When I look out of my window, I am fearful that the harbour I see now will be turned into a river. If the current reclamation work continues, we will not need a Star Ferry; we will be able to walk over to Kowloon.
My feelings for Victoria Harbour can be traced back to when I was a young boy living in Kennedy Terrace. Back then, there were fewer high-rise buildings, so you had a clear view out over the water, towards Kowloon.
We did not swim in the water in those days, but in my spare time, when I was tired of reading and studying, I would look out, and the view was a beauty; a real beauty.
I also remember seeing, when I was a young boy, the 30,000-tonne Empress of Britannia, which was moored off Kowloon. She only came into Hong Kong once a year and had to dock off Kowloon pier because she was so big. That was a very beautiful scene.
I also remember watching young boys dive off the pier when tourists threw silver coins into the water. Back then, the water was crystal clear and the boys could fetch the coins from the sandy sea bed. But it is too polluted now.
The first time I left Victoria Harbour sticks in my mind. It was immediately after the second world war and I caught a cargo ship to Singapore before eventually finding my way to Liverpool, in England. When I returned at the end of 1952, I came back on board the SS Canton. I felt at home when we entered the harbour's waters.
These memories are why I would be very angry if anyone did anything more to spoil the harbour. I think that the condition of the harbour is tolerable now, but if the government carries out further reclamation, it will be irredeemable.