"How time flies," or as the ancient Romans said in Latin 2,000 years ago tempus fugit. I guess every country and every language has an idiom that means the same. William Shakespeare was more poetical with his "the swiftest hours, as they flew."
I had been pondering these phrases while girding myself to tell the publishers that perhaps after so many years it's time for me to adjust the frequency of my column in every Sunday edition of Sing Tao Daily and for The Standard every Monday.
It was in 2006, some 18 years ago, that I was first approached to write a weekly column. That followed an interest in journalism that went back much further.
Indeed, 60 years ago during my secondary schooling I was on the editorial board of the school magazine Voyager - a publication in its 98th year and still going strong.
Years later and after my law exams I returned to journalism, first as China correspondent with the now defunct Far Eastern Economic Review and then Asiaweek. For a short period I was also China correspondent for the UK's Guardian newspaper.
It was Carmen Hsu Hiu-yee, Sing Tao's executive chief editor, who first asked me to be a columnist. Ivan Tong Kam-piu, the editor-in-chief, allows me total independence in whatever subject I wish to write about and whatever view I wish to express.
Throughout these 18 years there was only one editorial limitation and it was that my column should not exceed a certain length, or any excess would be axed!
I have always attempted to cover subjects beyond the legal world.
As an avid reader I luckily have an interest in many subjects and so have been able to avoid boring readers with too much abstruse, recondite law.
In early 2018 I felt strongly that the Hong Kong Bar Association was becoming too political and surprised some lawyers by writing that it "must not affiliate itself with any political cause, no matter how noble."
In 2019 I often wrote about the mindless violence of riots that threatened to cripple our economy and destroy social cohesion.
I was strongly against the suggestion that a committee of inquiry should investigate the riots because, I said, such a thing would seriously undermine police morale.
"The police," I said, "do a difficult job, they face huge pressures, they need all the support society can give them."
I also commented about the dangers of foreign interference in our domestic affairs. I supported and continue to support legislation to further protect our national security.
I have also tried to cover international events and a wide range of subjects from history to economics, Britain's Brexit to Buddhism and holiday experiences in places such as Cuba, Spain and Japan.
I recall writing fondly about the memorable occasion in 2015 when I met the last king of the tiny kingdom of Mustang when he was living in exile in Kathmandu. In 2018 I reported about a slightly weird week's holiday in Cuba where I found a Chinese temple, a Confucius institute, a Chinese doctor and a retirement home for Chinese veterans.
Ironically many of the surviving elderly Chinese I talked to said they had fled communist China in the 1950s and had no idea they would land up living the rest of their lives in another communist country.
If I may be permitted a degree of sentimentality: I recently celebrated my 76th birthday, which prompted me to calculate that 76 years from now in the year 2100 my granddaughter Jini will also celebrate her 76th birthday. I do wonder what kind of brave new world will she be living in?
To make time for other work this column will in future appear once a month (the second Sunday of each month) rather than weekly. Hopefully, this reduction in quantity will be balanced by an improvement in quality! I have a new writing project on my plate, about which more later, but it looks as if my pen will remain just as busy as ever.
Meanwhile, thanks to all my readers.
Cheng Huan is an author and a senior counsel who practices in Hong Kong
