Forget the politics, let's see the price tag

The "restart-the-protests" day on Friday was a flop. Even this columnists' most radical friends went to the beach instead. "Everyone's got protest fatigue," one said.

Some groups of math-challenged political activists did gather in shopping malls to shout "five demands," but no one smashed up restaurants, thank goodness.

I asked RTHK's Annalie Chow whether she took heed of the demand by the"yellow economy" to limit all purchases to shops run by mainlander-free organizations.

"No," she said. "My only criteria for choosing where to shop is whether they are offering discounts."

Spoken like a true Hongkonger.

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On the same day, activist Mak Tak-ching was arrested after he and his buddies protested against the authorities' refusal to give activists permission to march by going on a march.

They should really charge him with Crimes Against Logic.

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Causeway Bay will soon have possibly the most unattractively named bar/ restaurant on the planet.

A new venue called Sicklyland has applied for a liquor license.

But why Sicklyland? Was it founded in Wuhan in January?

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People around the world are making quarantine signs to give passersby a smile. A reader forwarded the pictured one from Missouri in the United States.

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The government is offering HK$100,000 training grants to help people turn their commercial activities into "distance businesses," done remotely through screens.

A Tsim Sha Tsui reader heard about this while commiserating with a sex worker. Social distancing has made her job impossibly awkward.

"I wonder if she can get a grant to set up a live-streaming pornography business instead?" he asked.

"It's kind of like the remote version of her usual activity."

Somehow, I don't think that's what the government had in mind.

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Three ways to get people flying again:

1) Frequent travelers get to "have a go" at flying the aircraft;

2) Flight attendants can sit with passengers of their choice;

3) Babies are given their own soundproof cabin.

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Reader Peter Fredenburg said: "A big trend in the news these days is to comment on how places led by women are handling their epidemics well: New Zealand, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Taiwan and that's it."

The international media is so biased against the authorities in Hong Kong that they leave it out of the list, although it should be at the top.

"Whose coronavirus strategy worked best?" asked a headline in the latest issue of Nature, the world's most cited scientific journal. The text below gives the answer: "Hong Kong seems to have given the world a lesson in how to effectively curb Covid-19."

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Artists: want HK$440,000 to make a work of art? The only criterion is that it must be HUGE.

The Hong Kong government has booked a slot for local artists at the world's biggest art show - a 700 square kilometer "Art Field" in Japan.

I think a kilometer-high representation of a toilet roll would pretty much sum up the past year in Hong Kong.

* * *

Rumor has it that bars and party districts such as Lan Kwai Fong will be allowed to reopen on Thursday, but everyone will have to wear masks.

Yes! This is the moment that ugly people have been waiting for all our lives!

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