Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Road Rules
Need to vent, vent, vent. Just had an encounter with the most aggravating, uncouth, #@! neanderthal this side of the planet! It was a relatively cool night and my family and I were all set to enjoy a nice, quiet dinner at Aristocrat along Roxas Boulevard. It so happened that everyone else seemed to have gotten the same idea. Ergo, it was each man for himself for parking space. After circling the area five times, I was lucky enough to spot a vehicle right beside the entrance door beginning to back up. I asked the guard on duty to courteously tell the other driver that I was waiting to take his place and he rolled down his window to give me the thumbs up. As I was the car nearest to it, I backed up a little to give it space to move out. Just as the other car had slowly maneuvered its way out towards Malate, another car suddenly came from the other side and usurped the space I was about to park in. The absolute gall! The driver obviously knew what he had done as he wasn't getting out of his car at all once he saw that I was still waiting at the exact same position. The guard came over to him to admonish him that he should've waited his turn. The ass____ had the temerity to get out of his car and say this in a loud voice, "May reservation na pala ang parking dito." That made my blood boil! Despite my parents' protestations to let it go, I got out of my car (I know, I know, that was not a wise decision but he got me sooooo riled up, I couldn't just play nice) and in a voice dripping with sarcasm replied, "Wala ngang reservation dito pero wala rin naman dapat bastusan. If our places were switched, I wouldn't have done this to you. So hope the meal that you're going to be eating tonight is worth the karma you'll be getting a thousand-fold" or something to that effect. I then just thanked the guard for his efforts and told him I'd rather eat someplace else with my folks. I wanted to gun my engine then but there were so many pedestrians I didn't want to run over anyone accidentally just because of that arrogant swine. Mind you, I'm not normally a combustible driver. Am actually one cool cookie on the road. As long as I have the airconditioning on full blast and my music blaring, I'm fine. Maybe I just got fed up this time around.
Ended up eating at one of my favorite places, (Korean Restaurant in Remedios) instead so can't complain. I was still seething throughout the meal but calmed down later on since I was sure that guy was going to get his come-uppance soon. Just like Paulo Coelho's book said, "if you want something hard enough, the universe will conspire to give it to you". Call me mean but I really, really, REALLY want that guy to get what's due him (cue cackling)...
Later that night, as I got ready for bed, I got to thinking about how only in the Philippines do motorists get away with so many traffic violations. (Well, this wasn't really a traffic violation but road courtesy is supposed to be one of the lessons taught in driving school.) Buses and jeepneys load and unload passengers indiscriminately along major thoroughfares, running a red light is a common occurrence, the pedestrian lane/overpasses are hardly used, one-way street signs are disregarded, cars sporting sirens use these to bypass clogged areas and the honking of horns is a bane to most everyone. What doesn't cease to amaze me is that when Filipinos go abroad, or to just Subic even, they become law-abiding citizens. Bayani Fernando, who performed miracles in his bastion of Marikina, seemed to have been stumped this time around. Even he can't seem to do anything about the situation. Only way we can probably fix it is if we impose heavy penalties on violators (the prospect of languishing in jail will surely prove to be a deterrent) and if we can remove graft and corruption from among the ranks of the traffic police. Sure, and monkey's will fly out of my butt...
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