NOTHING cheers up a grim morning for us suffering sandwich folks like a good news report of rich people drowning in their own money. I am afraid no tears were shed chez Hamlett for those marooned Mercedes owners trapped in Central by traffic jams consisting of chauffeurs waiting for their squire to come and say ''Home, James''.
Let them eat bread, as Marie Antoinette might have said. There is always the MTR.
Fascinating new evidence of Hong Kong's new affluence emerged a couple of days later when a reader wrote in to say that keeping your car lurking in Central was selfish, because these cars all had car phones on which they could be summoned when needed.
Surely this cannot be right? The fashionable phone now is a mobile job which can be displayed on restaurant tables. If you have one of these you don't need a car phone, which would have to be provided just for the chauffeur.
This writer went on to claim that he always managed to find a legal parking space for his company car, because of the huge number of multi-storey car parks available. I suspect this gentleman must arrive at work very early. Personally I find Central verydifficult before about six, when the civil servants go home and you are allowed to use their places.
It is, of course, just one aspect of a reciting problem, which is that Hong Kong is too small for a car-born culture. The crucial mistakes in transport planning were made long ago, by people who have long retired.
