03.8.17 - Doris was right! Thief!

We had a typhoon 3 warning yesterday. This means that a proper typhoon storm was passing a few hundred kilometres away from HK. So we got the outer edges of it.

I had gone up to the roof terrace of a café we have taken a shine to in mid-levels to quietly have a couple of beers and do some work on my book. I am trying to make time once or twice a week to sit down and crack on with it, and it’s something I am enjoying greatly.

The “T3” started to encroach on that intention. Everyone dismisses any typhoon lower than an 8 (when everyone has to stay indoors and not go to work), and carries on as normal. Which is crazy, really.

The storm began as unusually heavy rain, just as the rooftop had filled up with people. This slowly ramped up over 30 minutes or so until the awning began to visibly sag. One member of staff occasionally poked it with a bamboo stick to stop it buckling.

Within 15 minutes, the wind got serious. It was whipping occasional sprays of rain into the terrace, eliciting squeals from the diners. 10 more minutes, the awning started to give out – all the diners at the edges of the terrace had either retreated downstairs, their tables inundated, or were hiding under umbrellas.

I was feeling hugely smug – my table was dead centre and I had yet to get a single drop of rain. Confident in how safe HK is, I wandered to the loo, leaving my laptop, bag and phone on display.

When I returned, the storm was at its peak. Two of the three staff were on awning poking duties, and a third was scurrying about with an umbrella persuading the stragglers to go below. My mind was made up when the staff gave the awning a particularly big shove, just as the wind gusted. The awning got lifted beyond the reach of the poles, and bucked wildly, its brackets creaking and straining. The shelter removed, the wind rushed across the terrace, covering the laptop with a smattering of water.

Time to go.

So I gathered up my things…but wait! My confidence in HK had been misplaced!

Someone had pinched my bloody umbrella! At the next table 3 very well dressed business ladies (visible here) were huddling under an umbrella that looked suspiciously like mine. I had not seen them with one when they sat down, just before the storm kicked off. I asked them if they had borrowed my umbrella…and they said, nope, this is my friend’s. Definitely didn’t swipe this from where you propped it in the corner.

It was a 7/11 umbrella. So I couldn’t prove it was mine. With one last sceptical backward glance, just as the awning crashed back into its rightful place, I headed for the stairs. Umbrella-less.

Doris, you were right. Thief everywhere in Hong Kong.