Downtown, there are beautifully dressed china dolls. They take selfies at cafes, before sending a text message or checking in on Facebook, before jotting things in slim pocket calendars, before putting in ear buds and, I imagine, leaving reality.

My second impression: I don’t know how Hong Kong compares with other cities for provision of services for its citizens. I remember in the 1980s the city of Bologna in Italy had free concerts including one by Canadian singer Bruce Cockburn. Toronto used to have free open air ice rinks. And I don’t know where Hong Kong places on the continuum of public vs private spaces except to know the global shift has been to the right and in some urban cores around the world its hard to find an unpaid bench. At predominating shopping malls, elevated walkways and cantilevered glass canopies intrude into and over the sky providing needed shade and shelter but also subtly demarcating were security guards can menace.

On the sloping lawn, unfurled from the new, striking Hong Kong civic building and ending at a lookout of the harbour there is complimentary wi-fi. And plenty of grass to sit on. On Sunday it was almost like Little Philippines. Today it is a place upon which to take wedding photos. To eat lunch. … and from where I am, using the citizen’s free wi-fi, to post.