In the unique way that Hong Kong can change in an instant, my Monday morning was relaxed, my smile beamed pleasured contentment after an exhausting but fun week of rugby-related events, culminating with a resounding victory for New Zealand in the Sevens final and a heightened respect for the England squad.

Who must have been gutted to have been knocked out in the quarter-finals. Yet as they walked around the Hong Kong Stadium pitch, they stopped and signed everything put in front of them – shirts, books, backs, boobs, balls... and posed for multiple photos.

It probably took Ben Gollings and Matthew Cox the best part of an hour to complete their thank you walk but it was great to see professional sportsmen spending that much time with the fans. Kudos to, to the New Zealand team who did multiple Hakas to different sections of the crowd on their victory lap.

Amidst the piled-up emails on Monday morning was one from our landlord reminding us that our lease was to expire and, if we wanted to exercise the renewal option, the going market rate was a 55% increase in current rent. Fifty-five percent in just two years! Sometimes on a day-to-day basis you can forget how Hong Kong has boomed in the last few years. The 1,533 sq ft unit we have been using as our home for the last two years was bought in 2003 for $2 million.

In less than five years it has increased in value to $10 million. Obviously our building has not increased in value in isolation, and we are not the only company experiencing such massive rent hikes. I’m no economist but somewhere something has to give and to cover costs prices are rising.

An arbitrary look back two years, shows drink prices in Lan Kwai Fong up more than 10% – and that is not including the 10% ‘service charge’ that sadly (in that it rarely goes to the staff) is appearing on more and more menus – Wanchai and TST slightly less.

And my Monday morning smile, replaced by the resigned frustration that precedes the thought of searching for office space and moving... But the friends, memories and photos remain of a great rugby week 2008 - thank you to all who made it so.
sd