The would-be designer who's wearing 15 hats

'This summer was a sad summer. I was supposed to go on a cruise with my husband but at the start of the trip we got a call saying that my mother-in-law was sick,' says a sombre Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee.

'Two days after we got back, she passed away. The rest of the summer has been all about funeral arrangements. Before she passed away I loved playing mahjong with her. We always told her that the game helped exercise her arms as well as her mind.'

For Mrs Chow the loss was compounded by the fact that it happened during the only time in the year she could take a break.

Each year Mrs Chow looks forward to August and getting out of Hong Kong for some much-needed rest and relaxation. The other 11 months are full of 8.30am meetings and midnight e-mails - barely leaving her with enough personal time to go line dancing or to tai chi class once a month.

'The only way I can relax and put everything down is to leave the country. If I stay here there are just too many phone calls. But when I leave, it's almost like people forget I exist. It's also good to meet people outside of politics and talk about things that don't require me using my brain,' she says.

But the 60-year-old workaholic has no plans to retire any time soon. In fact, Mrs Chow says her secret to staying happily married to her husband of 36 years is not to see each other too often.