It is 6:15 in the morning. He has no reason to get up that early, not anymore anyway, but he has been doing that for decades and old habits die hard.

"I still haven't got used to this new phase of my life," retired Postmaster General Tam Wing-pong told the media at a tea gathering yesterday. "Luckily the new postmaster hasn't reported for duty yet so I can still pack my belongings in the office."

He was with the Hongkong Post (HKP) for about two years only but he had taken up different governmental posts prior to that.

Tam first joined the government as an Executive Officer in 1971 and was appointed to the Administrative Service two years later and promoted to the present rank of Administrative Officer Staff Grade B1 in 1998.

He was the deputy director of Beijing Office from 1998 to 2003 and the deputy director of housing before joining the HKP in 2006.

He found it memorable to witness the evolution of Hong Kong over the years.

"In 1975 when Hong Kong was still a colony, I was sent to Oxford University to study British law. But one year before the handover I was sent to Tsinghua University to take courses such as Chinese modern history," he recalled.

The 59-year-old insisted he is still fit to continue working. So he does not rule out working in other organizations after the one-year "sanitization period".

"To work again I need to consider the job nature, my health condition and whether I still want to work," he said.

Yet he affirmed that he will not work in politics or education institutions. The culture-lover also refuses to write any memoir, but he will consider writing theatrical plays for the Arts Festival.

"But the first thing I will do is to fix my teeth which I have been wanting to do for a long time. Yet I still need to face the media so I cannot have holes in my teeth!" he exclaimed.

"I also have to buy new shoes as I do not need to dress up formally now," he said.

And here comes the biggest surprise: Tam does not have a TV set at home. "I didn't have time to watch TV before, but I think I need to buy a TV set to kill time soon," he said.

(HK Edition 10/31/2008 page1)