Holidays!
We went to Tagaytay for the weekend.
Traffic was next to non-existent, and we got there in about an hour. Without stop-overs, we would have gone there and come back in less than two hours.
Nothing like a break to re-energize. Anyway, photos are all on my Facebook account. :)
Interestingly enough, as soon as I got back, a lot of things happened to test my patience as well.
One particular thing was this incident last night... I almost ran over a kid.
Just to make it clear-- he ran into the side of my car while I was on my way out of the parking.
Good thing my mom was there; she stayed calm and rational, offering to help bring the boy to a nearby clinic. But as soon as she offered to help, the boy stood up and walked away. I was still dazed at the whole thing, mostly angry because I could have ran him over if I was a second or two earlier.
It was almost comical how people who had nothing to do with the boy or us began huddling around. Some onlookers from afar were throwing jokes at the boy, as he walked away. When my mom asked where the boy's mom was, so that we could offer to pay for a check-up, some of them said that he had no mother.
Of course, no one would elaborate if they meant that she passed away already or that her whereabouts were unknown. In any case, it was another cause for frustration.
We-- the boy and I-- were very lucky that Someone up there kept us safe. There's no need to spell out how awful it might have turned out if there was just a little difference in time.
On another note-- while I was driving along Magallanes today, a bus overtook the vehicle from behind me from the left side. And then, all of a sudden, it swerved right into my lane despite the two cars ahead of it and almost hit me. It was so close, that I had to swerve to my right just to avoid it. Luckily, there was no vehicle at my right side when that happened.
Yes, I would try reporting that bus to LTO... but the whole exercise seems futile. Just check out online rants and reviews from other private vehicle owners who have had worse experiences than I.
I swear, if I were in any position to have a say about traffic control, I'd make sure those buses would be the first to go. Yes, I'd probably receive a lot of death threats from private bus companies, but I think one big step to actually making traffic more manageable is combing out those reckless bus drivers...
and to do that, you have to change the system of how they get their passengers. If trusting the government agencies with funds was not always questionable, I'd even assign on government agency to be in charge of bus operations and make sure that they have specific stops at specific times of the day. Commuters who try to stop the bus at any other spot, they'd be fined too.
Honestly, I think that if commuters had enough resources, they wouldn't even take public transpo because of the security risks and the horrible driving.
Iif we want any progress to begin in this country, we have to be willing to sacrifice some things, some comforts. And so far, it doesn't seem apparent that people are very open to that kind of change.
Traffic was next to non-existent, and we got there in about an hour. Without stop-overs, we would have gone there and come back in less than two hours.
Nothing like a break to re-energize. Anyway, photos are all on my Facebook account. :)
Interestingly enough, as soon as I got back, a lot of things happened to test my patience as well.
One particular thing was this incident last night... I almost ran over a kid.
Just to make it clear-- he ran into the side of my car while I was on my way out of the parking.
Good thing my mom was there; she stayed calm and rational, offering to help bring the boy to a nearby clinic. But as soon as she offered to help, the boy stood up and walked away. I was still dazed at the whole thing, mostly angry because I could have ran him over if I was a second or two earlier.
It was almost comical how people who had nothing to do with the boy or us began huddling around. Some onlookers from afar were throwing jokes at the boy, as he walked away. When my mom asked where the boy's mom was, so that we could offer to pay for a check-up, some of them said that he had no mother.
Of course, no one would elaborate if they meant that she passed away already or that her whereabouts were unknown. In any case, it was another cause for frustration.
We-- the boy and I-- were very lucky that Someone up there kept us safe. There's no need to spell out how awful it might have turned out if there was just a little difference in time.
On another note-- while I was driving along Magallanes today, a bus overtook the vehicle from behind me from the left side. And then, all of a sudden, it swerved right into my lane despite the two cars ahead of it and almost hit me. It was so close, that I had to swerve to my right just to avoid it. Luckily, there was no vehicle at my right side when that happened.
Yes, I would try reporting that bus to LTO... but the whole exercise seems futile. Just check out online rants and reviews from other private vehicle owners who have had worse experiences than I.
I swear, if I were in any position to have a say about traffic control, I'd make sure those buses would be the first to go. Yes, I'd probably receive a lot of death threats from private bus companies, but I think one big step to actually making traffic more manageable is combing out those reckless bus drivers...
and to do that, you have to change the system of how they get their passengers. If trusting the government agencies with funds was not always questionable, I'd even assign on government agency to be in charge of bus operations and make sure that they have specific stops at specific times of the day. Commuters who try to stop the bus at any other spot, they'd be fined too.
Honestly, I think that if commuters had enough resources, they wouldn't even take public transpo because of the security risks and the horrible driving.
Iif we want any progress to begin in this country, we have to be willing to sacrifice some things, some comforts. And so far, it doesn't seem apparent that people are very open to that kind of change.