The eyes have it. Two emerald baubles of trance-inducing hypnosis, radiating out of the television set, while in the background you can hear something about it being 'misty in Mumbai'. Then on trots the inexplicable Freddy, chased by a cloud with a watering can in his hand. Forget the forecast for rain - Hong Kong has some of the most surreal weather going.
'People come up and say 'Oh, you're that weird one who never blinks',' says Dominique Rowe, TVB weather girl. 'Everyone has a different idea of how it should be done, and when I'm out loads of people come up to me thinking that theirs is the right advice. It had never occurred to me before, but apparently I never blink.'
Born in Hong Kong, 25-year-old Rowe went to a succession of boarding schools in Britain (an experience she describes as 'awful') before completing a degree in English and foreign literature at York University. During this time she became involved in 'a few bits and bobs in film, television
and porn'.
Come again? 'I was a distributor for private.com. I had to do floor sales at this massive expo, which required me to know all the titles off by heart, go up to couples and get them talking, normalise it. I had to go up to strangers and ask them what their porn preferences were, that sort
of thing.'
Returning to Hong Kong last year just as Sars took hold, she was at a loss as to what to do.
