - from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government; from business circles; from the academic world; from consular colleagues; from local politicians; from NGOs; from the media and from the people of Hong Kong.
The links between the UK and Hong Kong are broad and deep, and they are developing. It has been a real privilege for Frances and me to have had the chance to take the relationship forward. It has been quite a ride, though. Economic hard times and, particularly, Sars made life tough on occasion. It is good, then, to see Hong Kong beginning to bounce back and show that spirit, drive and entrepreneurial verve that underpins its good claim to be Asia's World City.
We send our warmest good wishes to the people of Hong Kong. We will watch developments here with great interest. And I am sure that we shall be back.
