A Silly Hong Kong Dream

I love very few things better than finding old stuff and restoring it and I do it whenever and wherever I can, and I get so thrilled when people notice that I'm good at it and ask me to, say, suggest ways to do up something they own or even their own houses, or even, like Baby Jane did last year, to do the whole thing myself. And I have long had a dream of finding a derelict building and turning it into something spectacular.

This sort of thing goes around in my head constantly; seeing things and figuring out ways to make them perfect. And, totally, I cannot pass this particular building without stopping for a while, often in the cafe over the way, and planning what I'd do with it if it were mine:

Totally, this would have to be

my favourite derelict building

in the whole of Hong Kong.

It's the old bachelor's quarters for the unmarried Colonial Officers from back in the days of The Raj.

Do you love it? I mean, just look at that roof line:

Have you ever seen

anything so sublime?

Gorgeous place, huh! And look what they've done with it:

It's in the grounds now of the Government Supplies Department and if it wasn't totally out of bounds and locked behind a wall and ugly gates, to reach it you have to find it behind this mess!

And if you ignore the signs and sneak in through those gates and don't get caught by the guards ...

There in the background.

Can you see it?

Love? Do you too want to save it? I think, in a perfect world, someone nice would simply say "It's yours. Do what you want with it!" And if they were to add "And here's a blank cheque so you can aim for uncompromised wonderfulness." ?

Mmmmm, now there's a dream!