Living in Hong Kong the past three weeks has been like living inside a damp, gray gym sock: sunless, gloomy, cold-ish and dankly humid. It’s the kind of weather that breeds viruses, mildew and depression.

It’s the kind of weather that we expect in April, when book edges curl and shoes grow mold from humidity.

We’ve been robbed of what is usually a glorious season when the temperature is perfect and the skies are clear and sunny. It’s the time of year known by expats as “grandparent season” because they all time their trips the coincide with the best Hong Kong weather.

The whole Pearl River Delta is collectively crossing its fingers for a break in the gloom before we’re plunged into winter-proper. It might just be the one thing that Hongkongers and our neighbor’s to the north can unify behind this year.