NATIONAL Day receptions are stuffy affairs riddled with protocol on account of the usual presence of Governor Chris Patten to raise a glass in felicitation. So, by way of change, Belgium Consul-General Piet Steel decided to hold his country's National Day festivities yesterday at his spacious Barker Road residence and invite his friendly next-door neighbour to officiate. By sheer coincidence Steel's neighbour happens to be Chief Secretary Anson Chan, who in the absence of Patten, is currently Acting Governor. So Keeping Posted turned up in good time at Steel's place hoping to catch sight of the jaunty CS hitching up her skirt and leaping over the garden wall to get to the reception. But, alas, the dignity of office prevailed and she arrived at the front door in the Governor's official limo instead.
