New Route To Work
I just finished my first week in my new assignment. If I don't screw this up, I'll stay here and won't go back to the police beat; so I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get things right here. The best thing, so far, is that I get to ride the river ferry to work almost everyday. It's less stressful than traveling by land, which translates to 2 shuttles, a train, and another shuttle. That's more than an hour of commute, sometimes 1 ½ hours. The ferry, admittedly, is slightly longer (this morning, it was late so travel time was like 2 hrs) but it is less stressful. All I do is sit there, listen to my ipod, read or make some phone calls. Or sometimes, eavesdrop on conversations. The downside with my new route, though, is the view. We are traveling on a dying river that runs across the middle of this megacity. Filthy squatters live on both banks. There are abandoned sugar mills, skeletons of bygone factories and decrepit barges. The lily pads are the only happy creatures in this river - they are thriving and healthy, their stalks as big as my wrist. Once, I even saw an islet of trash. I can't think of anything more disgusting than that. Oh yeah, there's one: the kids swimming on the gray water. Near the islet of trash. Depressing, apocalyptic things race through my mind: cholera, infant deaths, global warming, where are their parents, anyway? During the 1-hour river ride, the only glorious thing to look at is the sky. It's June now, but it still feels like the middle of March: all sticky heat and intense blue sky. It's so pure that, sometimes, I catch myself wishing I could drown in it.