25.1.2026 Sunday - a rainy day but surprisingly productive

 

24.1.2026 Saturday - Gala Dinner

Henry arranged for a few of our former teachers to have a meal together, including some of our classmates. Unfortunately, I have no time for one of them, we were not in the same class and he is not a nice person. I thought about declining but then thought 'I would just go and enjoy what I could of the afternoon'. And I am glad that I did. Our teachers are getting older, with health problems though they seem to enjoy the chatter. I wish for a larger group with more people around the table

Today is a day of doing not much, except cooking at No. 40 for Bel and EH - Sean was telling stories during dinner time, entertaining us about the silly antics of the office interns. It is good - like Louise said 'your children seem happy, you have done a good job'.

23.1.2026 Friday - finalising some ideas

final sketches for our presentation for Eric's land art installation in July

These office meetings on Thursday are a good idea, we have one more day to sort out things, call people, send out confirmation emails, final drawings before the end of the week. Fiona and I have a discussion about the Precinct One housing, and arrived at a good conclusion. We asked GW if he would be interested in getting involved in TSSB's projects in the future, he said yes. And added that he enjoys drawing details, etc, as do I. OK, one thing settled (as per Freddie's suggestion). 

We also send out this little project in Taipei, keeping our promise to send out by Friday - not sure if the water people have sent theirs. I think that they are still busy with the gala dinner preps. 

George and I have a good solution for Kensington, only to be superceded by Freddie who gave an even better option - bringing the unit count to 286 from our 267. I look forward to marking out the drawings for the team to work on next week. 

We have drinks by the pool before having a hot pot dinner with the children, and Louise. Nice end to the week - we might  make this a routine.

This week's Friday dinner is at Sean's place, we have drinks by the pool followed by a steamboat dinner with Rudy, Valerie and Louise. I jokingly said that Sam and I would like Sean to cook dinner on Fridays, and we simply swan in after our swim and eat and drink.

 

22.1.2026 Thursday - two good meetings

He is a good mood, confessing that he was concerned about the planning approval of the Kensington project. But all good now, we have a plan to appeal for a few more units and a few more floors - the important thing is that we have a new project and an agreement for our payments. His sons take part in the design discussions, giving opinions and listening to ours - we agree that we will invite the Thai architects to design the interiors and landscape. 
We revert with new drawings in 2 weeks' and start consultants' meeting to move the project forward. 

Later in the afternoon, we have our office meeting; going through tasks and chatting about things to do and people to see. After which, we go for ice creams - I like how well these young people get on with each other.

21.1.2026 Wednesday - major project approved

Sam suggests that we should all go for a meal, since George and PH are in town - it would be a pre CNY gathering. So we decide to go for a nice Japanese lunch. During which, we chat about today's government planning meeting - Fiona ever alerted checks the office email and discovers that the Kensington project is approved.  Minutes later, T rings to inform me (he is a little disappointed that he is not the first one to tell me the news) and tells me that the approval is for 16 storeys and not the 26 we applied for - but we can appeal. I ring off and tell him that we will discuss in detail tomorrow. 

20.1.2026 Tuesday - doing Sketchup

 

19.1.2026 Monday - school project